HE’S been aspiring to it since he was a schoolboy and this weekend former Farrer star John Porch will realise his dream of playing for the Australian men’s Sevens side.
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The 21-year old flies out to Wellington this morning after being named to make his debut for the Thunderbolts in the Wellington leg of the HSBC Sevens World Series.
“I was stoked when I heard the news,” Porch said.
He was in Fiji at the time playing with the Australian development Sevens side in the Coral Coast Sevens.
It came as a bit of a thunderbolt.
“It was a big surprise,” he said.
“I had a little bit of knowledge but I wasn’t 100 per cent sure.”
“It’s always something I’ve been aspiring to since I was at school.”
The Sevens seed was sown during his time at Farrer.
He also excelled at the 15-man game and in his final year of school (2012) was selected in the Australian Schoolboys side for their tour of Fiji and New Zealand.
Porch will return to New Zealand with some happy memories after helping the Aussies beat their Kiwi counterparts, and is looking forward to donning the green and gold again.
“It’s always a special experience when you get to pull on the green and gold,” he said.
This time though, the stage is a lot bigger.
It won’t be completely new territory for Porch.
The Fiji tournament gave him a bit of a taste of elite Sevens.
“It was a great experience,” he said.
“There was a lot of offloading and physicality.”
They were pretty much the only non-Fiji team playing, he said, and finished runners-up in the Plate after going down to BLK First Landing 33-17 in the final.
Playing as a utility back, Porch was one of their top tryscorers, crossing twice.
He’s been involved with the development side since mid last year.
The program is mainly training-based, and sees them coming in to train with the main group, in Porch’s case weekly.
“I’m usually in once a week and every second week I’m in twice a week with the main guys,” he said.
That has been good.
“I’m still getting my head around everything,” he said.
The biggest thing for him has been the fitness.
“You’ve got a lot more strain on the body,” he said.
“You’ve got to be a lot fitter.”
His Sevens selection caps a big 12 months for the apprentice carpenter.
He made the step up from colts to first grade for his Sydney club side Northern Suburbs.
“It was a big step up from colts and a big learning curve,” he said.
He handled it pretty seamlessly though and, after impressing at fullback, earned a call-up to the North Harbour Rays for the National Rugby Championship.
“That was another surprise,” he said.
“It was a very good experience and something I’ll always remember.”
He played five games for them, playing on the wing.
He does enjoy the 15s, and hasn’t really thought too much about where to from here.
“I’m taking whatever comes my way – at the moment that’s the Sevens,” he said.
The Thunderbolts have drawn Portugal, Canada and Kenya in their pool for this weekend.
But while it might look a relatively easy draw, Porch said you can never take any team in Sevens lightly.
