{"id":520187,"date":"2026-04-08T20:35:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T20:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/520187\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T20:35:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T20:35:10","slug":"ulster-rugby-province-sign-irish-qualified-fly-half-jamie-benson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/520187\/","title":{"rendered":"Ulster Rugby: Province sign Irish-qualified fly-half Jamie Benson"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Ulster have confirmed the signing of Jamie Benson on a two-year deal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The versatile 23-year-old can play at fly-half, centre or full-back and will arrive before the 2026-27 season from Premiership club Harlequins, where he graduated from the academy system.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Irish-qualified through relatives in Belfast, Benson has represented England at U18 and U20 level, while he was selected in a wider England A squad earlier this season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">In his senior debut for Quins in 2021, Benson kicked a last-gasp conversion in the Premiership Cup against Northampton Saints.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">He made his Premiership debut in 2024, producing a player of the match performance against Saracens last season. This season, he scored his first Champions Cup try in the victory over Bayonne.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;It feels like a fantastic time to be joining Ulster Rugby,&#8221; said Benson.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;The team are playing an entertaining brand of rugby, which I am excited to be a part of.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;I have strong family connections to the province through my mum, who grew up in Belfast, and I&#8217;m looking forward to getting started.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Ulster general manager Rory Best said Benson&#8217;s arrival will add further competition for places in the squad.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;We are delighted to be signing a player of Jamie&#8217;s quality as we build our squad ahead of next season,&#8221; Best said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;He has shown a lot of potential for Harlequins, performing well when given the opportunity and making an impact at Prem level and in the Champions Cup.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Jamie brings quality and competition to our fly-half depth, and has that added strength of bringing versatility to the back line at inside centre or full-back.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;At 23 years old, he joins us with his best years ahead of him and we can&#8217;t wait to welcome him to Ulster this summer.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Benson will become the fourth new arrival at Ulster who have already confirmed the signings of Eli Snyman, Ben Donnell and Matt Devine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ulster have confirmed the signing of Jamie Benson on a two-year deal. The versatile 23-year-old can play at&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":520188,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-520187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520187","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=520187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520187\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/520188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=520187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=520187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=520187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}