Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Ben Lam quits union for rugby league with immediate effect

Ben Lam in action for Samoa at Rugby World Cup 2023 (Photo by Paul Harding/Getty Images)

Samoan Rugby World Cup pick Ben Lam has quit rugby union with immediate effect to take up an offer from Catalan Dragons, the French-based Super League side. The 33-year-old, who was out of contract after finishing up at Montpellier, had been rumoured to be staying in the Top 14, with Castres his likely destination. 

ADVERTISEMENT

However, the former New Zealand 7s player has decided to exit union and instead play league via the Dragons through to the end of the 2024 campaign. A statement read: “Catalans Dragons are delighted to announce the signing of rugby union star Ben Lam with immediate effect. The New Zealand winger has signed with the club until the end of 2024. 

 “A tall, elusive and explosive runner, Ben Lam has spent his entire career playing rugby union. He made his professional debut in 2012 with the Auckland Blues in Super Rugby. After playing for his hometown club, he joined the Hurricanes where he became a key player in Super Rugby until the 2020 season, scoring 33 tries in 56 professional matches.  

Video Spacer

Lineout not straight, play on | Law trials

Referee Aimee Barrett-Theron explains how the new law trials, regarding not straight lineouts, will work in the Rugby Championship.

Video Spacer

Lineout not straight, play on | Law trials

Referee Aimee Barrett-Theron explains how the new law trials, regarding not straight lineouts, will work in the Rugby Championship.

“Lam then headed to France, signing with Union Bordeaux-Begles. After two seasons with UBB, he joined Montpellier. Lacking game time in his first season, he found his form again last season despite MHR’s challenging season. He scored 16 tries in 55 Top 14 matches. 

“The powerful winger made his international debut in 2012 with New Zealand’s rugby sevens team. With solid performances, he won the World Rugby Sevens Series in the following two seasons. He also represented Samoa in the 2023 Rugby World Cup, playing in the first two games against Argentina and Japan.” 

Lam said: “I’m excited to be joining the Dragons. To learn and have a new experience at a great club is a special opportunity for me. I look forward to what this year brings.” 

Catalan head coach Steve McNamara added: “Ben has shown a real desire to try rugby league and has made a big personal commitment to give himself every chance to be successful at it. We are really happy to give him the opportunity. His pedigree in Rugby Union is there to see and it is with great interest that we wait to see if we can help him turn that quality into rugby league.” 

ADVERTISEMENT

Dragons sporting director Neil McIlroy explained: “The opportunity to sign an experienced rugby union player like Ben was too good to pass up. He has a genuine desire to play rugby league before the end of his career. He turned down opportunities in rugby union in France to undertake a trial period with us until Christmas.

“After that, we will decide whether the transition has been successful or not. He will train with the Dragons and have the chance to get game time with our reserve team St Esteve XIII Catalan. It will be interesting to see if his power and experience in rugby union can adapt to rugby league.” 

Related

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

4 Comments
D
DS 104 days ago

Can't blame him. He has been playing very well for years and still not got an AB spot. A real standout for the Blues this year and even with new selectors he couldn't make the squad. Instead draft horses and handbrakes from the Crusaders have littered the AB backline for the last two decades or so - Ennor, Goodhue, McLeod, Havilli, Bridge etc!

T
TO 104 days ago

His style of running should suit league but it's the defense where he'll need to adapt and be more involved.

B
Bull Shark 105 days ago

Who?

T
Tim 104 days ago

Ben Lam his name was in the heading. You've been blazing trails no doubt?

Load More Comments

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

J
JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

287 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING The appointment I would make to save Steve Borthwick – Andy Goode The appointment I would make to save Steve Borthwick – Andy Goode
Search