Great hopes of Australian rugby to face off

The two great hopes of Australian rugby will go head to head again this Saturday when Will Harrison and Noah Lolesio square off at ANZ Stadium.

Waratahs playmaker Will Harrison is a former captain of the Australian Schoolboys

The two great hopes of Australian rugby will go head to head again this Saturday when Will Harrison and Noah Lolesio square off at ANZ Stadium.

Just don’t tell the pair they are serious rivals for one of the most important roles in the Wallabies, because they’re such good mates they can’t really fathom the idea of competing against each other.

“When we catch up we don’t even talk about footy, it can just be about life and stuff,” Harrison said.

“We’ve played a lot together with me at 10 and him at 12 and that’s been great, because he takes a lot of pressure off my game.

“He’s stood up every time, he’s a really good footballer to play with and a good mate.”

It’s unreasonable to think that either man – both in their first season of senior rugby – can solve the Wallabies’ problems just yet, but they’ve at least given long-suffering fans a glimmer of hope for the future. But patience is the key because there’s no quick fixes anywhere and they both know it.

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Harrison learnt that right from the first time he laced up his boots.

Long before he blossomed into a Waratah and one of Australian rugby’s brightest prospects, he played in the juniors for the Coogee Seahorses in Sydney’s east.

He was a natural but it was a stacked competition and as rude an introduction to the game as anyone has experienced.

“We used to lose every game by about 100 points,” he said. “But it was still fun and I learnt a lot.”

It didn’t take Harrison long to work out there was a silver lining to those horrible beatings because they taught him to keep faith.

The heavy losses became narrow losses then eventually wins as his own game flourished.

Named as captain of the Australian Schoolboys then picked for the Junior Wallabies alongside Lolesio, his star is on the rise, though it doesn’t feel too different to when he started out.

Now 20, Harrison is one of the bright lights of a young Waratahs team that is struggling right now but promising better days.

“It’s pretty exciting, something special is brewing at the Waratahs,” he said. “If the fans stay with us and remain patient it won’t be too far. We’ve improved a lot in a short time and there’s a different vibe around the joint now.”

With a narrow loss to the Reds then a win over the Force, the Waratahs have made a solid start to the Australian domestic Super Rugby competition, but the sceptics are still to be convinced.

Saturday’s clash with the Brumbies should offer some clues.

Four months ago, in the last match before the lockdown, the Brumbies demolished the Waratahs 47-14, piling on 40 unanswered points in the last hour.

It was a crushing defeat, which seemed to give Lolesio the early edge in the race to become the next Wallaby fly-half.

Every match they play against each other is regarded as an audition for the Test job, though it’s possible neither will get the job this year with the more experienced Matt Toomua and James O’Connor ahead of them.

“To be honest, I just see it as another game of footy,” Harrison said. “I’m just focused on playing well for the Waratahs but if something ... happens with the Wallabies I’d jump at the opportunity.

“The first time I met Noah was with the 2017 Schoolboys. It was the first day of a camp at Riverview and we went down and had a kick and got along straight away.

“I love playing against him and he’s obviously in really good form so it’s going to be a good matchup but the most important thing is winning the game.

“Our attack is really starting to take shape now but the biggest improvement is with our D. That’s been really good in the second half of our last two matches.”

The Daily Telegraph