Benjamin Garcia (born 5 April 1993) is a French professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer who plays as a forward and for the

Catalans Dragons The Catalans Dragons ( French: ''Dragons Catalans'', Catalan: ''Dracs Catalans'') are a professional rugby league club from Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales department, France. The team competes in the Super League and are the only team from ...

in the

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

at international level. He spent time with the

Penrith Panthers The Penrith Panthers are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the western Sydney suburb of Penrith that competes in the NRL. The team is based west of the centre of Sydney, at the foot of the Blue Mountains. Penrith ...

as part of their squad during the

2016 NRL season The 2016 NRL season was the 109th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 19th season run by the National Rugby League. The season started in New Zealand with the annual Auckland Nines, and was followed by the All Stars Match, w ...

Background

He was born in

Apt, Vaucluse Apt (; Provençal Occitan: ''At / Ate'' in both classical and Mistralian norms) is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. It lies on the left bank of the Calavon, east of Avignon ...

. He is of

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

and

Algerian Algerian may refer to: * Something of, or related to Algeria * Algerian people This article is about the demographic features of the population of Algeria, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, econo ...

descent.

Playing career

SO Avignon Sporting Olympique Avignon also known as Avignon XIII or SO Avignon are a semi-professional rugby league team based in Avignon in the south of France. They currently play in the Elite One Championship. The club was formed in 1916 and they enjoyed ...

junior and French junior international representative, Garcia moved to Australia to play for the

Wynnum Manly Seagulls The Wynnum-Manly Seagulls are an Australian rugby league football club based at Kougari Oval, in Brisbane's bayside suburb of Manly West, which neighbours the suburb of Wynnum. They competed in the Brisbane Rugby League from 1951 to 1997. Since ...

in the

FOGS Colts Challenge The FOGS Colts Challenge is an 11-team rugby league competition run by the Queensland Rugby League, QRL. It is the highest level of junior rugby league in Brisbane before players move into senior rugby. FOGS in an acronym for Former Origin Great ...

in 2012. After winning the Seagulls' FOGS Colts player of the year award, Garcia moved into the

Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos Rugby League Football Club Ltd., commonly referred to as the Broncos, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos play in Australia's elite com ...

' National Youth Competition squad in 2013. In June 2013, he moved to the

mid-season on a two-year contract, making his

debut against the

Leeds Rhinos The Leeds Rhinos are a professional rugby league club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club was formed in 1870 as Leeds St John's and play in the Super League, the top tier of English rugby league. They have played home matches at Headi ...

on 31 August 2013. On 10 June 2015, Garcia signed a two-year contract with Penrith of the

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

, starting in 2016. Garcia was named in Penrith's squad for the 2016 Auckland Nines, scoring a try in their match against the

North Queensland Cowboys The North Queensland Cowboys is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, the largest town in North Queensland. They compete in Australia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL). Sinc ...

. He rejoined the Dragons in June 2016. He played in the

2018 Challenge Cup Final The 2018 Challenge Cup Final was the 117th cup-deciding game of the rugby league 2018 Challenge Cup Season. It was held at Wembley Stadium in London on 25 August 2018, kick off 15:00. The final was contested by Catalans Dragons and Warrington W ...

victory over the

Warrington Wolves The Warrington Wolves are a professional rugby league club based in Warrington, England, that competes in the Super League. They play rugby at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, having moved there from Wilderspool in 2004. Founded as Warrington Z ...

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

. On 9 October 2021, Garcia played for Catalans in their 2021 Super League Grand Final defeat against St. Helens.

International career

On 24 October 2012, Garcia was called into

's train-on squad for the 2012 Autumn International Series. Following injuries to Clément Soubeyras and

Mathias Pala Mathias Pala (born 14 June 1989) is a French rugby league footballer who currently plays for RC Baho XIII in the Elite Two Championship. He previously played for the Catalans Dragons in the Super League and their feeder club Saint-Esteve XIII ...

, Garcia was called into France's squad for the

2013 Rugby League World Cup The 2013 Rugby League World Cup was the fourteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup and took place in England, Wales, France and Ireland. between 26 October and 30 November 2013. It was the main event of the year's 2013 Festival of World ...

. He made his international debut on 27 October 2013 and played in three of France's Group B matches. Garcia played for France in all three of their matches at the

2014 European Cup The 2014 European Cup was an international rugby league football tournament. The tournament took place in England, Wales, France, Ireland and Scotland between 17 October and 2 November. It was announced beforehand that the winner of the tournamen ...

. He was unavailable for selection for the 2015 European Cup. Garcia played in France's lone international fixture of 2016, an end of year test match against England.

References

External links

Catalans Dragons profileFrance profileSL profile2017 RLWC profileFrench profileFrance RL profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Garcia, Benjamin 1993 births Living people Catalans Dragons players France national rugby league team players French rugby league players Rugby league centres Rugby league props Rugby league second-rows Wynnum Manly Seagulls players