{"id":222373,"date":"2025-10-24T10:03:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T10:03:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/222373\/"},"modified":"2025-10-24T10:03:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T10:03:12","slug":"ben-bamber-is-next-big-thing-thanks-to-wine-crates-and-steak-bakes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/222373\/","title":{"rendered":"Ben Bamber is next big thing \u2014 thanks to wine crates and steak bakes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ben Bamber is busy on his day off, trying to sell his car. It turns out that a Seat Ibiza is inappropriate for someone who is 6ft 8in and owns a 35kg German shepherd and a cocker spaniel.<\/p>\n

Do you fit in a hatchback, Ben? \u201cJust,\u201d the Sales Sharks lock says. \u201cThat\u2019s obviously one of the reasons I have to sell. If I drive for more than half an hour, my knees are agony, mate. So if you know anyone who wants a Seat Ibiza with 120,000 miles on it\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Bamber is much more comfortable in his Ford Ranger pick-up. It suits him better anyway. A heavy-duty, working man\u2019s car with a big engine.<\/p>\n

Alex Sanderson, the Sale director of rugby, describes the 24-year-old as \u201cthe salt of the north\u201d, Bamber being the bloke from the scaffolding site who is known by everyone in the Irlam Greggs. He is set to be the next big thing with England.<\/p>\n

It was Sanderson who popped into that bakery for a few bacon butties the other week, a mile and a half down the A57 from the CorpAcq Stadium, where Sale play, and bumped into a bunch of factory workers who were talking Bamber up.<\/p>\n

\u201cGreggs is where it\u2019s at in Irlam,\u201d Bamber says. Not long ago he played rugby in the town, when he was not around the corner at the Kingsland Drinks warehouse, stacking wine crates.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was tough. It was four nights on, four nights off,\u201d he says. \u201cSix at night \u2019til six in the morning, so 12-hour shifts. Then I\u2019d go for a steak bake.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sanderson loves Bamber \u2014 everyone at Sale does \u2014 because he seems to sum them up. Proper northern grit without ego, skilful and physical. Bamber credits all that to his hard-grafting, outdoorsy life. He grew up with his brother, Kieran, two years his senior, in Urmston, near Sale\u2019s Carrington training base. His father worked in the family fencing business, and is now a lorry driver. Kieran has become an engineer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe weren\u2019t really iPad kids,\u201d Bamber says. \u201cWe\u2019d play rugby on the front, one v one, until my mum called us in for our tea. We\u2019d go off to rugby training then go straight back out again. We\u2019d ruin the grass and flew around with BB guns, shooting each other. The neighbours hated us. Mum wasn\u2019t that pleased about it, either.<\/p>\n

\u201cDad would let us come on sites with him. We probably shouldn\u2019t have, because we were about 14. We\u2019d always go to the yard to muck about on the forklifts.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Sale's<\/p>\n

Bamber clashes with Toulon\u2019s David Ribbans during a Champions Cup fixture in January<\/p>\n

DARREN STAPLES\/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

But that made Bamber tough, and strong. He played rugby league for Langworthy, near Salford, and supported Huddersfield Giants, where his grandfather was a director. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy hero was Adrian Morley. He never played for Huddersfield, but he\u2019s from Salford, local,\u201d Bamber says. \u201cI had the privilege of playing touch rugby with him and Mickey Higham when he was at Warrington, at a little tournament when I was 14. I can say I played with them, even though it was a game of touch.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bamber made the Giants academy, where the dual-code Scotland, Great Britain and British & Irish Lions centre Alan Tait scouted him in 2020, and told his former Newcastle team-mate Pat Lam he should sign him for Bristol Bears.<\/p>\n

Bamber did not thrive there. A long way from home, he learnt how to live as an adult but a series of shoulder injuries scuppered his progress. He continued scaffolding when Sale signed him in 2022, only stopping recently.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d always find that I\u2019d come back in preseason feeling really strong, as you\u2019re carrying heavy stuff around in awkward positions,\u201d he says. \u201cThe biggest building I\u2019ve been up was in Walsall, where me and my dad were doing the gutters.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was awful. I don\u2019t think anyone is a big fan of heights when you\u2019re on top of a cherry picker, fixing a steel gutter that weighs about 40kg and the wind\u2019s blowing. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest lesson I\u2019ve learnt from doing a normal job is how much easier you have it as a professional athlete. [Rugby is] a lot more fun than waking up at 6.30am, freezing cold, getting rained on all day, carrying scaffolding tubes around. There\u2019s a lot more pressure in professional sport, but what it\u2019s taught me is: don\u2019t take it for granted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bamber\u2019s varied skills make him a prospect. \u201cHe\u2019s super physical, he\u2019s learnt to call lineouts, he\u2019s got hands like a back as he played league. Big hands, but soft,\u201d Sanderson says. \u201cHe\u2019s the salt of the north, and has all that talent to boot as well. He\u2019s one of my favourite people, not just favourite players.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Sale<\/p>\n

Bamber is so dedicated to his craft that he loses weight to play at No5, when he prefers to feel \u201ca bit lighter\u201d in the lineout, and puts it on again for doing the heavy work at No4<\/p>\n

CODY FROGGATT\/PA<\/p>\n

England\u2019s era of locks has waned a little, since the days when Eddie Jones had to choose between Courtney Lawes, Joe Launchbury, George Kruis and Maro Itoje. Itoje and Ollie Chessum are England\u2019s present Lions, but with George Martin often unfit, and Alex Coles, Nick Isiekwe and Charlie Ewels never truly establishing themselves at Test level, there looks to be space for a big unit.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, Bamber is so diligent that he alters his weight depending on what position he plays. Sale like their No4 lock to be big and heavy, but their No5 to leap more in lineouts, so Bamber adds or sheds a few kilograms \u2014 fluctuating between 118 and 121kg.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s probably more mental than anything. I\u2019ll feel a bit better in games if I\u2019m a little bit lighter,\u201d Bamber says. \u201cOver a week it\u2019s not much \u2014 a few spoonfuls of rice or summat!\u201d<\/p>\n

In three years at Sale, Bamber has added 10kg, while shaving a minute off his Bronco fitness test time, to 5min 17sec, among the best for front-five forwards. For that, players shuttle up and down different lengths of the rugby field, so Bamber has the lungs too.<\/p>\n

He has one England A cap, earned against Portugal in 2024, and should add to that against the All Blacks XV and Spain in November. After that, who knows? <\/p>\n

\"Ben<\/p>\n

Bamber has belief that he can win the Prem with Sale one day and put down a marker for rugby again in Manchester<\/p>\n

JAN KRUGER\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

He has a chance to prove his mettle against Leicester Tigers and Chessum on Saturday in the Gallagher Prem, when Sale must right the wrongs of their chastening 65-14 defeat by Saracens. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t mind being where [Chessum] is, in England camp,\u201d Bamber says. <\/p>\n

But before prioritising any England dreams, Bamber wants to lift something shiny and heavy with his mates at Sale \u2014 and not a scaffolding pole.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d love to win the Prem,\u201d he says. \u201cWe believe we can, the coaches believe, hopefully the fans believe. I\u2019m from Manchester, I love Manchester. There\u2019s a lot of football around, so it would be good to put a marker down in the city. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf we do, we need to get the parade bus round to the drive-thru Greggs.\u201d<\/p>\n

And fill the trophy with steak bakes? \u201cThat wouldn\u2019t be bad, would it?\u201d Bamber says, grinning.<\/p>\n

Leicester Tigers v Sale Sharks<\/p>\n

Gallagher Prem
Saturday, 5.30pm
TV TNT Sports 3<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ben Bamber is busy on his day off, trying to sell his car. It turns out that a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":222374,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-222373","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222373"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222373\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/222374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}