Pedigree:- Hertfordshire Colts and Bishop’s Stortford, Saracens, London Division, Public School Wanderers, Penguin Tourists, England Students, England B, Bath, Richmond, Worcester, England B, England, British Lions.

Bath had already been on the receiving end of Clarke’s turn of speed and all round ability and he was duly signed from Saracens for a Bath debut on 7th September 1991with a 28-12 win against Welsh Cup Finalists Pontypool..

The previous season Bath had fallen victim to Saracens 7-9, effectively dashing their hopes of a championship title. Clarke, then Saracens number 8, had burst through to offload to fly-half Lee for a try that Andy Robinson’s brother Sean converted.

At Bath he was soon to emerge as a player of exceptional ability. His handling skills and surging runs figured prominently in various back row permutations.
He sustained an ankle ligament injury versus Gloucester on 10th April 1996 and therefore missed the Leicester Pilkington Cup Final.

His talents were recognized with 40 caps for England from 14th November 1992 v South Africa, aged 24. England won 33-16.
His final appearance was 26th June 1999 v Australia in Sydney when England lost 15-22. He scored three tries in his England career.

He was part of the 1993 British Lions, playing 8 games including all three test matches.
He appeared 5 times for Barbarians between 1991 -2001, scoring 3 tries.

In the 1996-7 season he moved away for a spell with second division Richmond, returning to Bath in the 1999-2000 season. His final appearance for Bath was on 13th May 2001 v Leicester in season 2000-2001.

His final record with Bath:- 86 appearances pre-professional, scoring 25 tries. 50 appearances as a professional scoring 9 tries

On 22nd May 2001 Bath Rugby confirmed that Clarke had left the club to join Worcester. Unfortunately, injury forced early retirement after just 15 games in which he scored three tries. His final appearance for Worcester was 12th January 2002 against Pertemps Bees.

Ben studied at Royal Agricultural College Cirencester and had been in dairy farming.
He moved on into public relations with National Power and is now working in the City as a Bond Broker.

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