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Burgs: One of my favourite stories so far from this years Super 14 season has been the rise of "farmer boy" James McCormack!
In what could be the last reminder of the good old days of pre-professional rugby in this country, where anyone with a big heart and dogged determination was a chance of going all the way to a Rep career, McCormack has taken on the professional world from virtual retirement and obscurity to have a genuine shot at getting a Wallaby squad call up.
All power to you James and thanks for being "you" in this world of athletes and beep tests!
Lost River man finds his feet at Brumbies
By Phil Wilkins
Saturday, March 18, 2006
John Connolly is trolling through a host of players as Australia's Test coach, but he never imagined his dragnet would rope in the man from Lost River, the recent captain-coach of the Crookwell Dogs.
By rights, James McCormack should have been concentrating on a number of minor issues, like crutching 5000 sheep on the family property at Red Hill, instead of preparing for the Brumbies' Super 14 rugby union clash with Auckland today. The coaching instincts of Laurie Fisher were obviously working overtime at the Brumbies the week before Christmas when he spoke to Southern Districts' coach in Sydney, Geoff Townsend, and enquired about McCormack's health.
In theory, the Brumbies were well off for hookers, with the 63-Test front-rower Jeremy Paul in his prime after his John Eales Medal-winning year for the Wallabies last season and the powerful David Palavi ever-ready as his reserve on the bench.
But Fisher's suspicions were justified. Paul broke down with a recurrence of a calf strain in the first game against the Western Force and Palavi sustained a serious knee injury in the second against the Bulls.
Yet the Brumbies remain unbeaten after five rounds, and the man at the heart of the forwards' physical storm has been McCormack, 110 kilograms of bush muscle and bone, chest puffed like an aggressive rooster.
The inspirational segment of the McCormack story is that he has been part and parcel of the Sydney club scene for a decade and only now is receiving the recognition he deserves.
A product of Simon Poidevin's old school, Goulburn High, he came off the family property as a fifth generation son of explorers who settled on a strip of the Great Dividing Range in 1856 and began breeding sheep and cattle where the Lost River runs west.
McCormack represented Australian Schools, the Australian under-19 and Australian under-21 teams and played two games for the Waratahs in 2000. But when coach Ian Kennedy's term ended abruptly, "I was sacked, too".
Initially, McCormack captained a Canberra Kookaburra Colts team to a Sydney premiership in 1996 before joining Manly in 1997 and taking part in the famous grand final when Tim Lane pulled one of the great coups by promoting the unknown John Fa and watching the nightclub bouncer dismantle the opposition at tight-head.
McCormack joined Southern Districts after five years, playing hooker and prop for the Rebels, before the front-rower's perennial problems with neck and back induced him to return to station life in 2004, captain-coaching the Crookwell Dogs and leading them to a premiership from No.8.
"I was pretty relaxed, just training on Thursday nights and playing on Saturdays and enjoying myself," he said. "My body was rested, and then I received a phone call from Laurie Fisher to come to training with the Brumbies."
What makes McCormack, 29, such an appealing prospect other than for his bulk and mobility is his ability to hit lineout jumpers Mark Chisholm, Al Campbell and Daniel Heenan with his throws.
Back at Sylvania Waters, Townsend said: "Under pressure, he's certainly the best [Australian] thrower in the Super 14 competition. He doesn't seize up by virtue of where he comes from. He's got no nerves."
And all the time, watching the Super 14 with his microscope is John Connolly.
Brendan Cannon is fighting to provide the Western Force with their first Super 14 win; Queensland's Stephen Moore is struggling to keep teammate Sean Hardman out; the NSW's Adam Freier is performing as well as any.
But imagine the Test team if the Brumbies win the Super 14 with McCormack as hooker. It is a delicious prospect.
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