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‘Bloody oath’: Ex-Junior Wallabies skipper completes 3 week switch to SVNS
By Finn Morton
Last year’s Junior Wallabies captain Teddy Wilson rose from the bench at Singapore’s National Stadium before running out on the field to debut on the SVNS Series. Australia had run up a strong lead against Argentina and called on the cavalry to close out the contest.
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Wilson, who captained the Australia U20s to two wins in three matches against traditional rivals New Zealand in 2023, was injected into the Pool A clash in the 11th minute along with world-famous former Wallabies skipper Michael Hooper.
It’s almost poetic that Wilson was joined by Hooper. Rugby Australia’s reigning Junior Men’s Player of the Year was thrown into the deep end against the SVNS Series frontrunners but had one of the greatest Australian rugby players of all time with him.
But a month ago, the idea that Wilson would even get a taste of the SVNS Series this season wasn’t on the cards. Other players were impressing in Aussie gold while on sevens duty and Wilson was tied up with the Waratahs.
Wilson has played a few matches for the Sydney-based club in Super Rugby Pacific this season, but with the Waratahs going on a bye after beating the Crusaders, the Aussie sevens came knocking with an intriguing opportunity.
“About three weeks ago when we had our bye for the Waratahs, the sevens just asked me to come in and do about two days during that week,” Wilson told RugbyPass.
“I just came in, did two days… and then on the Saturday they said they want to take me to Singapore. I was pretty pleased, pretty stoked with that.
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“I haven’t been getting picked for the Tahs which is obviously not ideal for me but when the sevens reached out it was a great opportunity and something that I’ll remember forever.
“I said, ‘Yeah, bloody oath I’ll do it’.
“If I can take a bit from this game into the 15s, I’m sure it’ll benefit me,” he added. “Then obviously just the fitness side… if I can take that back to halfback that’d be pretty good.”
After a couple of tough training sessions in some scorching conditions in Southeast Asia, Wilson’s three-week wait to debut at senior level for Australia finally arrived. Early in the afternoon, the Aussies ran out onto the field at the National Stadium.
Wearing the No. 30, Wilson was made to wait a little bit longer with coach John Manenti opting to start the rising star on the bench. With Michael Hooper about two seats down, Wilson and co. waited for their moment.
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James Turner scored inside the opening minute, and Ben Dowling added another as the Australians took a lead into the break.
Australia got off to the perfect start after the interval with Nathan Lawson crossing for a decisive score. Coach Manenti subbed on young Henry Palmer as a replacement for Dietrich Roache a minute later, and the duo of Wilson and Hooper weren’t too far behind.
Another try to Turner during the second half stretched the Aussies’ lead out to a menacing margin. While Argentina struck back through Matias Osadczuk and Gaston Revol it was never really in doubt who the victors would be.
“Yeah obviously pretty nervous, first level of high-level sevens,” Wilson said.
“As soon as I got out there I was just running everywhere. I was pretty tired towards the end but no it was great to get that three minutes and just get a feel of sevens.
“Hopefully we can build from that in the coming games.
“The Argies are probably the best in the world at the moment in the sevens,” he later explained.
“The boys knew we had to get up for this one and it showed. We started so well and we got into the lead and the boys managed to hold on.
“It was a great performance and I’m sure we can build from that.”
With the Olympics just around the corner, Wilson now appears to be in the mix to potentially be on the plane to Paris. Matthew Gonzalez was injured in Hong Kong China which may have opened the door for the Sydneysider.
But Wilson, to his credit, isn’t getting too far ahead of himself.
“Just taking things one at a time at the moment.
“Obviously just want to pay well here in Singapore and then it depends on how I go.
“But whatever comes from it I’ll be so grateful.”
Catch up on all the latest SVNS Series action from the 2023/24 season on RugbyPass TV. SVNS Singapore is live and free to watch, all you need to do is sign up HERE.
