Rocky Elsom gives a contemporary edge to Heineken’s line-up of rugby legends. At 32, he has not long ceased playing and can look back on a career that includes the last two World Cups.
A blind-side flanker whose all-action style was in keeping with his distinctive forename, Elsom played 75 times for the Wallabies, the vast majority as the starter in the number six shirt. He made an impact wherever he played, whether Australia, Ireland, Japan or, most recently, France.
Nowhere was that impact greater than in his single year with Leinster. His influence has been credited in the step-up that turned a team of contenders, including his fellow Heineken Legend Shane Horgan and Brian O’Driscoll, into the 2009 Heineken Cup champions. That single season earned him selection in 2010 for a Heineken “dream team”, commemorating the first 15 years of the tournament, alongside men who were stars in European club rugby for years.
He went to Nudgee College in Brisbane, one of Australian union’s great elite nurseries, but is hardly a conventional Wallaby. Few of them originate from Melbourne, his birth place, or preface their union career with a two-year league apprenticeship at Canterbury Bulldogs, playing alongside future stars like Johnathan Thurston and Sonny Bill Williams.
And while blind-siders are not generally expected to be big try-scorers, he managed 14 during his international career including four against the All Blacks and a hat-trick – completed in 19 minutes - on his Rugby World Cup debut against Japan.
That globe-trotting career never extended to a stint in England, but he always loved playing there. “Twickenham is an excellent venue and there are many others like that,” he says. “I love the game day but in the week I’d like not to be restricted with the team and get that carnival atmosphere during the Rugby World Cup, and England in the summer is pretty well ideal.”
His misfortune was to have played in an era a little after Australia’s greatest Rugby World Cup teams, but the 2011 tournament still contributed the warm memory of a hard-fought quarter-final victory over South Africa. “An extremely tough match for us. Just an enormous atmosphere against what was a very good South Africa side,” he recalls.
Australia fell to hosts, and eventual winners, New Zealand at the semi-final stage, but he thinks class of 2015 could go all the way, not least because of the return of two players who often lined up alongside him. “Having players like Matt Giteau and Drew Mitchell back in the Wallabies team, with all their experience in Europe, will be huge for them. I’ll be looking for them to make a significant impact.”
But he’ll also be watching out for the men from his happiest home from home, Ireland. “I don’t think they will be ranked in the top couple, but what they have shown over the last couple of years is that they are a team that can win and perform in big matches.”
