The New Orleans Gold Rugby Club re-signed Eagles prop Ben Tarr for the 2019 Major League Rugby season. The 25-year-old prop is 5’11” and 246 lbs. He has played both tighthead and loosehead prop for the USA Rugby Men’s National team and is Eagles No. 459.
Ben played 55 minutes in 9 matches during the 2019 season. He had 30 carries for 93 meters, made 70 tackles, and had 1 kick for 26 meters. His season, however, was cut short after sustaining an injury. Ben also played for NOLA Gold during their inaugural season in 2018.
Ben was born in Indianapolis, Indiana and moved to the Coast Coast area of Queensland Australia.
Ben went to high school at 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. He has currently been enrolled in a Master of Philosophy Program in Marketing since 2018 at Queensland University of Technology and is expected to graduate in 2020.
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.
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.
NOLA Gold Comments
Ryan Fitzgerald, General Manager said that “Some of the best news we could ask for all offseason is the return of Ben Tarr. After a devastating season-ending injury, to have Ben Tarr back healthy adds another boost of momentum to our locker room.
A very strong, tactical scrummager. He is physical and tough around the breakdown and is very assignment sure with his experience.
After the injury last season, Benny did a tremendous job helping the club anyway he could at training, in the community and even the most creative stadium announcer you could ask for!
He embraces the culture that we have building down here and we are proud to have him back.”
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