Misimoa Benjamin Lam (born 9 June 1991) is a professional

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 as a

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expres ...

for

Top 14 The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the French National Rugby League, also known by its French initialism o ...

club

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...

. Born in New Zealand, he represents

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 ...

at international level after qualifying on ancestry grounds.

Club career

Lam played

for

Mitre 10 Cup The mitre (Commonwealth English) (; Greek: μίτρα, "headband" or "turban") or miter (American English; see spelling differences), is a type of headgear now known as the traditional, ceremonial headdress of bishops and certain abbots in t ...

team

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

. He was selected for the Auckland and Blues sides in 2012. He played 12 games for Auckland after making his debut in 2012 against

Hawke's Bay Hawke's Bay ( mi, Te Matau-a-Māui) is a local government region on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. The region's name derives from Hawke Bay, which was named by Captain James Cook in honour of Admiral Edward Hawke. The region is ...

. He made one

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

appearance for the

Auckland Blues The Blues (known as the Auckland Blues from 1996 to 2000) is a New Zealand professional rugby union team based in Auckland, who play in the Super Rugby competition. Like New Zealand's four other Super Rugby teams, the Blues were established by ...

in 2012.

International career

In November 2012 he entered into a contract as a New Zealand sevens player, making his debut at the

Dubai Sevens The Dubai Sevens is an annual rugby sevens and social event held at The Sevens Stadium in Dubai, UAE. Founded in 1970, the event is the longest running sports event in the Middle East. Events The Dubai Sevens has four competitions each year: ...

. Lam won a silver Commonwealth Games Medal as a member of the All Black Sevens team at the

Glasgow Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games ( gd, Geamannan a' Cho-fhlaitheis 2014), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014, ( sco, Glesca 2014 or Glesga 2014; gd, Glaschu 2014), was an international multi-sport ev ...

in 2014. Lam has international experience with the

New Zealand Sevens The New Zealand national rugby sevens team competes in the World Rugby Sevens Series, Rugby World Cup Sevens, Summer Olympic Games and the Commonwealth Games. They have won a record twelve World Rugby Sevens Series titles. The team has been o ...

. Since 2017 he has played for the

Hurricanes A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...

Personal life

Lam was born in Auckland, a nephew of rugby player

Pat Lam Patrick Richard Lam (born 29 September 1968) is a rugby union coach and former player. He is currently Director of Rugby at Bristol Bears in England's Premiership Rugby. Born in New Zealand, he represented New Zealand in schools and under-21 ...

. He was educated at St Peter's College, where he played rugby in the college First XV and excelled at athletics, principally in the

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been conteste ...

(breaking 11 seconds) and

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

, as well as the

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

. In Wellington, while giving his services to the Hurricanes franchise, Lam is completing his degree in Geography and Marine Biology and pursues his interest in

underwater diving Underwater diving, as a human activity, is the practice of descending below the water's surface to interact with the environment. It is also often referred to as diving, an ambiguous term with several possible meanings, depending on context ...

around

Breaker Bay Breaker Bay is a suburb on the south east coast of Wellington City in New Zealand, on the Miramar Peninsula. The suburb contains a 600 m wide bay of the same name. Geography Breaker Bay is a thin strip of land along the southeast coast ...

. He likes reading and he and other Hurricanes players

Ardie Savea Ardie Suemalo Savea (born 14 October 1993) is a rugby union player who plays as a flanker or number 8 for in the ITM Cup, the Hurricanes in Super Rugby and international rugby for the New Zealand All Blacks. Savea was a member of New Zealan ...

, Chris Eves and Blade Thomson have promoted a book club.Hamish Bidwell, "Lam ripping apart defences", ''The Dominion Post'', 27 April, 2018
(retrieved 27 April 2018]

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lam, Ben 1991 births New Zealand rugby union players New Zealand sportspeople of Samoan descent Auckland rugby union players Blues (Super Rugby) players Rugby union wings Rugby union players from Auckland People educated at St Peter's College, Auckland Living people New Zealand international rugby sevens players Commonwealth Games rugby sevens players for New Zealand Rugby sevens players at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games medallists in rugby sevens Commonwealth Games silver medallists for New Zealand Hurricanes (rugby union) players Wellington rugby union players Union Bordeaux Bègles players Medallists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games 2023 Rugby World Cup players