David Pocock ready to take on the world after safari sabbatical, writes Iain Payten

A RETURN to his former homeland and the chance to bond with nature has fuelled the fire in David Pocock ahead of the Wallabies’ World Cup campaign, writes Iain Payten.

Pocock at conservation park Pridelands in South Africa. Picture: Kirstin Scholtz

WHEN you’re washing in a river most nights because your digs don’t have running water, forget WiFi.

So even if David Pocock had wanted to tune in to some Super Rugby during his recent sabbatical in Africa, he had Buckleys staying up on the Brumbies.

“We were based on a farm and for most of the Super season, we didn’t have internet reception. We didn’t even have running water,” Pocock said.

“There was no watching games. We were very much away from it, so it was a bit of a forced break. One my younger cousins would send me a few text message updates with results and how he saw things.

Pocock at conservation park Pridelands in South Africa. Picture: Kirstin Scholtz

“But talking this idea through with ‘Cheik’ a couple of years back or whenever it was, that was the plan. To really get away and freshen up.”

Pocock is speaking to the Sunday Telegraph from Ota, Japan, where he recently started his second season with the Robbie Deans-coached Panasonic Wild Knights.

The celebrated flanker is in the final stage of Australian rugby’s most debated sabbatical, which saw Pocock granted a year’s leave by the ARU and Brumbies as part of a new contract taking him through to the 2019 World Cup.

Those who follow Pocock on social media will know he spent the first half of the year in his beloved Africa, where the 29-year-old and partner Emma stayed largely in his original homeland Zimbabwe. The farm, outside Beitbridge in the low-veldt, is owned by his grandfather.

“We helped run the property, growing tomatoes and so on. And we used that as a base to travel,” Pocock said.

“It allowed us to explore some things around conservation and agriculture.”

Pocock and partner Emma at Mana Pools in Zimbabwe.

Using a long-term goal of helping create a “conservation, community development project” in Zimbabwe, the pair attended courses in game management, safe animal capture and rangeland science. Via newly-made friends and connections with conservation group Wild Ark, they walked among the animals in gameparks, visited anti-poaching units and learned bookloads about Africa’s flora and fauna.

One of the more memorable days, said Pocock, was walking in the Mana Pools National Park, on the border of Zimbabwe and Zambia. Guided by legendary owner Nick Murray, they stood - quietly - within ten metres of a wild bull elephant.

“Nick knows the individual elephants like he’s mates with them. He knows their moods,” Pocock said. “It was incredible. Getting up close to wild elephants on foot, approaching lions on foot. Being in their domain, it was awe-inspiring.”

A bush-bash holiday? Please. This is David Pocock we’re talking about.

“Maybe we squeezed in a bit much,” Pocock says.

Canoeing in the Mana Pools in Zimbabwe.

“I think Emma might have preferred a few weeks on the beach. No, just joking. She was absolutely brilliant.”

To keep fit for rugby, Pocock would “walk a lot”, climb ropes up Boab trees and lift whatever weights he could get his hands on. He used the anti-poaching scouts gear a few times and also borrowed the weights set of a neighbour’s absent son.

“I improvised,” Pocock said. “It wasn’t a huge focus but I just kept things ticking over. Although, yeah, the first two weeks here (in Japan) were a rude shock. But I am loving being back into it.”

Pocock, who also spent a week in Boston doing a Harvard business leadership course, is now back in the swing of rugby again. He hasn’t put on a kilo or lost one even.

So has the sabbatical been worth it? Has Pocock refilled the motivational gas tank after a soul-enriching stint in Africa?

WildArk gave Pocock and partner Emma an exclusive guide through the Mana Pools.

“I think so. I have certainly enjoyed it and I feel like it was the right decision,” Pocock said.

“I am very, very grateful for the opportunity. I am lucky. The goal was to get away and then hopefully be able to really contribute leading up to the World Cup. I guess time will tell whether that happens but I am really keen to get back into it. I am excited about what lies ahead.

“I have enjoyed getting back into rugby again and I feel fresh. You certainly get a new sense of the opportunities that we have as rugby players to do what we love doing.”

WiFi may have been patchy but it didn’t escape the attention of Pocock that Australian rugby has been wallowing in the mud for most of his absence.

“I have stayed in touch with a few guys. There’s no denying the fact it has been a tough year,” Pocock said.

“It’s hard when you’re not part of it but while it’s been challenging, from what I can see there’ve been some real positives come out of it. Take the backrow - there’s been a bunch of young guys given opportunities and that’ll only make us stronger. I really believe that. I think we’ll get back up there.”

Australian political issues have found Pocock too, or maybe he’s found them.

Pocock is itching to get back in gold.

A long-time advocate of marriage equality - he and Emma won’t marry until gay marriage is legal - Pocock says it’s hugely important for Australia to be inclusive, but he also hopes “respect and restraint” is used during the plebiscite campaign.

“At the end of the day we have to live side-by-side as Australians going forward,” Pocock said.

The socially aware flanker was recently tangled up in what appeared a intra-Wallabies skirmish over the issue of marriage equality. Israel Folau tweeted he wouldn’t support it and later on the same day Pocock tweeted out his firm backing. It was viewed as a slap-down to Folau but Pocock says it wasn’t.

“Obviously a bunch was made about the whole me and Izzy thing. But it’s not an issue, honestly,” Pocock said.

“I’d contacted Izzy before I posted something saying “mate just to let you know I was going to post this anyway today”. It was my day off.

“I don’t have any issue with him personally, at all. I have extended family who I am pretty sure have, or will, vote no.

“So you deal with it. You have different personal beliefs and that’s okay.”

Originally published as David Pocock ready to take on the world after safari sabbatical, writes Iain Payten