NSW Waratah Harry Johnson-Holmes’ ride from schoolboy gun to Super Rugby

He’s the big Waratah with a flaming bushranger beard, a funny nickname, an old passion for performance sportswear and a desire to entertain on and off the field.

Harry Johnson-Holmes in a game against the Chiefs last year.

Harry Johnson-Holmes was a good rugby player as a kid, just not quite good enough to make an Australian schoolboys team.

But the Cowra born, Newcastle-bred Waratah with a passion for music and a good pub schnitzel was fascinated by boys who did make the cut, the way they trained, played and what they wore.

“I played NSW seconds but missed the Aussie schoolboys team,” said the loose-head prop, 23, who went on to be a Junior Wallaby and make his Wallabies debut in 2019 - summoned to South Africa while enjoying a schnitty at the Lord Dudley in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

Harry Johnson-Holmes after scoring a try against the Melbourne Rebels last season.

“I remember watching the Australian schoolboys that year and I was taken aback because they were given Skins. I could never afford them.

“It wasn’t about getting a pair of Skins exactly, it was that this team cares so much about your performance they are willing to give you something I dreamt of getting. And here I was in my trackie dacks.

“Getting into the Waratahs system I was always fascinated by the nuances of being professional.”

Johnson-Holmes, who joined the Tahs squad in 2018 and played both league and rugby growing up, said he is proud of being from a public school background but it did come with challenges.

The Waratah at a Wallabies training sesssion.

“I grew up in Newcastle, I didn’t get exposed to schools with Olympic swimming pools, we didn’t have a gym. We had one football team,” said Johnson-Holmes, who started his rugby with the Cowra Eagles before graduating to the Newcastle Wildfires and now Sydney University.

“Being from a public school, it always had its challenges. Trying to force your way into teams was always a little harder. You’d rock up to a few and the coaches didn’t know your name off by heart.

“I didn’t see it as a limitation. I just went about my business. I’m proud of the public school system.’’

Johnson-Holmes grew up in Cowra and Newcastle but now lives at Kensington. Pic: Rugby Australia.

To this day, Johnson-Homes, who has left his school band behind but still sings and plays guitar, is bemused how the story of his Wallabies call-up while eating in a pub, captured so much attention.

“It’s growing on me. It does get bought up a lot,’’ he said.

“To me it was just a nonchalant detail but everyone seemed to like the fact I was eating a schnitzel when I got the call.’’

Now it’s more likely his beard - “I’m rocking a bushranger vibe and it’s good sun protection’’ - and his feats on the pitch likely to draw attention.

The Waratahs second game of their Super Rugby campaign is against the Brumbies on Saturday at GIO Stadium in Canberra..

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