Ben Gollings (born 13 May 1980) is an English former

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 currently works as a rugby coach for Fiji sevens team. Gollings is best known for his time with the

England national rugby sevens team The England national rugby sevens team competes in the World Rugby Sevens Series, Rugby World Cup Sevens and the Commonwealth Games. England's best finish in the Sevens Series is second place, which they have achieved four times, most recently i ...

. He is the career leader in points scored on the

World Rugby Sevens Series The World Rugby Men's Sevens Series is an annual series of international rugby sevens tournaments run by World Rugby featuring national sevens teams. Organised for the first time in the 1999–2000 season as the IRB World Sevens Series, the com ...

with 2,652 points.

Youth and early career

Gollings was born in

Launceston, Cornwall Launceston ( or , locally or , kw, Lannstevan; rarely spelled Lanson as a local abbreviation) is a town, ancient borough, and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is west of the middle stage of the River Tamar, which c ...

, England. Gollings was educated at Castle Court School and

Canford School Canford School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school for pupils aged 13–18). Situated in 300 acres of parkland near to the market town of Wimborne Minster in Dorset, south west England, it is one of the largest s ...

. In 1997 he led Canford to success at

The National Schools 7's The Rosslyn Park National Schools Sevens is an English rugby union sevens tournament, organised by Rosslyn Park F.C., that has evolved into the world's largest rugby tournament with some 9,500 boys and girls aged 13 – 19 competing annually from o ...

. In 2000, he was selected for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in the Students' Rugby World Cup while at

Brunel University Brunel University London is a public research university located in the Uxbridge area of London, England. It was founded in 1966 and named after the Victorian engineer and pioneer of the Industrial Revolution, Isambard Kingdom Brunel. In June 1 ...

Rugby sevens career

Gollings continued to remain a regular part of the England Sevens set-up. Gollings was the leading scorer three times on the IRB Sevens Series—343 points in 2005–06, 260 points in 2008–09, and 332 points in 2009–10. His accomplishments include several records in the

IRB Sevens World Series The World Rugby Men's Sevens Series is an annual series of international rugby sevens tournaments run by World Rugby featuring national sevens teams. Organised for the first time in the 1999–2000 season as the IRB World Sevens Series, the com ...

. Gollings became the first rugby sevens player to score over 2,000 points in his career during 2009. Gollings finished his career with 2,652 points. On 21 June 2011, it was announced that Gollings' contract with the RFU would not be renewed, ending his international sevens career after 70 tournaments.

Rugby fifteens

Gollings played for

Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the Southern ...

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...

, Bath Development U19 side, Harlequins,

Newcastle Falcons Newcastle Falcons is a rugby union team that play in Premiership Rugby, England's highest division of rugby union. The club was established in 1877 as the Gosforth Football Club. Around 1882 the club merged with the Northumberland Football Cl ...

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engla ...

Doncaster Knights Doncaster Rugby Football Club are a rugby union club representing the town of Doncaster, England. The first XV are known as the "Doncaster Knights", and play in the RFU Championship. Being the most promoted side in English history has led to ...

and Sunnybank. Whilst at Newcastle he was a replacement as they won the 2004

Anglo-Welsh Cup The Anglo-Welsh Cup (), was a cross-border rugby union knock-out cup competition that featured the 12 Premiership Rugby clubs and the four Welsh regions. It was a created as a replacement for the RFU Knockout Cup, which featured only English clubs ...

final. Three years earlier in 2001 he was on the losing side in the same competition when Newcastle beat his old club Harlequins. In 2006, he signed to play in the New Zealand

National Provincial Championship The National Provincial Championship may refer to: * National Provincial Championship (1976–2005), original competition before reform into 14 sides * National Provincial Championship (2006–present) The National Provincial Championship, o ...

for Tasman. From June 2007 Gollings joined Toyota Shokki Rugby. Gollings joined semi-professional club

Rugby Lions The Rugby Lions, nicknamed The Lions, is an English rugby union club based in Rugby, Warwickshire. The club plays its home matches at Webb Ellis Road. Its developmental squad is known as the Crusaders. The club also has a ladies team known as ...

as a player and backs coach. Gollings won every game with the Lions in his first season, amassing over 100 points for the club himself. He was quoted in the ''Rugby Advertiser'' as saying "It's been a special season and I don't think it has fully sunk in with people how phenomenal it is to win every league game. Most of us won't experience that again." However, due to the financial crisis that hit the club in the summer of 2012, Gollings left the Lions in July.

Coach

In late 2012, Gollings took up a sevens coaching role in Sri Lanka. He then relocated to

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

in the United States to take up a major role with Serevi Rugby, a rugby training and development programme founded by

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

player,

Waisale Serevi Waisale Tikoisolomoni Serevi (born 20 May 1968) is a Fijian former rugby union football player and coach, and is a member of the World Rugby Hall of Fame. Serevi is renowned for his achievements in rugby sevens, while also enjoying a long car ...

References

External links

Gollings website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gollings, Ben 1980 births Living people Alumni of Brunel University London Cornish rugby union players Doncaster R.F.C. players English expatriate sportspeople in the United States English rugby union players Gloucester Rugby players Harlequin F.C. players Newcastle Falcons players People educated at Canford School People from Launceston, Cornwall Male rugby sevens players Rugby union wings Tasman rugby union players Worcester Warriors players Toyota Industries Shuttles Aichi players Expatriate rugby union players in Japan Expatriate rugby union players in New Zealand English expatriate sportspeople in Japan English expatriate sportspeople in New Zealand English expatriate rugby union players England international rugby sevens players Commonwealth Games medallists in rugby sevens Commonwealth Games silver medallists for England Commonwealth Games rugby sevens players of England Rugby sevens players at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Rugby sevens players at the 2006 Commonwealth Games English expatriate sportspeople in Australia Rugby union players from Cornwall