A motivated Harry Wilson is primed to hit England for six at the Sydney Cricket Ground where he once daydreamed of playing as a swashbuckling batsman.
The young Wallaby backrower is a self-confessed “cricket tragic” and Saturday night’s epic series decider will have ever more meaning because of the setting.
Wilson, 23, outlined the tweaks he has worked hard on to be a more complete player after being selected on Thursday for his first Test in 11 months.
He is still that bull-at-a-gate powerhouse, with the offloading knack, who coach Dave Rennie rewarded with a Test debut in 2020 but with refinements.
When Wilson was still a teenage student at St Joseph’s College, Gregory Terrace in 2017, he produced one of the most audacious displays of power hitting in the history of Brisbane's GPS competition.
His 100 not out off just 35 balls was a rampage of 15 fours and five sixes against Ipswich Grammar.
Cricket may have shaded rugby for top billing for a time before his break with the Australian Schoolboys set him on his rapid rise to the Junior Wallabies and Queensland Reds.
His knowledge of the SCG stretches to all those classic Australia-England factoids like Steve Waugh’s century off the last ball of the day during the 2002-03 Ashes Test and Usman Khawaja’s twin tons just six months ago.
“I can’t wait for Saturday night. Obviously, being a cricket tragic growing up watching the Ashes every four years, it is certainly one of the biggest rivalries in sport,” Wilson said.
“To be able to play the rugby version of it is pretty cool.”
Wilson has played at the SCG once for Queensland. Unfortunately, he’ll not get to use the cricket dressing rooms that those Wallabies of Mark Ella’s era did in the early 1980s.
“Yeah, I’ve only played there once before so I’m really excited. And I was just saying before, I hope we get to use the cricket change rooms but I’m not sure they’ll be big enough for all of us,” said Wilson, who will have to detour to the footy-specific dressing rooms.
Rennie explained that Wilson’s training form in camp has been strong and moving versatile Rob Leota to the bench enables him to cover the lock crisis as a fresh reserve for that position.
RobValetini and Wilson can offer plenty of pounding ball-carries which are a priority to trump the high impact of bullocking England No.8 Billy Vunipola, a standout in the second Test.
Wilson has worked tirelessly to improve his game since Rennie gave him a blueprint with his calculated omission from last year’s tour of Japan and Europe.
“I guess I was disappointed not to go but I also saw Dave’s plan and knew he just wanted me to improve as a footballer,” Wilson said.
“I tried to take the positive out of it. I had a few months where I could work on my body and bits of my game which you don’t normally get time to do if you are playing week in, week out.
“My main feedback (from Dave) was to work on things like my late footwork (at the line) and trying to isolate defenders rather than, I guess, running into a few people.
“I’m definitely not the finished product but I’ve been adapting my game and I’ll be trying to show that on Saturday night.”
Wilson’s workrate for the Reds is renowned. Cranking out 14 runs and 14 tackles against the NSW Waratahs at Leichhardt Oval when in hot early season form was typical.
His skills at slipping a high offload, finding the tryline just metres out and nearly always getting into games early are other obvious assets to throw at the English pack.
Playing at blindside flanker, rather than No.8, requires a little tweak of focus.
“For me at No.6, it’s a bit more focused on set piece with my lineout and maul roles. I’ve worked on them for a long time so I’m looking forward to enacting them,” Wilson said.
Wilson even tried jujitsu during the off-season to work on his strength around the breakdown.
“Jujitsu is something different. It’s kind of just working on strength low to the ground. I’m not sure if it has helped but I guess it was cool to do,” Wilson said.
The Wallabies will find out soon enough at the SCG where Wilson can impose himself on a massive climax to the series.
