New Barbarian ready to plunder international rivals

While the Australian Wallabies play Fiji in their first game of the Rugby World Cup in Glasgow this morning, James heads north to Brisbane to play for the Australian Barbarian Under 18s in a tri-series against New Zealand and Samoa.

New Zealand is first up on Monday followed by Samoa the following Friday, James told The Leader this week.

The Tamworth schoolboy, who attended Farrer and Oxley High schools before heading off to Scot’s College in Sydney for Year 10, is excited about both the World Cup and his own international  tournament.

“It’s pretty good, stoked with it,” he said of his Barbarian selection.

However he was up against it to win selection after a mouth injury threatened to derail his season. Playing well in the GPS competition for Scot’s College had put him in line for selection but the mouth injury left him out of the NSW side before he forced his way with some strong performance for Scot’s College. 

While happy with his selection he’s also been excited by the shock Japanese win over South Africa in the RWC.

At the moment though he’s concentrating on playing well for the Barbarians before completing his HSC.

“I’m moving down to Sydney in January,” he said.

“I hope to do an electrical apprenticeship down there as well as try my hand at a bit of junior coaching.”

He’s also fielded a number of inquiries from eight or nine rugby clubs as well as a couple of rugby league clubs to boot.

“I’ve signed with Eastern Suburbs,” he said of the famous Sydney rugby union club.