The Australian lock that the Hurricanes signed out of MLR in America
Ben Grant was the tallest player in Major League Rugby (MLR) last year and is the tallest recruit in the Hurricanes Super Rugby squad in 2024.
The Australian lock stands 2.05m making him the second tallest player in MLR history behind Houston lock Justin Allen (2.08m).
Conspicuous height wasn’t the only reason Grant stood out. The 25-year-old helped the San Diego Legion win 15 out of 16 games en route to the final which they devastatingly lost to the lower-ranked New England Free Jacks (24-25).
Two years in California, however, was a personal triumph for Grant. He started 28 matches and has revived prospects of a long sought-after Super Rugby career by singing with the Hurricanes.
Grant had spent four years with the Force and had a stint as injury cover for the Reds. He made an Australian Under 20’s training squad in 2017 that featured future internationals Tate McDermott, Rob Valentini, Harry Hooper, and Mack Hansen.
“I guess I’ve taken the scenic route to Wellington,” Grant laughed as he spoke with RugbyPass.
“The chance to be here came about in America. Jamie Mackintosh (Hurricanes assistant coach) was coaching the Austin Gilgronis and we struck up a bit of a relationship.
“My dad Travis played in New Zealand. I’d always wanted to do the same thing. Issac Ross, the former All Black, has become a mentor. He used his contacts to help me get a gig in the NPC at North Harbour and that suddenly opened doors.
“In 2017 I was only a teenager when I came across from Queensland to join the Force Academy on a development contract. The next season we were removed from Super Rugby, but I decided to stay around which was a hell of an experience.”
Grant played locally with the Cottesloe club and professionally for the Perth Spirit in the National Rugby Championship. The Spirit won in 2019. The Force refused to disappear and instead participated in Global Rapid Rugby established by billionaire mining magnate Andrew Forrest.
Global Rapid Rugby featured teams from Hong Kong, Fiji, Samoa, China, and Malaysia. It reduced the duration of matches by ten minutes and introduced a 9-point ‘power try’ for attacks launched within 22 meters of the scoring team’s own try line. Time limits were set for scrums and lineouts, and teams were disallowed from gaining ground by kicking directly to touch, even within their 22. The Force won the first title in 2019 before Covid put an end to the competition.
“Andrew was very passionate and involved with the Force. He was often at training. We went to a huge gathering on his cattle farm, and he came to all the games. At one game he donated $100,000 for every try we scored. At halftime, he announced that on the loudspeaker after we’d only scored one try in the first half,” Grant laughed.
“Ironically the travel restrictions of Covid helped save the Force. There is a real zeal for rugby in the West and a lot of good people.
“Personally; I struggled with a lack of game time. I was being told I needed to get bigger and bigger. You can train the house down, but it’s hard to improve if you’re not playing.”
Grant insists American rugby is improving despite the New York and Toronto franchises folding at the end of the last season. A record crowd of more than 10,000 fans attended the 2023 final at the neutral SeatGeek Stadium in Chicago.
“It was disappointing to see those clubs fall over but there are plans afoot to replace them. Almost everyone I talked to said that the competitiveness of MLR has increased. The coaching is better, and some teams are really solid and organised,” Grant said.
Since 2018 San Diego has won 51 of their 77 matches and made four playoff appearances.
Grant models his game on Wallabies legend Nathan Sharpe (116 Tests).
“The thing that stood out about Nathan apart from his lineout and leadership was the good attacking lines he ran. He was really smart and aggressive on the carry. He’d hit holes and make ground others couldn’t.”
Sharpe made 92 of his 162 Super Rugby appearances for the Force who ironically are the Hurricanes first opponent in Super Rugby 2024 in Perth on February 24.
“My first goal is to make my Super Rugby debut but there is a lot of competition at lock. Caleb Delany, Justin Sangster, James Tucker, and Isaia Walker-Leawere are all established Super players,” Grant said.
“It’s been amazing to rub shoulders with All Blacks and train with New Zealand players. They have a really attacking mindset to the game which is quite different from what I’ve experienced. I want to put my best foot forward and keep growing.”
Dominic Bird and Mark Cooksley, officially the tallest All Blacks of all time, played for the Hurricanes.
Comments on RugbyPass
Great work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
2 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
2 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
5 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
35 Go to comments