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How a schoolboy midfielder transformed himself into the Wallabies' most promising long-term 10 option

Noah Lolesio. (Photos by Getty Images)

Depending on whether a Wallabies supporter was the type of person that sees the glass as half full or half empty, they would have entered 2020 with very different expectations for the new season.

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Bernard Foley, Christian Lealiifano and Quade Cooper all left Australia’s shores at the end of 2019.

Has Matt Giteau played his last game of professional rugby?:

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Regardless of how highly you rated that trio, they collectively shared 401 Super Rugby caps and over 160 appearances for the national team.

That’s a lot of experience to shed from one year to the next.

The pessimist would have entered 2020 anticipating ample losses across the board for the Australian Super Rugby sides and without too much hope for the Wallabies either.

The optimist, however, would have looked upon the new season as a new dawn for Australian rugby. Yes, the nation has lost three experienced, practised operators – but that brings with it the opportunity for fresh young talent to thrive.

While it hasn’t necessarily been smooth sailing across the park, two young five-eighth talents have stood out in particular: the Waratahs’ Will Harrison and the Brumbies’ Noah Lolesio.

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That pairing, combined with Reds’ utility Isaac Lucas, shared the playmaking duties for Australia’s 2019 Under 20 side which came within a whisker of snaring the World Championship title.

In last year’s final, Harrison started at 10, Lolesio lined up in the midfield and Lucas operated from fullback.

It wasn’t a dissimilar set-up to New Zealand’s 2011 title winning side, which used Gareth Anscombe at first receiver, Lima Sopoaga at 12 and Beauden Barrett at fullback.

All three of those New Zealand players have now gone on to play international football in the 10 jersey.

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Tellingly, Harrison, Lolesio and Lucas all started at first five in the opening round of Super Rugby.

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While Lucas has since spent time at fullback and on the bench, Harrison and Lolesio started every match of the abandoned season at first receiver.

Harrison’s elevation to the 10 jersey is hardly surprising given his success in the Junior Wallabies but it’s Lolesio’s run with the Brumbies which is a bit more curious.

How does a man who spent all his schoolboy years – as well as his representative rugby – at 12, suddenly get thrust into arguably the most important position on a rugby field and not just survive but excel?

From Lolesio’s point of view, it’s been an easy transition.

“Obviously, I’ve got a great forward pack in front of me and that helps a lot,” Lolesio told RugbyPass. “The go-forward ball I get gives me all the time in the world and I just have to pick the right options.

“I felt pretty comfortable sliding straight into that 10 position. I’ve got great players outside me; the backline is just unreal and full of smart footballers like Irae [Simone], Tevita [Kuridrani] and Banksy [Tom Banks] in the back, which brings constant chatter.

“I didn’t find it as challenging as I was expecting at all thanks to all the great players around me. I’ve just been doing my job for my team and enjoying my footy.”

Although Lolesio was quick to offload the praise onto the rest of the players around him, it still takes incredible talent to handle the playmaking duties for a Super Rugby side at just 20 years of age – talent which was well-spotted by Brumbies coach Dan McKellar when Lolesio was barely out of school.

“I had a chat to Dan because I did half a pre-season with the Brums straight after school,” Lolesio said.

“He just asked me what position I prefer and I said I was pretty easy, I didn’t mind playing 12 or 10 but he basically told me after one training season ‘I reckon you’re a 10, mate’. That was at the end of 2017.”

It wasn’t just McKellar who saw the potential, however.

Wallabies centurion Matt Giteau recently attended a Brumbies academy session and thought Lolesio had enormous potential.

“He was playing 12 at the time and just the way he could play with confidence, attacked the line, the things he saw… I just thought that he was step above most of the kids at that training session,” Giteau revealed to RugbyPass.

“So, I was pretty pleased to see him going well this year and obviously stepping into Christian Lealiifano’s shoes. He did so much here for the club and in the area, it’s obviously pleasing that Noah’s doing well.”

Lolesio himself says Lealiifano played a big part in his development.

“I’m forever grateful to be in that 10 jersey with so many good players having played in that jersey – obviously Christian and Stephen Larkham and all that stuff,” Lolesio said.

“I’m just trying to do my part for the team and make that No. 10 jersey prideful from all those past players.

“When Christian was there last year, he was a dominant presence and such a good leader. He’s helped me so much – I probably hung around like a bad spell.

“He gave me heaps of guidance, on and off the field. He was an instrumental role-model to me.”

Beyond the likes of Lealiifano and Larkham, there have been a number of players that Lolesio has looked up to – some more surprising than others.

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“I just loved to watch guys like Ma’a Nonu and Sonny Bill Williams,” said Lolesio. “Obviously, during school, I was playing inside centre.

“They’ve got the whole package, they can run, pass, kick, defend. I just tried to base my game around that.

“These times now, I still look at players that are playing in the No. 10 jersey that are just killing the game at the moment like Richie Mo’unga and George Ford – just how they control the game.

“I’m always willing to learn, always looking for different ways to enhance my game.”

And what does the future hold for the Brumbies’s newest playmaker?

“I set a goal for myself before this year to start every game in the number 10 jersey,” Lolesio said. “Hopefully, when the season comes back on, I can keep doing that.

The absence of Lealiifano, Foley and Cooper means that there’s also opportunities in the national set-up.

Even Australia’s glass half-empty fans will have taken note of Lolesio’s impressive performances to date – but the 20-year-old himself isn’t looking too far ahead.

“Dave Rennie came down for one pre-season training session and he talked to us as a group, saying that he’s looking for new blood to come through the Wallabies system,” said Lolesio.

“I haven’t had much to do with him yet but hopefully, in the future I do.

“It’s very exciting. I can’t ignore the noise but I’m always focussing on the Brumbies, that’ll always be my number one priority at this time. Hopefully, my performances here impress the coaches there.”

Watch the latest episode of The Season with Brisbane Boys’ College here.

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Flankly 1 hour ago
'Absolute madness': Clive Woodward rips into Borthwick in wake of NZ loss

Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".


But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.


The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.


Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?

4 Go to comments
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Nickers 1 hour ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Very poor understanding of what's going on and 0 ability to read. When I say playing behind the gain line you take this to mean all off-loads and site times we are playing in front of the gain line???


Every time we play a lot of rugby behind the gain line (for clarity, meaning trying to build an attack and use width without front foot ball 5m+ behind the most recent breakdown) we go backwards and turn the ball over in some way. Every time a player is tackled behind the most recent breakdown you need more and more people to clear out because your forwards have to go back around the corner, whereas opposition players can keep moving forward. Eventually you run out of either players to clear out or players to pass to and the result in a big net loss of territory and often a turnover. You may have witnessed that 20+ times in the game against England. This is a particularly dumb idea inside your own 40m which is where, for some reason, we are most likely to employ it.


The very best ABs teams never built an identity around attacking from poor positions. The DC era team was known for being the team that kicked the most. To engineer field position and apply pressure, and create broken play to counter attack. This current team is not differentiating between when a defence has lost it's structure and there are opportunities, and when they are completely set and there is nothing on. The reason they are going for 30 minute + periods in every game without scoring a single point, even against Japan and a poor Australian team, is because they are playing most of their rugby on the back foot in the wrong half.

43 Go to comments
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Nickers 1 hour ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

I thought we made a lot of progress against that type of defence by the WC last year. Lots of direct running and punching holes rather than using width. Against that type of defence I think you have to be looking to kick on first phase when you have front foot ball which we did relatively successfully. We are playing a lot of rugby behind the gain line at the moment. They are looking for those little interchanges for soft shoulders and fast ball or off loads but it regularly turns into them battering away with slow ball and going backwards, then putting in a very rushed kick under huge pressure.


JB brought that dimension when he first moved into 12 a couple of years ago but he's definitely not been at his best this year. I don't know if it is because he is being asked to play a narrow role, or carrying a niggle or two, but he does not look confident to me. He had that clean break on the weekend and stood there like he was a prop who found himself in open space and didn't know what to do with the ball. He is still a good first phase ball carrier though, they use him a lot off the line out to set up fast clean ball, but I don't think anyone is particularly clear on what they are supposed to do at that point. He was used really successfully as a second playmaker last year but I don't think he's been at that role once this year. He is a triple threat player but playing a very 1 dimensional role at the moment. He and Reiko have been absolutely rock solid on defence which is why I don't think there will be too much experimentation or changes there.

43 Go to comments
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