Jack Ram (born 14 January 1987) is a

Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...

n 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 ...

footballer. He plays for

New England Free Jacks The New England Free Jacks are an American professional rugby union team based in the Greater Boston area that competes in Major League Rugby (MLR). They were announced in September 2018 and began to compete professionally in October 2018. They co ...

Major League Rugby Major League Rugby (MLR) is a professional rugby union competition in the United States. The league comprises 11 teams. While operating outside of the governance and oversight of the national governing body, the league is officially sanctioned ...

(MLR). He represented the Tonga sevens team and Tonga national rugby teams between 2009 and 2015.

Early life

Ram's father, Samuel Santa Ram is a

Indo-Fijian Indo-Fijians () are Fijians of South Asian descent whose ancestors were Girmitiyas, indentured labourers. Indo-Fijians trace their ancestry to various regions of the Indian subcontinent. Although Indo-Fijians constituted a majority of Fiji's ...

and is from Tavua. His mother is a

n who his father met and married in Australia. Ram was born in Australia, his parents moved to Tonga when he was 3 to start a business there. He plays club rugby for Lavengamalie Rugby Club. He represented the Tongan under-19 team in 2006.

Career

He joined Lavengamalie Rugby Club in 2005. In 2009, he played in the

Pacific Rugby Cup The World Rugby Pacific Challenge, formerly the IRB Pacific Rugby Cup, is an annual rugby union football tournament held in Oceania since 2006. It is contested by national 'A' teams (formed from the best locally based players, with most not alre ...

for

Tautahi Gold Tautahi Gold is a former Tongan rugby union team that played in the Pacific Rugby Cup from 2006 to 2010. The other Tongan team in the Cup was Tau'uta Reds. The team's name is from the Tautahi, which was Tonga's traditional Navy Army. Gold was chose ...

. In the same year, he was recruited into the Tonga sevens team. One of his biggest victory came in 2012 when he scored a try to help Tonga 7's beat the Fiji sevens side for the first time in history at the

2012 Wellington Sevens The 2012 Wellington Sevens was part of the 2011–12 IRB Sevens World Series and was the 13th edition of the tournament, hosted at Wellington, New Zealand's Westpac Stadium. New Zealand won the title by defeating Fiji 24–7 in the final. Format ...

. He joined the Kerikeri rugby club in 2011. He represented Northland in the

2012 ITM Cup 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

. A bad knee injury sidelined him for most of the

2013 ITM Cup The 2013 ITM Cup season was the eighth season of New Zealand's provincial rugby union competition since it turned professional in 2006. The regular season began on 15 August, when Counties Manukau (National Provincial Championship), Counties Man ...

. In September 2014, an outstanding performance and his 2 tries helped Northland defeat

Otago Otago (, ; ) is a regions of New Zealand, region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island and administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local go ...

in the

2014 ITM Cup The 2014 ITM Cup season was the ninth season of New Zealand's provincial rugby union competition since it turned professional in 2006. The regular season began on August 14, when Taranaki (National Provincial Championship), Taranaki hosted Count ...

. In June 2015, after the

Blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

suffered multiple injuries, Ram was called onto the bench for their final

2015 Super Rugby The 2015 Super Rugby season was the 20th season of Super Rugby and the fifth season featuring an expanded 15-team format. For sponsorship reasons, this competition was known as Asteron Life Super Rugby in Australia, Investec Super Rugby in New ...

pool game against the Highlanders. In December 2017, Ram signed for English club

Doncaster Knights Doncaster Knights Rugby Football Club ''(formerly, Doncaster RFC)'' are a professional rugby union club representing the city of Doncaster, England. The club play in the 2nd division of English rugby, the RFU Championship. Being the most prom ...

in the

RFU Championship The RFU Championship is an English rugby union competition comprising twelve clubs. It is the second level of men's English rugby and is played by both professional and semi-professional players. The competition has existed since 1987, when Eng ...

during the remainder of the 2017–18 season. On 12 April 2018, Ram signed for Championship rivals

Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...

ahead of the 2018–19 season. On 18 August 2020, Ram travels to USA to join

in the

competition ahead of the 2020–21 season.

International career

He made his international debut for Tonga in the

2015 World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup The 2015 World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup was the tenth edition of the World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup (formerly known as the IRB Pacific Nations Cup), an annual international rugby union tournament. The 2015 title was contested between the Tier 2 n ...

against the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. He was then included in the Tongan team to the

2015 Rugby World Cup The IRB 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 ...

. He came off the bench against

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

to replace the injured captain, Nili Latu. He started against

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

10 days later scoring two-tries and setting up another for winger, Telusa Veainu. He was awarded the Man of the Match in that game.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ram, Jack Living people 1987 births Northland rugby union players Blues (Super Rugby) players Rugby union flankers Australian emigrants to New Zealand Tongan rugby union players Australian people of Indo-Fijian descent Australian sportspeople of Tongan descent Fijian people of Indian descent Tongan people of Indo-Fijian descent Sportspeople of Indian descent Tonga international rugby union players Rugby union number eights Doncaster Knights players Coventry R.F.C. players New England Free Jacks players 2015 Rugby World Cup players Tongan expatriate rugby union players in England Expatriate rugby union players in the United States