'You belong here': The 20-year-old Super Rugby rookie who could be the answer to Australia's lock crisis
With all four Wallabies locks from last year’s Rugby World Cup set to be playing their club rugby overseas as of 2021, the depth of the position has been questioned constantly throughout Super Rugby AU.
But national coach Dave Rennie may have found himself an answer.
Standing at 203cm and by playing the game at a level simply beyond his years, Rebels lock Trevor Hosea can bring some much-needed youth to help reinvigorate the Wallabies second row.
Hosea have become a staple of the Rebels match day side since making his debut off the bench in the opening round of Super Rugby AU against the Brumbies. He has a tackle accuracy of 93 percent and has already become a leader for the Rebels at the set piece.
The 20-year-old was recently rewarded for his form throughout his breakout rookie campaign, named in Rennie’s players of national interest (PONI) list last month. Hosea said that it was a proud moment for both him and his family, but admitted that he wants to improve his work rate and lineout timing as he looks to officially take that next step.
“Just having eyes on me, it’s a big achievement for me getting selected in the PONI squad but there’s obviously heaps of work to do,” Hosea told RugbyPass.
“I’ve just got to keep working hard because I know there are eyes on me. I’ve just got to show what I’ve got.
“It would mean the world to me [to play for the Wallabies], it was a dream growing up. I’ve been working hard this year, been working hard the last few years to try and get a game under my belt and it’s all working out so far.”
Even though he was born in AFL-mad Victoria, Hosea always had eyes for the 15-man code. He said that he’s been “drawn to rugby” because of his father, having first played the sport at six-years old.
But Hosea made a big decision in 2016 which showed just how serious he was about rugby.
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The up-and-comer decided to move out of home and board at the prestigious Brisbane GPS school, Brisbane Boys’ College, for his last two years of high school. Hosea felt that at the time, it was a move that he needed to make in pursuit of his rugby dream.
“The pathways down in Melbourne were still growing and they’re getting better and better each year, but definitely the way I saw it was that it was a great opportunity to get up there and play some of the best schoolboy footy that there is to offer.
“It was definitely a big step for me going up to Brisbane, a big decision for my family, but I reckon it really paid off.”
But the need to move to a more rugby dominated state brings with it an underdog mentality that Hosea and a few of the other Rebels players have adopted.
The ‘Burn Boyz’ are the small group of Victorian-born players in the squad who have paved the way for the next generation of the states rugby talent to play at that level. Hosea, other PONI selections in Pone Fa’amausili and Jordan Uelese, as well as Rob Leota, make up the small group of players inspiring the next wave of Victorian talent.
As he discussed, it’s a mantle that Hosea and his teammates take pride in representing every time they take the field.
“I’ve always been an underdog and that’s probably what us boys are about, and I guess the mentality has come from that. It’s just trying to put on for the State, for our city, and make something of ourselves and just show everyone that there is an opportunity there.
“I guess it is a responsibility seeing that in a sense, we are role models. Just to be a role model and to show younger players that there is an opportunity and just to keep chasing the dream.”
Hosea made his Super debut in July, three years after he signed a development contract with the Rebels.
He came off the bench in the second half against the Brumbies, but felt that the support of his teammates, including some invaluable words from Wallaby Reece Hodge, helped him ease into Super Rugby.
Ex-All Blacks boss Steve Hansen has revealed the best athlete he ever coached in his illustrious rugby career spanning 24 years.https://t.co/kXXGY8NBHc
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 4, 2020
“When it came to game time, I had a few butterflies in the stomach but I just thought to myself, ‘just do your thing, do your role, do you and you and you’ll be sweet.’
“Coming onto the field, I had a few of the boys come around me as soon as I got on.
“One of the big things for me was when Reece Hodge came up to me after one of our tries and said, ‘You belong here bro.’ That was a real boost for me and it got me up and kept me up; was really comfortable on the field.”
Now seven games into his career, Hosea is just one of many of last year’s Junior Wallabies to have graduated from that level and into Super Rugby – and to have truly made the most of their opportunities.
The second rower started in last year’s one-point Junior World Cup final loss to France, alongside a number of fellow PONI selections in Fraser McReight, Noah Lolesio, Harry Wilson and more.
But with the under-20s side recording a best ever finish at a Junior World Cup, Hosea is taking plenty of positives out of his time with the side as he looks to help usher in what may just be a golden generation of Australian rugby talent.
“There’s a lot of young fellas coming through and I just think it’s that hunger that’s been shown throughout the comp, the hunger to want to represent at higher honours. That’s a real drive for us young fellas coming through and we see the opportunity at the end, it’s there to take, so we’re all fighting for a spot.
“I think it was one of the best performances from an under-20s team in a while. A lot of us young fellas coming through took a lot of confidence out of that World Cup, and it just shows how much it meant to us and how much we’re willing to work to get to that next level.”
Much like their opponents this weekend, the Rebels have been on the road throughout their entire Super Rugby AU campaign. With Victoria having been in lockdown since July, Hosea and his side will be out to “lift the spirits” of their fans with what would be a historic victory on Saturday.
The Rebels face the Force in the final round of Super Rugby AU, where they can secure a maiden playoff berth with a victory by four or more points.
Comments on RugbyPass
An on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
10 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
24 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
24 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
10 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
10 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to comments