Lam loving Waikato rugby experience
3rd August 2009 09:03AM
By EVAN PEGDEN - Waikato Times
Jack Lam has already worn the green and gold of Australia on the rugby field but now he is back in the city of his birth and ready to take whatever opportunity might present itself.
Lam, 21, starts at open-side flanker for Waikato in their Air New Zealand Cup season opener against Southland in Invercargill tonight.
Apart from the fact he played No8 for Hamilton Marist in this year's Waikato club competition, little is known here about the rising young loose forward star who used to be a centre.
"Not many people know that I'm actually from Waikato. I was born in Hamilton and I've pretty much just come back," Lam said this week before the Waikato team headed south.
He spent most of his early years growing up in Wellington, moved with his family to Canberra when he was about 10 and played rugby league, due to the lack of junior rugby there, until he hit high school.
That was the turning point in Lam's rugby career as he went to St Edmunds College, a famous rugby nursery in Australia that has produced stars like Ricky Stuart, George Gregan and Matt Giteau.
With an 11-year unbeaten run in Australian schoolboy rugby, St Edmunds was a stepping stone into the Australian Secondary Schools team, which he made as a centre in 2004 and then as a loose forward in his last year at school in 2005 after his school coach had converted him to a forward.
Younger brother Seilala, also a loose forward converted from centre, followed him into the national schools team last year.
But Lam, from a religious family background, felt he had to get out of Canberra and when a family connection put him in touch with Tasman, who were looking for a flanker, he jumped at the chance.
"It was just the rugby over here and I just wanted to get away from the lifestyle over there in Australia. I was getting a bit caught up in the fast lane over there and decided to just sort my stuff and come over here."
He got seven starts for Tasman in last year's Air New Zealand Cup, including one against Waikato at Waikato Stadium, before transferring to Waikato in time to be part of the Chiefs' wider training group earlier this year.
At school and again for Marist he played No8 but both Tasman and now Waikato have seen him as an open-side flanker who can also cover the other loose forward positions, although his two pre-season appearances for Waikato, before a head knock kept him out of the Taranaki match, were at No8.
"It's just that transition of going from ball carrier to ball fetcher. But I enjoy No7. I like to get my hands dirty and my head in amongst it. I love the contact and the defensive side of rugby," he said.
Ad Feedback A cousin of former All Black and Samoa representative Pat Lam, who is now Blues coach, Lam said he had not met his better known relation until last year when he was stepped through a large family tree.
But now the young 102kg, 1.88m loosie who loves tackling hard is looking forward to a cup campaign with Waikato.
"It is pretty much a privilege and an honour to run out for Waikato."
Lam had one ready-made friend when he moved here in the form of hooker Ole Avei, also a New Zealand-born Australian. Their families have close ties.
"All the other boys have made it easy for me here as well. There's an awesome atmosphere in the squad with some real characters," he said.
