David Pocock
Openside Flanker
Profile
Height: 1.84m
Weight: 104kg
Date Of Birth: 23/04/1988
Place of Birth: Gweru, Zimbabwe
Club: ACT Brumbies
Test Rugby Points: 20 (4t)
Test Rugby Debut: 2008 v All Blacks, Hong Kong
Test Rugby Caps: 45
David Pocock is another of the young guns being squired and tested for the future by Australian head coach Robbie Deans.
Born in 1988 in Zimbabwe, David Pocock made the Wallabies squad some six years after settling in Australia. An openside flanker, he is all action, and at 1.81m and 101kg and a fair turn of speed he is a problem for any team. It is difficult to miss the blonde, tousled hair of Pocock.
For years Phil Waugh and George Smith battled it out for openside flanker as it was realised that Australia lost too much in height in the lineout when both were on the field. Smith seemed quicker to the ruck and maul and more adept at keeping on his feet, while Waugh was mighty on the tackle and might have edged Smith at ball handling. But there was nothing much in it, and Smith and Waugh individually were as good as any flankers that Australia has ever had. However both are ageing, and injuries take their toll, so Pocock has been selected to understudy them. Being human, his desire is to out-perform them. This is what competition is all about. There is also Richard Brown in the mix, as well as perhaps Hugh McMeniman, Wycliff Palu, Dean Mumm, Mark Chisholm, Rocky Elsom and Stephen Hoiles. Which two flankers will be in the next World Cup? Talent there is aplenty, and Pocock is high on the list.
Pocock came almost out of nowhere to be picked for the spring tour in 2008. Though he did not appear in any of the domestic nine Tests in 2008, he was on the bench and played against New Zealand in Hong Kong, Italy and the Barbarians.
Noted rugby writer Wayne Smith, who accompanied the team on the spring tour, had this to say in an article “Pocock lingering in the flanks no more.”
“The eight-season nexus between George Smith and Phil Waugh will be broken today when exciting 20-year-old David Pocock is announced as the back-up openside flanker in the Australian side to play the All blacks on Saturday.
“Almost from the moment their Test careers first intersected in the 2000 Test against England at Twickenham, Smith and Waugh have been virtually interchangeable in the Wallabies line-up.
“If they weren’t playing side by side in the back row, they were tag-teaming at seven, one coming off the bench to relieve the other. But as with so many combinations he inherited, Wallabies’ coach Robbie Deans will sweep that all aside today by bringing Zimbabwe-born Pocock on to his bench as understudy to Smith for the first Bledisloe Cup Test played outside Australia and New Zealand.
“The writing was on the wall for Waratahs captain Waugh when he was allocated barely three minutes of game time at the tail end of Bledisloe111 in Brisbane on September 13, despite the fact the All Blacks were dominating the breakdown for most of the second half.
“Sources have even suggested Waugh’s place in the 34-man touring party for the spring campaign came up for debate and it may only have been the fact the Wallabies pack is down on experience following the loss of Dan Vickerman and Rocky Elsom that saved him.
“It would be premature to write off a warrior like Waugh, especially since he only last month turned 29 and is barely 10 months older than Smith, who is regarded as being at the peak of his game.
“Yet there is no holding back the tide of youth that is threatening to swamp this Australian side, with Pocock already being hailed not just as the long-term successor to Smith and Waugh, but even as the player who in the short term might lead the Wallabies at the next World Cup in 2011.
“Just how fresh faced some of these Wallabies are is driven home by the fact that only three years ago Pocock was playing inside centre alongside Quade Cooper in the Churchie side that won the Brisbane GPS premiership at the expense of a Nudgee team that the following year, with James O’Connor running riot, took its revenge.
“ But yesterday the three tyros sat side by side on a Chinese junk as the Wallabies took in Hong Kong’s spectacular sky-line from the harbour, while on the upper deck veteran winger Lote Tuqiri held court with the media.”
What is for certain is that there are exciting times awaiting rugby fans leading up to 2011. There will be intense battles for all positions, but none will be more intriguing than the flanker spot.
At the end of 2008, Pocock can count two Tests to his name.
Height: 1.84m
Weight: 104kg
Date Of Birth: 23/04/1988
Place of Birth: Gweru, Zimbabwe
Club: ACT Brumbies
Test Rugby Points: 20 (4t)
Test Rugby Debut: 2008 v All Blacks, Hong Kong
Test Rugby Caps: 45
David Pocock is another of the young guns being squired and tested for the future by Australian head coach Robbie Deans.
Born in 1988 in Zimbabwe, David Pocock made the Wallabies squad some six years after settling in Australia. An openside flanker, he is all action, and at 1.81m and 101kg and a fair turn of speed he is a problem for any team. It is difficult to miss the blonde, tousled hair of Pocock.
For years Phil Waugh and George Smith battled it out for openside flanker as it was realised that Australia lost too much in height in the lineout when both were on the field. Smith seemed quicker to the ruck and maul and more adept at keeping on his feet, while Waugh was mighty on the tackle and might have edged Smith at ball handling. But there was nothing much in it, and Smith and Waugh individually were as good as any flankers that Australia has ever had. However both are ageing, and injuries take their toll, so Pocock has been selected to understudy them. Being human, his desire is to out-perform them. This is what competition is all about. There is also Richard Brown in the mix, as well as perhaps Hugh McMeniman, Wycliff Palu, Dean Mumm, Mark Chisholm, Rocky Elsom and Stephen Hoiles. Which two flankers will be in the next World Cup? Talent there is aplenty, and Pocock is high on the list.
Pocock came almost out of nowhere to be picked for the spring tour in 2008. Though he did not appear in any of the domestic nine Tests in 2008, he was on the bench and played against New Zealand in Hong Kong, Italy and the Barbarians.
Noted rugby writer Wayne Smith, who accompanied the team on the spring tour, had this to say in an article “Pocock lingering in the flanks no more.”
“The eight-season nexus between George Smith and Phil Waugh will be broken today when exciting 20-year-old David Pocock is announced as the back-up openside flanker in the Australian side to play the All blacks on Saturday.
“Almost from the moment their Test careers first intersected in the 2000 Test against England at Twickenham, Smith and Waugh have been virtually interchangeable in the Wallabies line-up.
“If they weren’t playing side by side in the back row, they were tag-teaming at seven, one coming off the bench to relieve the other. But as with so many combinations he inherited, Wallabies’ coach Robbie Deans will sweep that all aside today by bringing Zimbabwe-born Pocock on to his bench as understudy to Smith for the first Bledisloe Cup Test played outside Australia and New Zealand.
“The writing was on the wall for Waratahs captain Waugh when he was allocated barely three minutes of game time at the tail end of Bledisloe111 in Brisbane on September 13, despite the fact the All Blacks were dominating the breakdown for most of the second half.
“Sources have even suggested Waugh’s place in the 34-man touring party for the spring campaign came up for debate and it may only have been the fact the Wallabies pack is down on experience following the loss of Dan Vickerman and Rocky Elsom that saved him.
“It would be premature to write off a warrior like Waugh, especially since he only last month turned 29 and is barely 10 months older than Smith, who is regarded as being at the peak of his game.
“Yet there is no holding back the tide of youth that is threatening to swamp this Australian side, with Pocock already being hailed not just as the long-term successor to Smith and Waugh, but even as the player who in the short term might lead the Wallabies at the next World Cup in 2011.
“Just how fresh faced some of these Wallabies are is driven home by the fact that only three years ago Pocock was playing inside centre alongside Quade Cooper in the Churchie side that won the Brisbane GPS premiership at the expense of a Nudgee team that the following year, with James O’Connor running riot, took its revenge.
“ But yesterday the three tyros sat side by side on a Chinese junk as the Wallabies took in Hong Kong’s spectacular sky-line from the harbour, while on the upper deck veteran winger Lote Tuqiri held court with the media.”
What is for certain is that there are exciting times awaiting rugby fans leading up to 2011. There will be intense battles for all positions, but none will be more intriguing than the flanker spot.
At the end of 2008, Pocock can count two Tests to his name.