Journeyman lock Cadeyrn Neville graduates to master at Brumbies

A “journeyman” used to be considered a competent worker but would rarely graduate to the rank of “master”. Brumbies lock Cadeyrn Neville has.

Brumbies lock Cadeyrn Neville has re-signed with the club. Picture: Getty Images

Back in medieval times, a “journeyman” was considered a skilled, competent worker but it was unusual for them to graduate to the rank of “master”. That is pretty much how the term has come to be used in modern-day rugby but there are rare exceptions. Cadeyrn Neville, for example.

When the Brumbies announce Neville’s re-signing with the club and Rugby Australia through to the end of the 2022 season on Tuesday it won’t be done in journeyman fashion. He will get the full press release and media conference treatment, befitting a man who, at the age of 31, is almost considered one of the rising stars of the game.

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Neville had already played 63 games of Super Rugby — 48 for the Melbourne Rebels, 15 for Queensland — and played three seasons in the Japanese Top League side when he arrived in Canberra just over a week ahead of his debut for the club, in the season-opening Super Rugby match on January 31. As expected, he slotted in unobtrusively at lock and played his part in the Brumbies’ 27-24 win over the Queensland.

But then something mildly unexpected began to happen. Neville began to step out of the shadows as the Brumbies rocketed to second spot on the pre-pandemic ladder, not only shoring up their lineout but figuring prominently with his driving forward play.

At a time when all the critics were saying that Dave Rennie would have to go outside the Giteau Law to bring back such locks as Rory Arnold and Will Skelton, the one exception being made for homegrown second-rowers was Neville.

“He was outstanding for us this season pre-COVID, particularly that last game against the Waratahs where you could tell he was getting comfortable within our structures,” said Brumbies coach Dan McKellar. “We feel Caderyn’s best footy lies in front of him at the Brumbies and also as he pushes for higher honours.”

It is slightly amazing that McKellar is talking of Neville’s best football being in front of him. Yet there is no question the Brumbies’ coaching structure is the best in the country and brings out the best in its recruits.

From foundation captain, Brett Robinson, back in 1996 all the way through to contemporary stars Tom Banks and Tom Wright, the Brumbies unearth skills the other programs didn’t know existed. And now Neville is following in that trend, despite only making his first Super Rugby AU appearance on the weekend against the Tahs after returning from an ankle injury.

The irony is that he was something of a prodigy in his younger days. His Super Rugby career was only three matches old in 2012, when he was chosen by Robbie Deans in a 39-man squad for the Tests against Scotland and Wales.

As a teenager, Neville had put his long limbs and levers to effective use as a rower at the Australian Institute of Sport, representing Australia at the Youth Olympics. Rugby was only something he played in his spare time, starting off as a fourth grader for Manly. Within a couple of years, however, the Rebels had spotted him and made him a contract offer.

Australia was well-served by locks back in 2012, with Nathan Sharpe, Sitaleki Timani, Rob Simmons, Radike Samo and Kane Douglas all playing in Tests that year and so Neville wasn’t needed.

It was the same in 2015 when Michael Cheika brought him into his wider squad but overlooked him for his World Cup team. But now, still uncapped, he has been chosen by Rennie in his Players of National Interest (PONI) squad and while Rennie is adamant his PONI squad is not his Wallabies squad, there is little doubt that whenever it is named for the Bledisloe Cup series in October, Neville will be in it.

In the meantime, his first year with the Brumbies looks like being rewarded with an appearance in the September 19 final.

The Canberra side has two cracks at securing a home final, against the Western Force on Friday night, but should the Perth club spring a huge upset, against the Reds in Brisbane on September 5.

Meanwhile, Karmichael Hunt has been given until late in the week to prove his strained hamstring has recovered sufficiently to play in the Waratahs’s must-win match against the Rebels on Saturday in Sydney.