Several weeks back, after a tough training session at Ballymore, I met one of the new members of our team. I knew it was Lachie who’d recently come from the Rebels. I was super keen to organise an interview and welcome him to Brisbane!
Hey Lachie, I know you’ve been here a few months, but still I want to say welcome to Queensland! What are you loving most about being here? I know training just got a little bit hotter.
Thank you! Yeah, probably the sun. The weather up north is obviously a lot warmer. So it's good to good to get up here and get a bit more to the beach in the warmer climate… I missed that the last few years. A bit of vitamin D is good - and trying to work on the tan a bit (laughs).
What are you loving most about being around the crew here at Ballymore?
It's just a really good energy with the group at the moment. Like obviously we've got, you know, world class facilities. You've got a group of boys that have been together now for a couple of years, I think there's a strong culture in the locker room and there's a real good buzz about the place at the moment. I think the direction that rugby is going in Queensland is good at the moment. So I’m stoked to be a part of that and hopefully I can contribute both on and off the field into that kind of rugby landscape.
You’ve been training with the Wallabies at their “hub” at Ballymore this week. I was just watching you on field with some of the squad just earlier today. How has the experience been?
Yeah, it's been awesome. You know, I think the more exposure you get to the programme and what they're doing up top, you give yourself the best chance to grow and get better, especially this time of year when you're not necessarily playing as many games, you know, it's awesome to test yourself in a different environment with different players. It's been a big couple days, but they're really enjoying it and I’m lucky to be doing it again here in Queensland at our new home. That's also been awesome.
So it’s starting to feel a little bit like home?
Yeah, it’s starting to feel like home now - we’ve moved into a house now - that definitely makes a big difference… when you're in your own place you can go back to, you're not living out of a suitcase and that sort of thing… I think that makes it a bit more homey and stuff. So that's made a big difference.
I’m glad you feel at home now. Who would you shout out from the Reds that’s been training hard in the lead up to the Japan tour?
Oooh, a shout out... I'll go big Ryan Smith.
He's just had his little one and he's functioning on about two hours sleep and training the house down. You wouldn't know that he's a new dad and barely sleeping. He’s been bringing the energy, so I'll give him a big dad shout out!
I love hearing about peoples rugby journeys. How old were you when you started playing?
I played my first game when I was four years old, I played in my brother's team, my dad was the coach in Sydney… I played in under sixes and then I've played every year since that.
I grew up in Sydney, played rugby all through school and then fortunately enough as a 17 year old I think, maybe 18, I got picked up with the rugby sevens guys and did a couple years travelling around with them. I loved my time there and travelled to some pretty cool parts of the world. And, you know, the Commonwealth games and the Olympic Games is pretty special and I transitioned from there to down to Melbourne. And again, I just loved my time down there and, you know, another different part of the world, another city and now my journey's taken me up here. So it's been good to kind of bounce up and down the coastline a bit and experience different cities.
It's been a crazy journey up to this point, but I probably wouldn't change a thing. It's been awesome.
What was your favourite part of the experience of representing Australia at the Olympics in 2021?
Probably being in the village with all the different athletes from other sports, exchanging stories and hearing about how they go about their training, what they do and what excites them. Being part of that kind of “team Australia” and being in a different environment as opposed to just the rugby training room. That was pretty cool.
What do you love most about playing Rugby Sevens?
Probably the travel I got to do as a young fella. I went to a lot of parts of the world that I probably wouldn't have had a chance to go to otherwise. I managed to sneak in an Oktoberfest over there once as a cool work trip, yeah, I was eighteen, nineteen, travelling around the world playing rugby with my mates and I was just loving it. So hands down that was easily the highlight.
What did you love most about your Sevens experience, on the field?
Probably the Hong Kong tournament, that was wild. The atmosphere over there - it was probably the loudest stadium we've ever played in! They go crazy and that was awesome to be a part of. It’s a pretty prestigious tournament, so to be able to tick that off was unreal.
Yes, I have watched a few of them! What do you love about the fifteen man game, that made you want to focus solely on it?
Probably just that it was the game I grew up playing, so I fell in love with it. And I definitely had aspirations to try and play for the Wallabies one day. And I still have goals in that code that I wanted to to achieve and I always knew that eventually I wanted to come back and try and do those things. So I think that was a a big ticket for me, trying to try to get back into Fifteens.
Final question: what’s your favourite post-game meal?
Post game meal… maybe a couple of cold beers after a win. They always go down pretty nice. I’ll have to change over to a Four X now, so I guess a Four X Gold now I'm up here!
Thanks Lachie for taking time to chat, especially in the middle of a busy training week!!!
No dramas at all. Good to finally sit down with you and have a have a good catch up. Appreciate it!
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