Houston’s return could end in a Test debut
Leroy Houston’s return has taken on a life all of its own and could end with a Test debut next month.
It started as an attempt to return to the Queensland Reds and perhaps play the four Super Rugby games he needed to bring up 50 caps. But it’s taken on a life all of its own and could end with backrower Leroy Houston making his Tests debut next month.
It was 2005 when Houston last wore the Wallaby jersey — though not in a Test — so he was as excited as a child on Christmas morn as he sported another yesterday, having done the rounds of the Wallabies’ official outfitting in Caloundra.
Where Eddie Jones had been the man responsible for taking him on the Wallabies’ spring tour 11 years ago as a development player, and then later resurrecting his career when he signed him for the Reds for the 2008 season, it could be that he will be playing against Jones’s England team in the three-Test series in June as a result of a dramatic call-up by Michael Cheika.
Houston, who had played with the Reds from 2008-11 before moving to Bath, has sounded out Ballymore about a return in 2017 earlier this year but the plan only took off after Cheika made his annual pilgrimage to Europe to chase down Australians playing abroad and put in a call to his phone.
“He just rung me ... he left a message,” said Houston wild-eyed and smiling.
“I was shocked, so I rang him straight away. The phone was stumbling out of my hands and everything. I called him straight away. Nice man, hey. Very calm and collected. He knows what he wants and has a vision for the Wallabies. I’m happy to be a part of it.
“First of all he asked if I wanted to catch up for a meeting. I thought it might just be the possibility of coming back here and playing for the Reds or something.
“But when he waved the carrot in front of my face, saying you will be a part of the Wallaby squad, I just dropped everything. The next mission was to try and get a deal with the Reds.”
As it happens, it wasn’t a hard sell. Reds co-coach Matt O’Connor had watched his career from afar as Leicester and Leinster coach and recognised how valuable he could be.
“He had played really well for Bath and he could give us a lot of experience at the back of the scrum and give us a lot of go-forward,” said O’Connor. “He’ll be good for the joint.”
Although he is signed for the 2017 season, Houston still has ambitions of playing the Reds’ last three games of the current season following the June Test window and O’Connor saw no reason why that was out of the question. But first, amazingly in Houston’s eyes, there are the three Tests against England and the possibility — perhaps remote but, then, knowing Cheika’s unpredictability, perhaps not — that he might figure in them.
“It’s surreal. I’m still pinching myself. I think it will all sink when we train.,” he said.
“I’ve got all of these emotions running through me at the moment. I’m tired, excited, a bit scared to be honest, to see if I can match it with these top athletes.”
Houston is, dare it be said, an uncomplicated footballer but that’s what he’s offering Cheika. “I’m a ball runner. We’ve got awesome ball runners here and I just want to add to it. That’s my best attribute.”
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