'You want a car crash collision; that's the sexy part of it'

It’s the little things that stand out when it comes to leadership. Junior Wallabies skipper Teddy Wilson arrived for an interview with RugbyPass at the Junior World Championship with a just regular t-shirt on, but he came prepared just in case he needed to look a touch more formal.

Learning there would be a filmed quickfire Q&A section and pics to go along with this general long-read chat about his rugby pathway, he amenably whipped on his official Rugby Australia top.

He then proceeded to very much look the part across a 25-minute conversation that exemplified the 20-year-old's maturity and why he already has Super Rugby Pacific exposure on his fledgling CV and is on a full-time senior squad deal at the Waratahs through to the end of 2024.

Wilson is a quintessential chip off the old block. Dad David was a 79-cap Wallabies back-rower, a nine-time skipper whose storied Test career culminated in success at the 1999 Rugby World Cup and in Australia’s first-ever Tri-Nations title the following year. Those experiences have now rubbed off on Teddy, one of the stand-out players across the pool stages at the U20s World Cup.

“I wouldn’t have actually realised the significance of his career until I would been nine or 10,” explained Teddy about his father to RugbyPass, pulling up a chair in the same Southern Sun hotel business centre in downtown Cape Town where we interviewed Nadine Roos for the Challenger World Series in late April.

“Being young I wouldn’t have realised. Being nine or 10, I would have started watching some old games of him, watching him play. It was pretty cool to see what he had done back in the day. It made me feel proud.”

This back-in-the-day rugby type of rugby sure was different. “It was a bit different, the game has changed a lot since he was playing, but the basic stuff of being tough and tackling hard and carrying hard, that is what dad did back in the day, so it was good to see.

"He is very modest and humble about his career, he doesn’t talk about it a lot, but if there is a game on TV of course we will chuck it on and give it a watch but no, he doesn’t like to show off or boast about his career or anything like that.”

So good are the genetics that have been passed down, Wilson has two sons playing professionally as Harry, who is 30 months older than Teddy, made his own Super Rugby breakthrough this year as a Waratahs full-back. The advice naturally flows from father to sons. “He is good, he is calm, he is very relaxed; he doesn’t put a lot of pressure on us, which is good,” reported Teddy.

“He expects us to do well but he is on us about training; he will always be, ‘Are you doing your extras?’, asking those types of questions. But in terms of prep, he gives us a few pointers before each game and makes it really simple for us to go out there and do our job.

“He would be saying it’s an important game so just do your basics right, box kicking, passing well and then just look for the opportunities when you run. He watches every game, and he will tell me about opposition weaknesses as well which helps. Then in terms of leadership, he has been a leader within teams so he helps me with that. I have definitely taken some advice from him about leading this Australia side.”

The Junior Wallabies class of 2023 will look back on this Junior World Championship as a missed opportunity. Having finished third in their pool behind semi-final duo Ireland and England, Australia this Sunday take on New Zealand in a fifth-to-eighth-place play-off. Wilson explained how his team had full belief coming in and how there was definitely the potential that they could have got the job fully done.

“This is a huge tournament, a Rugby World Cup where you are playing the best players your age in the world. It’s a very special tournament, it means a lot for our country and all the other counties.

"You will look back at this in a few years’ time and I’m sure some of the best memories you will have had playing rugby will be at this tournament,” he reckoned, going on to give insight on the current level of camaraderie.

“The funniest is either Jack Barrett, our prop, or Taj Annan. They are the two class clowns of the team; they are pretty funny. Jack doesn’t try to be funny, he just is and some of his behaviours are pretty funny. Taj is smart, a quick thinker. Any time someone goes at him with a bit of banter he will come straight back at him.

“They are keeping the morale up within the team which is good – and the culture within the team has been good. We have been training since February and were in New Zealand for two matches, so it’s a tight group.”

Let’s wind the clock back for a moment, though. How did it begin in rugby for Wilson? “I started when I was four years old, started when I was pretty young.

"It was just in my family, one of those things that dad played, so I was always going to be playing a bit of footy. Just playing with your mates every week at Harbord Harlequins, meeting new people and creating mates, there is nothing like it, the experiences you feel out on that field week to week are something you remember for a long time.

“My family has impacted me a lot, they have given me great opportunities through school and I’m really grateful for that. The King’s School (in Paramatta) was a big rugby school so being able to play my footy there and develop as a young child has helped me a lot.

"Then after school, dad and mum have just guided me in the right way with picking clubs and with the Waratahs helping me with that as well. My dad and my mum have had a significant impact on my career so far.”

What about size? “I’m 85kgs and 181 centimetres. During pre-season, I put on about four kilos. I was only a small fella when I was young, I didn’t have my growth spurt until I was a bit older, so I sort of just fell into that half-back role because of my size.

“But ever since then I have loved it, it is a great position. It’s one of the most important positions in the field and I have just enjoyed playing half-back all my life so I haven’t had to change,” he continued, revealing his positional role model influences over the years.

“I’d say Will Genia for Australia when I was growing up, I watched him a lot, and I loved TJ Perenara because he is a running nine and I like to base my game off my running ability as well.

“I have also had great players around me at the Waratahs that have helped me a lot and made me feel comfortable in that environment. Jake Gordon has been a huge help to me. Being in my position he has taught me a lot.”

The pandemic lockdown didn’t stunt Wilson’s development. “We were just training really, just trying to do as much as we could. Obviously, it was tough not being able to go outside at times and not being able to go different places, but we were trying our best to do as much as we could training, I was at home most of the time, training with my brother.

"Harry is a rugby player as well, which helped a lot. I was able to go down to the local footy field, do some kicking, passing, a bit of fitness. That is what we mostly did and we had a lot of free time on our hands so I tried to do a bit more uni work and stuff like that.”

The diligence paid off rugby-wise with Wilson making five Super Rugby appearances off the bench this year before flying to South Africa with his country's U20s. “I was grateful to get an opportunity straight after school, went into the Waratahs, did a pre-season with them straight after school and it was just a great experience being able to be in that environment for the first time.

"I always had the belief that I would get there one day and then once I did, very grateful for it. I am contracted to the Waratahs until next year, 2024, and then I am off contract after that. It’s a CPS contract, the core playing group. Definitely, it is always great when a franchise believes in you once they sign you. I love the Waratahs, it is home for me, so I want to stay there as long as I can. I’m excited for next year to see what happens.”

We’ll finish with a rugby nause-type query. Box-kicking from the number nine position is a tactic that frequently annoys some rugby fans who want ball-in-hand movement instead. Sell it to us, Teddy, why is a box kick a thing of beauty to him?

“It’s an important part of the game. A lot of people don’t like it, but you have got to be good at it being a half-back, it’s one of the core basic skills you need to be doing.

"I always try and do my extras with my box kicking, it’s a part of my game I really want to improve and it’s a really important part of the game as you can get that ball back. You want contestables and make it a bit of a car crash collision.

“When your team is going nowhere and the defence is pretty good and then you start setting up a box kick and your nine hits it perfectly and puts it about 20 metres in length and great height on it and the winger on your team gets up and gets the ball back, that is a 20-metre gain just off a kick – and that is the sexy part of it.”