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'This time last year I was working part-time as a labourer': Aussie's unlikely rise to Scotland squad

(Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)

Australia’s former Sydney Roosters player Charlie Savala has found himself homing in on a dream of playing rugby union for Scotland against the Wallabies after switching rugby codes and moving to Edinburgh.

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The 21-year-old Sydneysider Savala was on Wednesday included in Scotland coach Gregor Townsend’s 36-man training squad, one of four new faces chosen ahead of their autumn international series which will feature a Test against Australia at Murrayfield.

Though it’s still a serious long shot that this novice flyhalf could make his Test debut against the Wallabies on November 7, Savala’s promotion has been meteoric considering he only played his first match for Edinburgh Rugby in March after an injury-disrupted first season.

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Former Wallaby head coach Michael Cheika talks about handling pressure

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Former Wallaby head coach Michael Cheika talks about handling pressure

Savala, who qualifies through his Ayr-born father Scott, switched codes and joined Edinburgh last year after making the move from the Roosters, where he felt he wasn’t getting enough playing time.

A fine sporting allrounder at cricket, basketball and soccer in his youth, Savala focused on both rugby codes and AFL as he progressed through the age grades while growing up in Sydney.

He attended the Scots College where, under the guidance of former Ireland and Australia international Brian Smith, he began to concentrate largely on rugby, ultimately earning selection for New South Wales.

Savala then switched to join the Roosters on a two-year deal in 2018-19 where he was promoted to the senior squad before the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Yet when his opportunities dried up in the pandemic, he was spotted by a Scottish scout after returning briefly to Union with Eastern Suburbs and took the gamble of a new career in Scotland, where he still has strong family links.

Savala has been compared to Scotland’s gifted British and Irish Lions’ flyhalf Finn Russell for his attacking flair, telling the Scotsman newspaper: “I do love the way he plays.

“He’s been the man I’ve looked up to the last couple of years. Going back it would have been Quade Cooper but moving over the years, Finn’s the man.”

In April, Savala told his Edinburgh club website: “It’s been a really rewarding but different experience for myself over the past six months.

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“This time last year I was working part-time as a labourer, playing rugby league and fitting my training in during the evenings.

“Moving across the world to chase my dream would have been the last thing on my mind, but I am so grateful I’ve been able to experience this.”

Townsend has also named two South African-born players – flanker Dylan Richardson, who qualifies through his Edinburgh-born father, and prop Pierre Schoeman, who qualifies through residency – in the squad as well as England-born lock Marshall Sykes, who has a Scottish grandmother.

Scotland will face Tonga on October 30, before fixtures against Australia, South Africa and Japan on successive weekends.

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Eliza Galloway 1 hour ago
Geoff Parling: An Englishman roasting the Lions?

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JW 1 hour ago
James O'Connor, the Lions and the great club v country conundrum

Lol you need to shoot your editor for that headline, even I near skipped the article.


France simply need to go to a league format for the Brennus, that will shave two weekends of pointless knockout rugby from their season and raise the competitions standards and mystique no end.


The under age loophole is also a easy door to shut, just remove the lower age limit. WR simply never envisioned a day were teams would target people under the age of 17 or whatever it is now, but much like with Rassie and his use of subs bench, that day was obviously always going to come. I can’t remember how football does it, I think it’s the other way around with them, you can’t sign anyone younger than that but unions can’t stop 17 or 18 yo’s from leaving for a pro club if they want to. There is a transaction that takes place of a few hundred thousand for a normal average player. I’d prefer rugby to be stricter and just keep the union bodies signoff being required.


What really was their problem with Kite and co leaving though? Do we really need a game dominated by Internationals? I even think WR’s proposed calendar might be a bit too much, with at minimum 12 top tier games being played in the World Championship. I think 10 to 12, maybe any one player playing 10 of those 12 is the best way to think of it, for every international team is max, so that they can allow their domestic comps to shine if they want, and other nations like Japan and Fiji can, even some of the home nations maybe, and fill out their calendar with extra tours if they like them as a way to make money. As it is RA don’t have as good a pathway system, so they could simply buy back those players if they turn good. Are they worried they’ll be less likely to? We wait for baited breath for the new season to be laid out in front of us by WR.

It could impose sanctions on the Fédération Française de Rugby, but the body which runs the Top 14 and the ProD2, the Ligue Nationale de Rugby, is entirely independent.

It’s not independent at all. The LNR is a body under, and commissioned by, the FFR (and Government control) to mediate the clubs. FFR can simply install a new club competition if they don’t listen, then you’d see whether the players want to stay at any club who doesn’t tow the line and move to the new competition, as they obviously wouldn’t fall under the auspice of world rugby. They would be rebels, which is fine in and upon itself, but they would isolate themselves from the rest of the game and would need to be OK with that. I have no doubt whatsoever that clubs would have to and want to fall in line to remain part of the EPCR and French rugby. Probably even the last thing they would want is to compete with another French domestic competition that has all the advantages they don’t.


All those players would do good for a few seasons in France, especially the fringe ones, with thankfully zero risk of them being poached if they turn good. New Zealand had a turn at keeping all of it’s talent, and while it upticked the competitiveness of the Super Rugby teams into a total dominance of Australian and South African counterparts (who were suffering more heavily than most the other way at that stage), it didn’t have as positive an effect on the next step up as ensuring young talents development is not hindered does. Essentially NZR flooded the locate market with players but inevitably it didn’t think the local economy could sustain any more pro teams itself, so now we are seeing a normal amount of exodus for the availability of places again. Are Australia in exactly the same footing? I think so, finances where dicey for a while perhaps but I doubt they are putting money constraints on their contracting now. It’s purely about who leaves to open up opportunity.

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