Patrick Richard Lam is a former New Zealand rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 footballer, of Samoan descent. He was the head coach of Auckland before being appointed head coach of Super 14

Super 14

Super Rugby is the largest and pre-eminent professional Rugby union competition in the Southern Hemisphere...

 team the Blues in 2009. He went to St. Peter's College, Epsom, and captained the New Zealand Secondary Schools rugby team. He played at loose forward

Loose forward

Loose forward may refer to playing positions in both rugby football sports:* Rugby league positions, in rugby league football* Rugby union positions, in rugby union football...

 for Auckland

Auckland Rugby Football Union

The Auckland Rugby Football Union is the governing body of rugby union in the Auckland Region, in the North Island of New Zealand. Its colours are navy blue and white in a hoop design. Auckland's top representative team have won New Zealand's top provincial rugby competition 16 times, more than...

, North Harbour

North Harbour Rugby Union

The North Harbour Rugby Union , commonly referred to colloquially as North Harbour or simply Harbour, is a provincial rugby team which competes in the ITM Cup , the successor to the country's former domestic competition, the National Provincial Championship .-Area:Harbour Rugby encompasses a...

 and Crusaders and moved to England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 where he played for Newcastle Falcons

Newcastle Falcons

The Newcastle Falcons is an English rugby union team currently playing in the Aviva Premiership. The club was established in 1877 and played under the name of Gosforth Football Club until 1990. The name was then changed to Newcastle Gosforth and the club began to play at Kingston Park stadium in...

 and Northampton Saints

Northampton Saints

Northampton Saints are a professional rugby union club from Northampton, England. The Northampton Saints were formed in 1880. They play in green, black and gold colours. They play their home games at Franklin's Gardens, which has a capacity of 13,591....

. He also captained Manu Samoa

Samoa national rugby union team

The Manu Samoa is the men's representative side of the Samoa Rugby Union in both the 15's and the 7's for international competitions. The Samoa Rugby Union is owned by the affiliated rugby unions of Samoa. In Samoa, Manu Samoa is in honour of a famous Samoan warrior. From 1924 to 1997 Samoa was...

 and briefly represented New Zealand

All Blacks

The New Zealand men's national rugby union team, known as the All Blacks, represent New Zealand in what is regarded as its national sport....

.