David Pocock is different. That he should bring an entirely new dimension to this week's World Cup final build-up with his open invitation to David Attenborough to attend Saturday's decider at Twickenham is entirely in keeping with his holistic view of the world and his broad range of interests and activism.
“I’m a big fan of wildlife docos, particularly David Attenborough, he’s a big hero of mine,” he explained yesterday.
“On Sunday, my post-game recovery was a couple of Attenborough episodes; to put my feet up. I was rewatching his Africa series which I think was 2013. If he wants to come to the final I’m sure we could organise some tickets. He’s a legend.”
Clearly, he is of a mind to tone down any spotlight on himself, albeit he was a magnet for cameras, microphones and dictaphones at Australia’s media hour (altogether more embracing than their final opponents’).
He laughed off his interest in saving endangered species, such as the panda, by maintaining his main priority this week is to stop snoring. This is on account of the twice broken nose he suffered in last Sunday's semi-final, leaving him looking as if he'd gone 15 rounds with Muhammad Ali in his pomp.
Relatively straight
Michael Cheika
had said the day before that his squad was a mix of lovers and fighters, and although sporting two purple bruises around each eye and a gash to the side of his right eye, Pocock maintained tongue-in-bruised-cheek: “I like to consider myself more a lover than a fighter. A bit of a knock on the nose can change that. I think it’s relatively straight. My partner Emma says as long as I don’t start snoring she’s happy.”
Pocock also echoed Cheika in welcoming the diverse cultural and political backgrounds of the squad.
“Absolutely. I guess in a group like this you’ve always got people from different backgrounds with different beliefs and I guess ways that they see life. To me that’s exciting. You get to live with those people and be able to challenge yourself and be able to talk about stuff other than rugby.”
Pocock is a co-founder of EightyTwenty Vision, an organisation which are partners with a rural Zimbabwean community development programme.
An activist concerned with climate change, Pocock visited the Leard Blockade against the expansion of the Maules Creek Mine in the Leard State Forest and was arrested when, along with a fifth generation farmer, he chained himself to a superdigger. The charge against him was upheld, but without a conviction.
As part of his campaign against homophobia, although he and partner Emma Palandri held a 'wedding' ceremony in 2010, they have refused to sign the legal documents binding their marriage in law until their gay friends are able to do the same. He is currently studying Ecological Agricultural Systems. He and Emma live The Good Life in Canberra where they have nine chickens and where their garden provides most of their fruit and vegetables.
Pocock was initially reared on a family farm outside of Gweru, a city in the province of Midlands in Zimbabwe where he also began playing rugby at the age of eight in Midlands Christian School.
He recalled yesterday how watching the 1995 final as a seven-year-old made such an indelible impression on him that he resolved then that he wanted to play in a Rugby World Cup.
After the family farm was acquired in the Zimbabwe government’s “land reform program”, his family (mother, father and two younger brothers) emigrated to Brisbane in 2002.
Physically mature beyond his years, so began his meteoric rugby career. After touring the UK as part of the Australian Schoolboys team in 2005, he made his Super Rugby debut as soon as turned 18, and therefore became eligible, in the Western Force’s final game the following year. He made his Wallabies debut aged 20 against the All Blacks in 2008.
But for a series of knee injuries, Pocock would have much more than 54 Tests to his name.
As it is, one of Cheika's masterstrokes for this World Cup was to convert Pocock into a number eight, enabling him to make more carries, while still augmenting Michael Hooper as a destructive poacher at the breakdown.
Having trialled this combination in their Rugby Championship meeting with New Zealand in Sydney, when they eclipsed Richie McCaw and co at the breakdown in a 27-19 win which clinched the Rugby Championship, Cheika put it back in cold storage for the loss in Eden Park a week later.
Now comes the biggest game of their lives.
Incredibly exciting
“It’s incredibly exciting,” said Pocock, while disguising it well. “As a kid, growing up playing rugby, the World Cup was the pinnacle and something I loved watching. There are a few World Cup memories that have stayed with me. To be playing on this stage is very special and to represent so many people all over the world; from a primary school coach in Zimbabwe to a High School coach in Brisbane – to me that is really exciting.”
Pocock has said that he doesn’t want rugby to define him yet this weekend might make that tricky. “That’s been my approach. I’ve absolutely loved the game of rugby and I’m so grateful for the opportunity that it’s given me. But I’m very conscious of the fact that at the end of the game it’s a game. It’s there to be enjoyed, it can offer so much to us, but there’s certainly a lot more to life than chasing a rugby ball.”
When it was put to him that winning the World Cup might change that perspective, he smiled and replied: “If we win, ask me that next week.”
