is a professional

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player who plays as a flanker for

Japan Rugby League One Japan Rugby League One (), formerly known as 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, b ...

club

Saitama Wild Knights Saitama Wild Knights (formerly Panasonic Wild Knights) is a Japanese rugby union team formerly based in Ōta city, Gunma prefecture which played in the Top League. In 2021 it relocated 13 kilometers south to Kumagaya, Saitama prefecture, and re ...

. Born in Thailand, he represents

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

at international level after qualifying on residency grounds.

Early life

Born in Thailand, then in his youth moved to Australia and grew up in

Gunnedah Gunnedah () is a town in north-central New South Wales, Australia and is the seat of the Gunnedah Shire Local government in Australia, local government area. In the the town recorded a population of 8,338. Gunnedah is situated within the Liver ...

, NSW. His junior clubs were the Narrabri Blue Boars and the Gunnedah Red Devils.

International career

After 3 Top League seasons for Panasonic Wild Knights, Ben Gunter received his first call-up to his adopted country, Japan head coach Jamie Joseph has named Dylan Riley in a 52-man training squad ahead of British and Irish Lions test. On Saturday October 23, 2021, Ben made his international debut for Japan against Australia at the Showa Denko Dome in Oita, starting at flanker.

References

External links

* Australian rugby union players 1997 births Living people Rugby union flankers Saitama Wild Knights players Australian expatriate rugby union players in Japan Sunwolves players Japanese rugby union players Japan international rugby union players People from Gunnedah 2023 Rugby World Cup players Rugby union players from New South Wales Naturalized citizens of Japan Naturalised rugby union players Rugby union number eights People educated at Brisbane Boys' College 21st-century Australian sportsmen {{Australia-rugbyunion-bio-1990s-stub