The just-graduated Gonzaga HS flyhalf captained his team to a National Invitational Tournament win over Jesuit, helped the USA U20s to a creditable 3rd-place finish at the Junior World Rugby Trophy, and was a major player for the HSAA team last year.

 

The flyhalf is also a brilliant goalkicker, a skill that helped propel Gonzaga to their title, and was enormously important in the USA U20s victory over Uruguay for 3rd place at the JWRT, as he slotted seven penalty kicks in a 26-25 victory.

 

For Cima, though, that tournament also holds a bad memory. In the final pool play match at the tournament, the USA was 2-0 and Tonga was 1-1. Down 28-22 with no time left, the American team, including Cima, thought they had done enough with a close-loss bonus point, to earn a spot in the final. They had a much better points difference than Tonga. And so, with time up, Cima calmly booted the ball into touch, only to find out that a different tiebreaker - head-to-head - would be used. Tonga went into the final, and the USA was left to play for 3rd.

 

“We just had some tough breaks and I believe we were the best team there,” said Cima. “It came down to some mistakes we made in crunch time against Tonga. I made the decision to kick the ball out because I thought he had it in the bag. That was a mistake I learned a lot from. I was upset about it; I was emotional about it. But I got past it and it made me a better player.”

 

The team as a whole learned something, including the fact that had they had to rely too much on Cima’s boot. Against Tonga, they scored six times, but only once through a try. Tonga got tries, and the four-try bonus point that saw them through.

 

“I kicked a lot of penalty kicks and not that many conversions,” said Cima, who ended up with 58 points in four games in Hong Kong. “While other teams were scoring tries, we were scoring penalties. We did a good job of keeping the scoreboard ticking over, but goalkicking will only take you so far. We made mistakes in their 22 and in the goal line. That’s something you’re going to remember and learn from.”

 

Cima will be able to return to the JWRT maybe more than once, as he was one of six players on the team still in high school.

 

“They didn’t single me out as a high school kid or anything,” said Cima of his older teammates. “They treated me like any other player on the team. Overall it was probably my favorite tour with the USA in terms of the bonds I got to build with my teammates. It was really just amazing.”

 

It helps to be a national champion when you come into the team. Cima helps Gonzaga beat Jesuit 26-25 in the NIT Single-School final. Cima is a smooth operator on the field.He uses his outside backs well, is not heavily built, but can take a hit, and sees the space well. He is known for his goalkicking, and should be, but is more concerned with the little things than, say, kicking the game-winning penalty with no time left.

 

“I don’t think about the pressure of a situation, I just take it one thing at a time - one kick, or a pass, or a tackle,” he said. “I try to think about the game and the performance rather than the outcome of the game. At Nationals I just wanted to focus on what I needed to do at that moment, rather than the score or where we were in the game.”

 

Cima will enter the University of Maryland this fall, where he gets to play with his older brother, Matias. Older brother Matias will stay for a final year of eligibility in part to play with Ben.

 

“I never got to play with my brother at Gonzaga because we were four years apart,” said Ben Cima. “We played in one tournament when we were little, but I’d really like to play with him. Maryland has a great business school, so it’s a good rugby decision and a good educational decision for me. It’s going to be cool to play with him.

 

“In South America it’s good for the team to play in a round-robin, sort of a tournament format,” said Cima. “It’s great to tour and meet new people. At Gonzaga we toured Italy and played against the best school team in Italy and I am sure some of those guys will be on the Italy team to South America. So it’s kind of cool to make those connections. But also the format is something the players are all looking forward to.”

 

It’s been a long year for a lot of these players, but Cima says a little rest goes a long way.

 

“Yeah it’s tough and you get weeks of intense competition, and you need a rest, but after a while you start to miss practice and you miss the guys and the competition,” Cima said. “And you want to get back out there. I love the idea of going on tour and playing in different countries.” 

 

And learning a little bit, too.