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By Jim Tucker
November 15, 2009 The young gun Wallabies flanker who lived that tag at just 12 with a loaded shotgun beside his bed is ready to produce the biggest Test of his life in Dublin.
David Pocock's skills in the dark arts at the breakdown will be taxed like never before against Ireland on Monday morning (EDT) against a forward unit that boasts "far and away the best back row in Europe", according to Wallabies skipper Rocky Elsom.
When Pocock was growing up with his family in Zimbabwe, the violent, farm-seizing of Robert Mugabe's regime all but reached their doorstep. A farming neighbour was gunned down.
They were scary times and Pocock's mother, Jane, remembers an image that fed the family's decision to get out and settle in Brisbane.
"I remember going into David's room one night and he had a loaded shotgun next to his bed and a big fishing knife tucked into his mattress," she said.
"He said, 'Mum, if they come I have to help Dad protect us'. As a mother, it just about broke my heart."
Pocock was 12 then. He hasn't stopped showing that fibre.
He will need it at Croke Park. As advanced as Pocock is at just 21, he will need an old head to counter the Irish skill of slowing down the ball at rucks.
Pocock must be able to uncuff the ball quickly from the collision areas and help generate the momentum in the Wallabies game that killed off England in the second half a week ago and can do the same to Ireland.
Power-running No.8 Jamie Heaslip (109kg) and back-row henchmen Stephen Ferris (109kg) and David Wallace (105kg) are a huge handful for Wallabies counterparts Pocock, Elsom and Wycliff Palu.
"Heaslip is a big hitter, a good ball-carrier and very strong on the ball. You'd say all their backrowers are pretty complete and the way they really dominated was a big reason behind Ireland's Six Nations title," Elsom said.
After making the big call to bench 107-Test warrior George Smith for this Test, Wallabies coach Robbie Deans is certain Pocock is up to it, as much with his mental strength as his football assets.
"In terms of character, he's very strong," Deans said.
"He has a background of, if not hardship, then some realities he's been brought up with that the rest of us have not been exposed to.
"He's a young man but a man in terms of the way he embraces the responsibilities he's got experience."
He is tiring of the gun story being re-told. "Most farm boys had one in Zim. Don't make it a big deal. It was only a single-shot shotgun," Pocock said.
Against Ireland, there will be a moment when he's riding shotgun beside centre Quade Cooper. It will be like old times when he played inside centre to Cooper's fly half at school for Churchie in Brisbane.
"Going through school, I didn't have to make too many tackles, not with Dave Pocock beside me," Cooper quipped.
The Sunday Mail (Qld)
http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,...016959,00.html
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