Australian coach Simon Cron showed an unbelievable amount of faith in picking Cody Walker for the World Rugby Under-20 Championship in Georgia, now the former Kinross first XV skipper wants to repay him.
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Walker and his Australian teammates landed in Georgia on Tuesday and are now preparing to face Wales first-up, but even being on the plane is a chance Walker never thought he’d get.
Injuries looked to have put paid to his selection chances, a broken ankle ended his, until then, stunning Super 20s Championship tournament and kept him out of Australia’s first camp and then its Oceania Cup campaign too.
Basically, he’d been all but ruled out.
Cron picked him anyway, such is the Eastern Suburbs prop’s standing with the Australian coach.
“I didn’t think I’d get picked,” Walker admitted, just before hopping onto the plane. He wasn’t looking forward to the 18-hour flight.
“I was pretty low there for a while after I got hurt, it just came at the wrong time but I worked pretty hard to get it right and luckily the selectors did show that faith in me so I’m really keen to get over to Georgia and get stuck in.
“I’ve come into the group and fitted in pretty well, it’s a really good bunch of blokes so I’m looking forward to it.”
Getting stuck in will start with the Australians’ training camp and then Wales in the side’s tournament opener on June 1.
Walker says he and the side is trying to focus purely on Wales, but it’s tough not to look forward to a blockbuster, must-win clash with England a week later.
The selectors did show that faith in me so I’m really keen to get over to Georgia and get stuck in.
- Cody Walker
“England are the reigning champions, having them in our pool makes it a little more difficult but we’re all looking forward to the challenge,” Walker explained.
“We’re doing what we can to make sure we just stay focused on Wales first-up.”
For Walker, as a prop against northern hemisphere nations renowned for their prowess at the set-piece, his focus has to be on scrummaging.
“We’re expecting Wales to be pretty strong at the scrum so yeah, that’s a real focus for me,” Walker said, elaborating on how much it means to him to represent his nation and his culture.
“It’s something I’m really proud of, you always want to play for your country and you don’t really see a lot of Aboriginal players in rugby union.
“I’m really looking forward to being able to represent my country and my mob.”
“Winning is the ultimate goal, but as I said, we’re just trying to focus on Wales first up,” he said.
The Australians will also face Samoa, another tough ask, in the group stage.
Walker’s side will be looking to build on a positive finish to the Oceania Cup, which started disastrously.
Australia was thumped in the opening game by New Zealand (43-6) before bouncing back to defeat Fiji (32-24) and Samoa (43-20).
The World Rugby Under-20 Championship kicks off on Wednesday, May 31 (Australian time) when England faces Samoa and New Zealand plays Scotland.
Matt Findlay
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
