NOLA Gold Rugby Club re-signed Jack Wester through the 2024 Major League Rugby season. The 24-year-old center/wing (25 in November) is 6’2″ and 205lbs.
Jack was loaned to the Dallas Jackals in 2022 after an accident injured nine of their players and played in one match. He also played 67 minutes for NOLA Gold in 2 matches, starting once in 2022.
Jack was signed by NOLA Gold following the 2020 MLR Collegiate draft but did not play during the 2021 regular season. He played with New Orleans RFC and joined ASM Clermont in the summer of 2021.
Jack is from Lakewood, Washington, and played soccer, wrestling, and swimming through 8th grade. He then attended Lakes High School through his Sophomore year and played football as a wide receiver and cornerback and baseball at third base.
His father was in the military and the family moved from Fort Lewis, WA to Alexandria, Louisiana his junior year where he attended Alexandria Senior High School. He continued football as a linebacker and baseball as a third baseman.
Following his graduation, he went to Louisiana State University from 2016 until graduating in 2020 with a Business Degree with double minors in finance and entrepreneurship. He was introduced to rugby in 2017 and played on the D1A rugby team until 2020. In his final year there he was the President of the club, as well as the team captain.
While at LSU, he was named to the first team at Red River Collegiate Rugby Conference at the outside center in 2018-2019 and first team at the inside center the following year. In the Summer of 2019, he played rugby sevens with New Orleans RFC and will likely continue to split time with New Orleans, as well as with NOLA Gold.
NOLA Gold Comments on ASM Clermont Cultural Exchange
By: Bobby Lehman
NOLA Gold’s talent has gone international! We are excited to announce that the Gold’s Jack Webster has joined ASM Clermont for the summer of 2021. With only three days’ notice, Jack flew to Clermont to be a part of the club playing in the Top 14, the top rugby league in France. ASM Clermont has been a mainstay in French rugby, having never been relegated from the top French league since its inception in 1911. Clermont has won the French Championship twice, in 2010 and 2017, and recently won their third European Rugby Champions Cup in 2017.
In January 2020, ASM Clermont acquired a minority stake in NOLA Gold Rugby. In addition to cultural exchanges, the teams will exchange players to further their development. Jack Webster is the first NOLA Gold player to be a part of this program. As one of the best and most consistent teams in French rugby, playing with ASM Clermont is a tremendous opportunity for Jack and all the Gold players who will take part in this program. Jack has been elated with the culture of rugby in France, saying that “playing in France has been an amazing experience. The rugby culture here at ASM Clermont is unreal, and you can sense the community loves the team and rugby”.
Ryan Fitzgerald, the General Manager of NOLA Gold, is excited for Jack and the benefit his involvement will bring to the Gold. As Fitzgerald explains, he is “extremely excited for Jack to have this experience with ASM Clermont in France. Jack is a tremendous player on the rise who had a great developmental year with the Gold in 2021. Playing at a high level in the Top 14 will only accelerate Jack’s development and allow him to use his experience to compete for significant playing time in the 2022 season”.
Speaking about his time in France so far, Jack said that “my experience has been fantastic. The coaching staff has been very professional and open to helping me in any way possible to make me the best player I can be in my short time here. The players have been very friendly, hospitable off the field, and hard-working on the field. The ASM program has been pure class, and I am excited to see what the next three weeks have to offer”.
This partnership has benefitted both clubs as they look to continue their success in their respective leagues. For NOLA Gold, this relationship allows the club to send players to France, such as Jack Webster, to nurture their development. This is just another positive step for NOLA Gold as they enter into an exciting 2022 season!
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