Jake Ball (born 21 June 1991) is a professional rugby union player who plays as a lock. Ball played over 100 times for the Scarlets regional side in Wales and was capped 50 times for the Wales national rugby union team. In 2021, Ball retired from international rugby to join

Green Rockets Tokatsu NEC Green Rockets Tokatsu (formerly NEC Green Rockets) is a Japanese rugby union team in the Japan Rugby League One. The team's captain iRyota Asano The previous captain was Takuro Miuchi, who was also the captain of the Japan national rugby union ...

in Japan.

Biography

Ball was born in Ascot, England, to a Welsh father from

Pwllheli Pwllheli () is a market town and community of the Llŷn Peninsula ( cy, Penrhyn Llŷn) in Gwynedd, north-western Wales. It had a population of 4,076 in 2011 of whom a large proportion, 81%, are Welsh language, Welsh speaking. Pwllheli is the pl ...

, North Wales. His father was a rugby player who played for the London-based clubs

London Welsh RFC London Welsh Rugby Football Club ( cy, Clwb Rygbi Cymry Llundain) was a rugby union club formed in 1885. Based in Old Deer Park, Richmond-upon-Thames, London Welsh RFC played in the English Premiership in the 2012–13 and 2014–15 seasons, ...

, and Harlequins. The Ball family migrated to Australia when he was 16, where they are now based in Perth, Western Australia, which is where his four children and wife live. A keen sportsman, Ball had played in the Australian under-19

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

championship of 2008–09.

Rugby career

Club

The start of Ball's career would be in Perth, for the rugby team Western Force, with whom he trained with at the age of 21 in 2012. This experience led to Ball being spotted by Welsh regional team the Scarlets, who signed him on an initial three-year deal from 2012. Ball made his professional debut for the club on 15 September 2012, coming on as a 61st-minute replacement in the team's victory over Connacht in the Pro 12 tournament. During Ball's spell playing in Wales for the Scarlets, he had been a part of the

2016–17 Pro12 The 2016–17 Pro12 (also known as the ''Guinness Pro12'' for sponsorship reasons) was the sixteenth season of the professional rugby union competition originally known as the Celtic League, and the seventh with a four-country format. It was the ...

league winning season for the Welsh side. After playing 133 games for the Scarlets, Ball moved to Japan in 2021 to play rugby for

in the

Japan Rugby League One Japan Rugby League One (formerly the Top League) is a rugby union competition in Japan. It is the highest level of professional rugby competition in the country. The Japan Rugby Football Union created the competition in 2003, by absorbing the ...

. As of the beginning of 2023, Ball has played 15 games.

International

Ball made his international debut in 2014 replacing the suspended Ian Evans in the Wales squad during the

2014 Six Nations Championship The 2014 Six Nations Championship, known as the 2014 RBS 6 Nations because of the tournament's sponsorship by the Royal Bank of Scotland, was the 15th series of the Six Nations Championship, the annual northern hemisphere rugby union championshi ...

. Ball made his first test start in a 27–6 victory over France during the 2014 Six nations. Playing for Wales would take Ball to the Southern Hemisphere for the

2014 Wales rugby union tour of South Africa In June 2014, Wales toured South Africa, playing a 2-test series against the Springboks. In addition to the two Test matches, Wales also played a warm-up uncapped match against domestic club side . The three matches coincided with the June Inte ...

, and also Ball would feature in the

2015 Rugby World Cup The 2015 Rugby World Cup was the eighth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial rugby union world championship. The tournament was hosted by England from 18 September to 31 October. Of the 20 countries competing in the World Cup in 2011, there was onl ...

in a game versus Uruguay. Ball would play regularly for Wales, this despite dislocating his shoulder in an international against New Zealand in the 2017

Autumn internationals The autumn internationals, November internationals, end-of-year tests, and spring internationals/tour for Australia and New Zealand, are men's rugby union Test matches that are contested around November each year. It is organised by World Rugby. Te ...

, the injury would keep him off the field for 10 months. Ball would play a part in Wales' grand slam winning

2019 Six Nations Championship The 2019 Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Six Nations for sponsorship reasons) was the 20th Six Nations Championship, the annual rugby union competition contested by the national teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland ...

, and later that year he would go on to feature prominently in the

2019 Rugby World Cup The 2019 Rugby World Cup was the ninth edition of the Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's rugby union teams. It was hosted in Japan from 20 September to 2 November in 12 venues all across the country. The opening match ...

. Ball retired from international duty in 2021 having gained 50 caps for his country.

BBC website gaffe

For Ball's inaugural international year, the BBC made him famous by mistakenly changing his surname to a rude name which was spotted by his fellow team mate Jamie Roberts and reported and subsequently changed, but not before being ridiculed on social media and in the press. As a response to the gaffe, Ball joked on Twitter that it would haunt him for the rest of his days.

References

External links

Profile
at scarlets.co.uk
Profile
at wru.co.uk
Profile
at Tokatsu Green Rockets website * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ball, Jake 1991 births Living people Welsh rugby union players Rugby union players from Ascot, Berkshire Rugby union locks Scarlets players Wales international rugby union players Western Force players Green Rockets Tokatsu players