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QUEENSLAND QANTAS WALLABIES TOWNS WELCOME HOMEGROWN HEROES

Queensland will play host to two Qantas Wallabies Towns over the coming week, with the Gold Coast and Kingaroy set to welcome home their star players.

Since Qantas Wallabies Captain, Rocky Elsom kicked off the Qantas Wallabies Towns visits in Noosa in April, 13 Qantas Wallabies have travelled across the country returning home as part of the grassroots campaign.

On Thursday evening James O’Connor, James Slipper, Scott Higginbotham, Luke Morahan and Ben Daley won’t have to travel too far for their Qantas Wallabies Town with the Qantas Wallabies in camp on the Gold Coast, the five players will meet fans at Pacific Fair Shopping Centre in Broadbeach on the Gold Coast from 4pm to 6pm.

Gold Coast raised O’Connor will join his Qantas Wallabies teammates and four Super Rugby title winning Queensland Reds (Slipper, Higginbotham, Morahan and Daley) as special guests at Pacific Fair Shopping Centre.

The five will share their experiences of growing up in the area and talk about being a part of the Qantas Wallabies, before fielding questions, signing autographs and distributing special prize packs including tickets and merchandise.

One of the game’s most exciting players, O’Connor’s return to the Qantas Wallabies on Saturday evening bolstered the sides exciting backline in the first Test of the Castrol Edge Tri Nations and proved a major factor in the team’s 39-20 win over the Springboks.

Excited by the return to his hometown, O’Connor said he was relishing the opportunity to train in his home state in the week prior to the Qantas Wallabies taking on the All Blacks at Eden Park.

“It will be great to get down to Pacific Fair and catch up with a few of the locals,” O’Connor said

 

“They’ve always been great supporters as they showed when so many of them turned up on Monday for our open training session.”

A former Australian Sevens player, Scott Higginbotham debuted for the Queensland Reds in 2008, with the versatile loose forward providing a powerful combination of strength and speed to the Reds line up.

Higginbotham showed the world what he was capable of last year against Super Rugby Champions the Bulls after he beat two of the Bulls outside backs to the ball then won a 60m sprint to the goal-line to score an astonishing try.

A former Gold Coast Breakers player, Higginbotham said he too was looking forward to meeting his hometown fans.

Higginbotham’s Reds team mate and another from the Gold Coast Breakers alumni, tight-head prop, James Slipper, experienced a dream 2010. Just one month after making his first run-on start for the Queensland Reds, Slipper made his Test debut against Italy in Florence before featuring in 13 of Australia’s 14 Tests in 2010.

A recipient of the Australian Under 20 Player of the Year Award at the 2010 John Eales Medal, Slipper is also credentialed as a loosehead prop.

Slipper said he was looking forward to meeting plenty of fans in the Rugby-mad state as part of the Qantas Wallabies Towns visit.

“Rugby is really on a high in this neck of the woods at the moment,” Slipper said.

“I can sense that everywhere that I go and I’m picking that it will be no different on Thursday down at Pacific Fair.

“The number of well-wishers that I’ve had since Super Rugby and after making the Qantas Wallabies again has been unbelievable, and I haven’t even gotten onto the field yet!”

Queensland Reds Fullback Luke Morahan featured as part of the Silver Medal winning Australian Sevens team at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi last year.

His try scoring prowess was demonstrated when he finished the 2008-2009 IRB Seven’s circuit as Australia’s leading try scorer, as well as the only Australian to feature as one of the top try-scorers for the series.

Following his exceptional performance at Sevens, Morahan first featured for the Qantas Wallabies during the 2009 Spring Tour replacing the injured Stirling Mortlock.

Joining O’Connor, Slipper, Higginbotham and Morahan for the Gold Coast Qantas Wallabies Town visit will be Qantas Wallabies prop, Ben Daley who was one of 11 players to make their Test debuts in 2010, when he ran out against England in Perth.

Daley’s first Test in his home state came later in the year against Ireland at Suncorp where he treated the visitors to a dominant display, showcasing his agility, scrimmaging and defensive skills.

The son of rugby league great, Phil Daley, and a former representative rugby league player himself before switching codes, Daley said he relishes the opportunity to promote the game to a sports loving community.

“The great thing about Gold Coasters in particular, and Queenslanders in general, is that they love their sport and are very loyal with their support,” Daley said.

“That has certainly been the case through my rugby career, which makes it a great thing to be able to thank them publicly like this through participating in the Qantas Wallabies Town campaign down at Pacific Fair.

“It will also make a nice break from training as Robbie [Qantas Wallabies coach Robbie Deans] has been working us pretty hard since we went into camp up here at the start of the week.”.

Capping off the 16 town, three state Qantas Wallabies Towns campaign, will be Berrick Barnes who, following his return to club Rugby with Sydney University last Saturday, will head back to his old school in Kingaroy on Monday 1 August.

Barnes will attend a school assembly at 10am, answer questions from students, host a skills session and distribute special prize packs before travelling to another local school, Taabinga where he’ll also take questions from the crowd and talk about his stellar career to date.

Whilst Barnes has been sidelined from the current squad due to injury, he is hopeful of making a return to international Rugby in 2011.

“It’s been good to get back into playing again and just having some fun,” Barnes said.

“The goal is to play again for the Wallabies this year and, in the meantime, it will be fantastic to get back to my old primary school at Kingaroy.

“I think there’s still some of my old teachers there and I haven’t been back for years, so it will be nice to see some old friends.”  

The Qantas Wallabies Towns campaign has seen 16 players go back to their former schools and Rugby clubs over the last few months to engage local communities, encouraging hometown support as the Qantas Wallabies embark on their quest to win back the Bledisloe Cup, the Castrol Edge Tri-Nations and World Cup.

Skipper Rocky Elsom kicked off the Qantas Wallabies Town campaign in April with a visit to Tewantin Public School near Noosa.

Special thanks to ARU Partners Qantas, Lexus, Sportscraft and Skins for their support across the Qantas Wallabies Towns visits.

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