New Orleans Gold & Ben Tarr

The New Orleans Gold Rugby Club re-signed Eagles prop Ben Tarr for the 2019 Major League Rugby season. Ben was born in Indianapolis, Indiana and moved to the Coast Coast area of Queensland Australia.

Ben is 24 years old, 5’11” and weighs 246 pounds. He has played both tighthead and loosehead prop for the USA Rugby Men’s National team and is Eagles No. 459.

Ben went to high school at the Brisbane Boys College from 2007-2011. In 2012 he went to The Southport School, an independent Anglican school in Queensland. He continued his education at the University of Queensland in Brisbane from 2013-2017 earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration and Management.

Ben Tarr and Rugby

In 2012 Ben played for the Queensland Schoolboys team and then was selected for Australian Schoolboys. At the end of 2013, he trained with the Queensland Reds in the U20 program and played for the Reds U20s 2014. That led to his selection with the USA Rugby Under-20s in 2014 for the Junior World Rugby Trophy competition where they finished in third place after beating Uruguay. In 2014 he also played for the Souths Rugby Club from Brisbane. The Magpies play in the Queensland Premier Club competition.

In addition to the 2014 Junior World Rugby Trophy competition, Ben played in the 2014 Americas Rugby Championship with the USA Selects, and with the 2014 Eagles November European tour.

Ben made his debut for the Eagles on November 8 against Romania in Bucharest when he replaced Olive Kilifi at tighthead prop. He has since gained 11 caps with his last test against Canada in San Diego on July 1, 2017.

For the 2018 Major League Rugby season he played both tighthead and loosehead prop for NOLA Gold Rugby Club. After the season ended, he returned to Australian where he continued with his other passion, fishing. His ocean fishing exploits are legendary and have been experienced by teammates who have visited.