Benjamin Cima (born March 20, 1996) is an American

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player who plays

fly-half In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16– ...

for the United States men's national team. Cima also plays for the

Seattle Seawolves The Seattle Seawolves are an American professional rugby union team based in Tukwila, Washington. The team was founded in 2017 and competes in Major League Rugby (MLR), the top-level rugby union competition in the United States that began play ...

Major League Rugby Major League Rugby (MLR or USMLR) is a professional rugby union competition and the top-level championship for clubs in North America. In the 2022 season it was contested by thirteen teams: twelve from the United States and one from Canada. Off ...

(MLR). Cima formerly played club rugby for Rocky Gorge and also played at the international level for the United States men's national under-20 team and the

USA Selects The USA Falcons, formerly known as the USA Selects, is the second national rugby team for the United States, usually used for uncapped matches and domestic club sides. The primary national team is known as the USA Eagles or the United States natio ...

Early life

Ben Cima was born in Argentina, the son of former La Salle rugby player, Marcelo Cima. At the age of seven, Cima moved to the United States. Cima was named an All-American in rugby during each of his final three years in high school, and in 2014 led

Gonzaga College Gonzaga College SJ is a voluntary Catholic boys' secondary school in Ranelagh, Dublin, Ireland. Founded in 1950, Gonzaga College is under the trusteeship of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuit Order), one of five Jesuit secondary schools in Irela ...

to its first national championship in rugby at the High School National Invitational tournament.

Club career

Following his high school graduation, Cima played rugby at the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

, where he was a teammate to his older brother, Matias. Cima played senior level club rugby for Rocky Gorge in

Columbia, Maryland Columbia is a census-designated place in Howard County, Maryland. It is one of the principal communities of the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area. It is a planned community consisting of 10 self-contained villages. Columbia began with ...

. In January 2018, Cima signed with the

San Diego Legion The San Diego Legion is an American professional rugby union team based in San Diego, California. The team was founded in 2017 and competes in Major League Rugby. Home field The team plays at Snapdragon Stadium, which is located on the campus o ...

to play in

's inaugural season. Cima currently plays for the

International career

USA Junior All-Americans

Cima made his debut in international play with the United States men's national under-20 team (Junior All-Americans) in 2014 and played at the 2014 Junior World Rugby Trophy. Cima also represented the United States at the 2016 Junior World Rugby Trophy. From his tenure with the Junior All-Americans, Cima is best-known for kicking a game winning penalty goal, from beyond 50 meters in the eightieth minute of play, in a victory over

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

in a 2016 Junior World Rugby Trophy qualifying match.

USA Selects

In late 2016, Cima made his debut with the USA Selects in the

2016 World Rugby Americas Pacific Challenge The 2016 World Rugby Americas Pacific Challenge was the inaugural rugby union tournament created by World Rugby for national 'A' teams to develop home grown talent for their national test sides. The Americas Pacific Challenge provides the Pacifi ...

. He also represented the United States in the

2017 World Rugby Americas Pacific Challenge The 2017 World Rugby Americas Pacific Challenge was the second tournament of the Americas Pacific Challenge, which is a development competition for the Americas and Pacific island nations. The competition was hosted by Uruguay with all games played ...

, scoring in a defeat to

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...

, and in victories over

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

and

USA Eagles

Cima made his debut with the USA Eagles on February 4, 2017, starting at fly-half in the Eagles' 29–23 victory over

in the

Americas Rugby Championship The Americas Rugby Championship, often informally called the Americas' Six Nations, was an annual international rugby tournament between six North and South American nations: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, the United States and Uruguay. Origin ...

. Cima scored three penalty goals and one

conversion Conversion or convert may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * "Conversion" (''Doctor Who'' audio), an episode of the audio drama ''Cyberman'' * "Conversion" (''Stargate Atlantis''), an episode of the television series * "The Conversion" ...

in his debut.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cima, Ben 1996 births Living people American rugby union players United States international rugby union players Rugby union fly-halves New England Free Jacks players Ohio Aviators players San Diego Legion players Seattle Seawolves players