The New England Free Jacks signed Tongan international Jack Ram for the 2021 Major League Rugby season. The 33-year-old flanker (34 in January) is 6’2 and 231 lbs.
Jack was born in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and mover with his family to Tonga when he was three years old. In Tonga, he attended Lavengamalie Christian College and then Lavengamalie Christian University.
Jack played club rugby for the Lavengamalie Rugby Club and represented the Tongan under-19 team in 2006. He played for Tautahi Gold in the Pacific Rugby Cup in 2009 and also made his Tonga Sevens debut that same year. Since 2009 he earned 39 caps for the Tonga Sevens side and scored eight tries.
In 2011 Jack played for Kerikeri Rugby Club and then played provincial rugby with Northland Taniwha from 2012-2016, making 38 appearances and scoring 7 tries in the Mitre 10 Cup. After a knee injury sidelined him for most of the 2013 season, he played with the Super Rugby Blues for the 2015-2016 season and made two appearances.
jack made his international rugby 15s debut in the Pacific Nations Cup against the United States in Toronto on July 29, 2015, and the last of his 13 tests (10 starts) was against Fiji at Nuku A’lofa on July 8, 2017. Jack played in three matches at the 2015 Rugby World Cup against Georgia, Namibia, and New Zealand, starting the second match at openside flanker against the Welwitschias. In the match against Namibia, he scored twice and was the man-of-the-match.
In 2012 Ram helped Tonga Sevens defeat Fiji for the first time in history at the Wellington Sevens. Most recently, Ram was again selected to the Tongan Sevens team at the 2018 Sevens Rugby World Cup in San Francisco.
Following the 2016 season with Northland, Ram moved to the United Kingdom and played in the English Championship with the Doncaster Knights. For the 2018-2019 season, he signed with Doncaster rivals, Coventry. His performance earned him Players’ Player of the Season honors at Castle Park and also Championship Dream Team honors, a selection made by the coaches of the 12 Championship clubs.
For 2020 he was signed to the japan Top league, the NEC Green Dragons, and joins the Free Jacks for the 2021 MLR season.
New England Free Jacks Comments
“First and foremost I thank God for this blessing,” commented Ram. “It’s a great opportunity to become part of the Free Jacks family and experience the exciting footy that is MLR. I’m looking forward to sharing my experiences on and off the field and contributing to the development of what is a fantastic organization.”
“Jack ‘The Battering’ Ram is a super explosive player on both sides of the ball,” commented Head Coach, Ryan Martin. “Jack brings a wealth of knowledge as a professional at the top echelon of the game for over eight years and will be a great resource for our younger players. Jack is a multi-positional forward who will terrify opposition defenses with the ball in hand.”
In 2015 after three strong seasons in the Mitre 10 Cup with the Taniwha, and two seasons in the wider training squad for Super Rugby’s the Blues, Ram made his first appearance for the Auckland-based team in their 2015 Super Rugby final pool match against the Highlanders.
Join Jack and the Free Jacks for the next virtual meet and greet, “News & Brews,” on Thursday, September 10th. Grab a Free Jacks IPA by Baxter and join the virtual gathering and get to know the newest Free Jacks and the returning players. RSVP using the link here: https://www.freejacks.com/news-and-brews/.
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