Ben Mowen (born 1 December 1984) is an Australian former 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. He was the

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

of the Australia national team and also the

ACT Brumbies The ACT Brumbies (known from 2005 to 2022 as simply the Brumbies) is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory (ACT), The team competes in Super Rugby and named for the brumby, feral horses wh ...

team in

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 has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...

. He played at blindside flanker or number-eight.

Early life

Mowen was born in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

and educated at Villanova College. He played for the Brisbane Easts club, and captained the Queensland under 19s. At the 2005 Under 21 Rugby World Championship he captained Australia to finish second.

Rugby career

Mowen made his

debut in

2006 Super 14 season The 2006 Super 14 season started on 10 February 2006. The Grand Final was held on 27 May 2006. Super 14 is a provincial rugby union competition with 14 teams from New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. This season was the first of the expansion, ...

for the

Queensland Reds The Queensland Reds is the rugby union team based in Brisbane for the Australian state of Queensland that competes in the Southern Hemisphere's Super Rugby competition. Prior to 1996, they were a representative team selected from the rugby union ...

against the Sharks. He made only other six appearances for Reds during the season, all being in non-competition matches, so he moved to the Waratahs in

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

, joining Randwick in the Shute Shield competition. Late in the

2011 Super Rugby season The 2011 Super Rugby season was the first season of the new 15-team format for the Super Rugby competition, which involved teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Including its past iterations as Super 12 and Super 14, this was the 16t ...

Mowen was forced to leave the Waratahs to allow for Rocky Elsom's return from the Brumbies. In July 2011 Mowen signed a two-year contract to play under

Jake White Jacob Charles White (born 13 December 1963 as Jacob Westerduin) is a professional rugby union coach and former coach of the South African national team – the ''Springboks'' – whom he coached to victory in 2007 Rugby World Cup and the 2004 ...

at the Brumbies, being made captain for the 2012 season. In June 2013, former Wallaby,

Stephen Larkham Stephen Larkham (born 29 May 1974) is a retired Australians, Australian rugby union professional player, currently in the role of head coach for Brumbies. He spent his career with the Brumbies (rugby), Brumbies in Super Rugby, for whom he playe ...

stated that, after some doubts, Mowen had turned out to be one of the best leaders he has ever encountered. Mowen made his Wallaby debut on 22 June 2013, against the

British and Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England national rugby union team, England, Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland, Scotland national rugby union team, Scotland, and ...

in the position of blindside flanker. He maintained his spot in the team for the entire series. On 31 October 2013, he replaced James Horwill as captain of the Wallabies. Mowen left Australia at the end of the

2014 Super Rugby season The 2014 Super Rugby season is the fourth season of the 15-team format for the Super Rugby competition involving teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. For sponsorship reasons, this competition is known as Asteron Life Super Rugby ...

. He has said of his departure from test rugby: "I am probably the first (Wallabies captain to be in this situation), but I'm also probably the first bloke to make his Test debut at 28 and retire at 29."

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mowen, Ben Australian rugby union players Australia international rugby union players Australia national rugby union team captains ACT Brumbies players Living people New South Wales Waratahs players People educated at Villanova College (Australia) Queensland Reds players Rugby union number eights Rugby union players from Brisbane 1984 births Montpellier Hérault Rugby players Section Paloise players Australian expatriate rugby union players in France 21st-century Australian sportsmen