Ben Roberts (rugby league)

Ben Roberts
Personal information
Full name Benjamin Tapuloa Roberts[1]
Born 8 July 1985
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Height 183 cm (6 ft 0 in)
Weight 90 kg (14 st 3 lbs)
Playing information
Position Five-eighth, Halfback, Hooker, Centre
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2006–2011 Canterbury Bulldogs 93 10 0 1 41
2012–2013 Parramatta Eels 37 2 1 0 10
2014 Melbourne Storm 18 2 3 0 14
2015 Castleford Tigers 7 1 0 0 4
Total 155 15 4 1 69
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2006–2007 New Zealand 5 0 3 0 6
2008–2014 Samoa 12 4 9 0 26
As of 8 November 2014

Ben Roberts is a Samoan Australian professional rugby league player currently playing club football for the Castleford Tigers.

Background

Of Samoan descent, Roberts is the cousin of soccer players Tim Cahill and Chris Cahill. He was educated at John Therry Catholic High School, Rosemeadow, and Patrician Brothers' College, Fairfield, alongside Sharks centre Dean Collis.

Playing career

Joining the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in 2006 as a five-eighth, Roberts was originally recruited from Western Suburbs Magpies before became a regular member of the NSWRL Premier League team. In 2007 he has started in halfback in the early rounds due to injury to regular playmaker Brent Sherwin. With Sherwin's return from injury and form, Roberts was shifted to five-eighth.

He made his second international appearance for the New Zealand Kiwis on Friday 20 April at the 2007 ANZAC Test against the Australia national rugby league team in Brisbane.

He was named in the New Zealand and Samoan extended training squads for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup.[2][3] In the end he was selected in the Samoan squad for the tournament.

5 years later he was selected for Samoa in April 2013, for a test match against Tonga in Penrith, New South Wales. Later in the year he was selected for Samoa again, but this time for their 2013 Rugby League World Cup campaign. He featured in all 4 games that the Samoans played, scoring two tries. He scored one try against heavyweights New Zealand in an entertaining 42-24 defeat. He scored his second try in Samoa's 38-4 thrashing of The Kumuls.

On 23 January 2014, it was announced he had signed on with the Melbourne Storm for the 2014 season.

In Round 1 of the 2014 NRL season, Roberts made his debut for the Melbourne Storm against the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles.

On 7 October 2014, Roberts was selected in the Samoa national rugby league team 24 man squad for the 2014 Four Nations series.[4][5]

Super League Career

On the 7th of July 2014, It was confirmed that Ben Roberts signed a contract to play for the Super League club Castleford Tigers in 2015.[6]

He played his first Super League game against the Catalans Dragons in the second round of the season. He scored his first Super League try against the Warrington Wolves in Round 9.

Club Season Super League Challenge Cup Total
AppsTriesGoalsDrop GoalsPointsAppsTriesGoalsDrop GoalsPointsAppsTriesGoalsDrop GoalsPoints
Castleford Tigers 2015 710040000071004
Career total 710040000071004

As of 11 April 2015

    References

    1. ↑ ROBERTS, BENJAMIN TAPULOA 2006 - 2007 - KIWI #727 nzleague.co.nz
    2. ↑ "Kiwis select Sonny Bill". Sky Sports. 8 August 2008. Retrieved 8 August 2008.
    3. ↑ "Samoa, Tonga and Fiji name squads". BBC. 8 October 2008. Archived from the original on 13 October 2008. Retrieved 9 October 2008.
    4. ↑ http://www.nrl.com/toa-samoa-name-four-nations-squad/tabid/10874/newsid/82434/default.aspx
    5. ↑ http://www.zerotackle.com/nrl/toa-samoa-name-four-nations-squad-15250/
    6. ↑ http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/rugby-league/28192546

    External links