Will Miller has gone from milking cows at 4am to playing David Pocock and finals for the Waratahs

WILL Miller considered quitting just last year. Now he is a key man for the Waratahs’ finals campaign.

Will Miller has a big chance to impress for the Waratahs against the Brumbies.

LAST year, during one of his long drives home to Berry after a 15-hour work day on the family dairy farm followed by club rugby training, Will Miller was done.

He was going to walk away, give up his rugby dream.

“It’s pretty hard to work 14, 15-hour days and then back up playing footy, work on the morning of games,” Miller said.

“I’d get up to milk [our 200 cows] at 4am, work through to 8am, have half an hour for brekkie, then normally I’d work through to when I’d leave which was about 3pm, grab food as I go, eat on the drive, and train in Sydney.

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“We’d train at 6pm but I’d leave early because I didn’t want to be late for training. Then I’d get home around 10.30pm.

“I’d get a bit of a sleep in the next day, get up around 6.30am, and work all day until 6 at night, and it just goes on.

Will Miller has a big chance to impress for the Waratahs against the Brumbies.

“That was probably the hardest.

“I was pretty close to stopping playing in Sydney last year, because the travel was so much.”

But an unexpected break came when Melbourne Rebels suffered a spate of injuries to flankers in April, and Miller got the call-up to join the team in Durban.

He starred in a 9-all draw with the Sharks, played four more games for the Rebels and signed a deal to join the Waratahs in 2018.

All of a sudden, Miller is wearing the No.7 jersey in place of injured captain Michael Hooper, going head-to-head with David Pocock in Saturday’s match against the Brumbies, and preparing for his first Super Rugby finals game the following week.

“I thought I’d missed the boat for Super Rugby,” the 25-year-old said.

“There’s always younger players that are good coming through so usually you don’t want to pick an older bloke up if you’ve got a younger bloke that’s at the same stage.

“Which I wasn’t angry about, it’s just the way it is.

“I was just really enjoying playing club. The Melbourne trip was great for me, it gave me a chance at that next level and gave me a shot, and this was the carrot at the end of it, and it’s started to be something great.”

Hooper is not expected to return from injury until the semi-finals, if NSW is to progress beyond the quarters.

Miller’s performance against Pocock at Allianz Stadium will give a telling indication of how he’ll handle the fire of a playoff match.

Will Miller dives over to score for the Waratahs against the Rebels last month.

“I have to try stop him in the first rucks, because that’s where we’ll both be in - we’re not both in front of each other all the time,” Miller said.

“And then try to do as much as I can in turnovers, just try to get as many as possible and play my game, and keep on everyone else about the breakdowns and make sure they’re watching out for him and doing a good job to clean our ball and make it safe.

“One of the reasons I love high-level footy is to play against the better players and test myself against them.

“This is probably the biggest challenge I’ve had, so I’m excited to have a one-on-one battle with him and do whatever I can to help our team get the win and try to nullify him a bit.”

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Originally published as Will Miller has gone from milking cows at 4am to playing David Pocock and finals for the Waratahs