Makeen Alikhan: The Flanker Who Chose America — And Found His Game Again

Born in Canada, raised across four countries, and developed in England’s Premiership system, Anthem RC’s back rower has bet his career on American rugby. After a try-scoring USA Eagles debut at his home stadium, he’s ready to prove that bet was the right one.

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Makeen Alikhan’s path to professional rugby in Charlotte, North Carolina, began on Australia’s Gold Coast, where his father Riz — a former rugby player in Canada — put a ball in his hands at five years old. By the time he was a teenager, he’d lived on three continents. By eighteen, he was training alongside Marcus Smith and Danny Care at Harlequins, a club in the UK’s Rugby Premiership. By twenty, a back injury and a torn hamstring had kept him off the pitch for nearly two years.

Now twenty-four, with five years of professional experience behind him, Alikhan enters his second season at Anthem RC as one of the most complete back rowers in Major League Rugby — and one of the players who best embodies what this franchise was built to do.

“Rugby doesn’t last forever, does it?” he says. “You’ve got to take the opportunities.”

Four countries, one rugby education

Alikhan was born in Vancouver to Riz, who is British, and Candace, who is American. The family moved to Florida, then Australia, where rugby consumed his childhood. He tried cricket first but admits he didn’t have the temperament for it. Rugby stuck.

“Growing up in Australia, rugby’s massive — it’s the first thing you do,” he says. “I think the Australian system at an early stage is more advanced, so when I moved to the UK, I came over in a better place than I would have been just growing up all the way through London.”

The family settled in Surrey, where Alikhan attended Epsom College and emerged as one of England’s most prominent schoolboy talents. He captained the 1st XV, was named to the Schools Rugby Dream Team, and caught the eye of Harlequins, who signed him to their academy during his final year of school — after he’d put on 15 pounds in two months during lockdown just to earn an invitation to preseason.

“It was a surreal moment,” he recalls. “Coming into that and seeing people you looked up to — your Marcus Smiths, your Danny Cares — and being able to train with them and pick their brains. I was very blessed that Harlequins was my first club.”

The injury years — and the reset

What should have been a steady rise stalled. A serious back injury requiring surgery, followed by a torn hamstring, kept Alikhan sidelined for nearly twenty-two months. Across three seasons at Harlequins, he managed just three senior appearances. World-class back rowers filled the positions ahead of him. The frustration built.

“To go through that at a young age is pretty tough,” he says. “You go through a week or two feeling sorry for yourself, and then you get back into the program. Once you have a plan, you just tick over. But the back injury — that was ten steps forward and one step back, constantly.”

The turning point came when head coach Agustín Cavalieri (“Cuca”) offered him a loan move to the Dallas Jackals in MLR. Alikhan didn’t hesitate. He needed minutes, he needed confidence, and America delivered both.

Over thirteen games in Dallas, he produced over a hundred tackles, ten turnovers, three tries, and helped the Jackals reach the Western Conference Final. More importantly, he stopped thinking about his body and started playing rugby again.

“I just enjoyed playing week in, week out,” he says. “Staying relatively injury-free, getting my confidence back. And Cuca is one of the best coaches I’ve ever had. He made it really easy.”

The bond with Cavalieri proved decisive. When the Jackals folded and Anthem came calling, Alikhan’s decision hinged on one factor. “I didn’t sign my contract until I knew Cuca was coming over,” he says. “That’s the level of trust we have together. I’d follow him to many places in the world.”

A try-scoring debut on home turf

The international recognition Alikhan had been building toward arrived on July 5, 2025, when he came off the bench for the USA Eagles against Belgium — at American Legion Memorial Stadium, Anthem’s home ground in Charlotte. He scored on debut, finishing off a sequence with a try that turned a promising career into a validated one. His father was in the stands.

“When it happened, it was kind of a blackout moment,” he says. “You watch it back a few times after and you’re like — did that just happen?”

A week later he was in the squad against Spain. Then came the match against England in Washington, D.C. — offering the extraordinary prospect of Alikhan facing former Harlequins teammates in an international shirt. By the time he lined up at Murrayfield against Scotland, the nerves were gone.

“The Belgium game, I was so nervous — I didn’t know what to expect,” he says. “By the time I was playing at Murrayfield, I was like, yeah, this is where I belong. I like this feeling of playing on the big stage.”

Why Anthem

Alikhan had options after the Jackals dissolved. He could have returned to the Premiership. He chose Charlotte — and paused a veterinary medicine degree at the University of Surrey to do it.

“I wouldn’t want to play for another MLR club,” he says. “There were conversations, but Anthem is my home. How tightly it’s connected to the USA program — it just makes complete sense for me. It keeps helping me get to that point of the 2027 World Cup, the 2031 World Cup, and make my mark at that level.”

His commitment extends beyond the pitch. Alikhan has embraced his role as an ambassador for rugby in Charlotte, building relationships with local businesses and helping promote the sport in a city that is still discovering it.

“People’s first response is usually, ‘Oh, you’re those guys who play football without pads,'” he says with a laugh. “I tell them: it’s eighty minutes of continuous contact. It’s fast. You’re not bored. There aren’t stoppages every six seconds. And we don’t wear protective gear — we’re just putting our heads in.”

The workhorse returns

For 2026, Alikhan faces the most competitive back-row selection battle of his career. The arrival of Moni Tonga’uiha, Johan Momsen, and a host of experienced forwards means starting spots are genuinely contested. He welcomes it.

“We have a completely different setup than last year,” he says. “Way more experienced players, a completely new-looking roster. James Scott, the lock from Chicago — I’m really excited to play alongside him. The experience he’s going to bring to our forward pack is going to be great. And then Carts (Luke Carty, Flyhalf) at ten — he was phenomenal for the US. He’ll be a huge addition.”

Alikhan’s preferred position is openside flanker — the seven shirt, the workhorse role. Twenty tackles a game, twenty-plus ruck hits, first around the corner, first into contact. He has spent the off-season working on his footwork, speed, and evasion — refining the ability to beat defenders in the wider channels that modern back rowers increasingly need.

He has also been refining the less visible parts of his craft. Ask him what happens in the depths of a ruck that fans can’t see, and he smiles, thinking ahead to the unseen battles ahead, relishing the opportunity to battle it out against his fellow backrowers. 

“There’s lot that happens, and even if it’s out of sight, it can swing a game very quickly.”

What comes next

The vet degree is on indefinite hold. The new ambition is real estate, and eventually a ranch somewhere out west — Nebraska, Wyoming, or wherever the land is open and the chickens outnumber the people. But that’s for later. Right now, the focus is singular.

“We’re working incredibly hard,” he says. “I know last season didn’t always show that, but we’re extremely excited for what’s to come. We’ve got a new slate, a new team, Cuca setting all the plans from the very start. We’re going to give fans a fast, brutal, physical game of rugby every weekend.”

He pauses, then adds: “We’re going to get the win this year. I know we are.”