Ireland’s latest recruit Jamie Benson isn’t the typical rugby star

It’s rare for complete unknowns to get called up to Andy Farrell’s Ireland squad, but for many, that’s exactly what Jamie Benson is.

The south-west Londoner has come from being little known in Ireland to a key player for Ulster and has quickly caught Andy Farrell’s eye.

Before even making his debut at Ravenhill, Benson was twice in with the Irish camp. Andy Farrell revealed he had trained with the squad before their Summer Nations Championship games in July, then returned for an alignment camp in August.

‘It all happened pretty quickly’, Benson said after his first official call-up to the Ireland team. ‘I was kind of in at the deep end to see if I could learn to swim pretty quickly. But once I was in here, the coaches and the boys alike were all very good at helping me and making sure I felt as comfortable as possible to help set me into training.’

The 24-year-old started his rugby at Richmond before joining Harlequins’ academy while balancing his university studies. The RFU held him in high regard, having capped him at U19 and U20 level, and word on the street was they were disappointed to see him leave.

‘There were a lot of reasons behind my move. Any ambitious young professional rugby player wants to play as regularly as possible at the highest level, to play with and against the best players in the world.

‘So when that opportunity came at Ulster, to move and to play more regularly, as I have been alongside the opportunities that would follow potentially here, were all part of the reasons.’

And Ulster was an apt choice for Benson, whose family ties run deep in Belfast. ‘So my mum grew up in Belfast, just 5-10 minutes away from where we play. Still got a lot of family there, which is very nice. It’s definitely made the move across feel a lot easier, and it’s nice to be able to see them a bit more as well.’

Benson says that as a toddler, ‘I was always in an Ireland jersey,’ no doubt thanks to his mother, Carole.

What makes Benson even more unique is that he joined this Ireland team with a degree in neuroscience from Cambridge University, having decided to study full-time when Quins had hoped he’d make rugby his day job straight out of school. He played alongside former England star Toby Flood at Cambridge, so he got a good rugby education there too.

‘It sounds funny when you say it like that, but yes, that’s what I did my final exams in at uni,’ Benson said on being a neuroscientist. ‘So I suppose technically, yeah. But rugby player first.

‘Don’t get me wrong, it was hard studying it. Well, it’s one of the top couple of universities in the world, and trying to pursue a professional rugby career was no mean feat. Certainly tested my time management and my motivation.

‘But getting a foundation in my education was always something that was so important to me because I knew it would free me up. Once I did have that in my back pocket, I knew it was going to be something no one could ever take away from me.’

The son of two doctors, Benson had the brainiac genes in him, and was conscious of having a back-up plan.

‘So I felt like it would take the tension out of my shoulders whenever I was playing rugby, and so certainly having done that, having got my degree, it’s taken the pressure off me a little bit, which only helps me to enjoy my rugby and enjoy the journey I’m on.’

Benson was in the ins and outs of his studies when he was the starting out-half for England in the U20 Six Nations, starring in a team alongside George Hendy, Chandler Cunningham-South and Fin Baxter.

‘It was tricky enough,’ he described that time in 2022. ‘Everything was pretty hectic, especially going away, playing U20s and stuff, travelling around Europe in that Six Nations period. I’ve got vivid memories of trying to scramble to finish essays at three, four in the morning the night before I was playing in some of those U20 Six Nations games.

‘In hindsight, it’s something I’m very proud of achieving because the motivation I had to continue to do that and continue to get my studies done while also pursuing this career path is something that I’m sure even I, looking back, kind of struggled to see how I was able to do that.

With injuries to Jack Crowley, Sam Prendergast and Garry Ringrose, the versatile back could well be in line to make his Test debut in the coming weeks, not too shabby for a neuroscientist.