Blake Enever was minding his own business at the Australian team hotel in London on Friday when Wallabies coach Michael Cheika asked to see him.
Delighted just to be a part of the squad for the first time and on a spring tour, the 26-year-old Brumbies lock was revelling in the experience of being around world-class players and travelling around the UK.
A thumb injury to Adam Coleman appeared to have cleared up when he trained on Thursday so Enever, who’d been told to prepare as if he was going to play, thought at best he would win a place on the bench to face England.
Instead he was told by the straight-talking Cheika Coleman was going home for surgery and to get his head around debuting for Australia in front of a crowd of 82,000.
“‘Cheik’ told me this week to prepare as if I was going to play and then it ended up happening lunch time yesterday … It’s unreal to get a debut here at Twickenham,” Enever said on Saturday.
“It’s probably a blessing in disguise that it happened so quickly. Just went into the preparation for the game and all the boys got around me. It was unreal.”
Last weekend, on matchday morning in Cardiff, Enever was part of the non-playing 23 that took part in a training session with the Welsh team before watching his teammates chalk up a 29-21 win at the Principality Stadium.
Fast forward seven days and he was competing in the line-out against England stars Joe Launchbury and Maro Itoje.
This despite coming off the bench in 10 of his 13 Super Rugby appearances for the Brumbies last season and being more of a regular in the Canberra Vikings NRC side.
“I don’t know if I would have agreed with you,” admitted Enever when asked what he would have said if someone suggested to him a month ago he’d be playing at Twickenham.
“I’m stoked to do it myself. I was counting my NRC (points) with a mate of mine, I was probably up there in the top five.
“I got called into the squad and couldn’t be happier and got stuck in while I was here. To get the opportunity to play is a dream come true.”
Cheika said he was pleased with Enever’s contribution in the loss to England but the Queenslander is unsure if he’s done enough to keep his place in the side to face Scotland next weekend.
“I’m not entirely sure what’s going to happen in terms of selection next week,” he said. ”
I’ll put my hand up and hopefully get another run next week. It’d be awesome to play next week as well.”
Rhys Bosley
Guest
It is pretty rough to say Cheika has dropped the ball on second row selection when his four biggest and best locks have been injured.
DaveR
Guest
Great for Blake to debut. But the issue is that Australia lost the test and the lineout was poor, but the scrum was good. The question is about Cheika's selection policy for the tour, and whether he picked enough experience in the second row. With Simmons being dependable, but clearly going down the other side, Cheika seems to have dropped the ball on the new second row combination-succession. I would be suprised if Simmons survives until the world cup. While Enever is clearly a possibility for RWC19, there are others in front of him.
PiratesRugby
Guest
Carter doesn't add much and would've been smashed by the poms. I love TPN. He's Australia's best hooker by a mile and should be first XV. No question. But he's never been able to throw. Blake Enever had a good first game and it was at Twickers to boot. Good on him. I hope to see more of him at this level. Sad to see Hanigan injured. There's nothing good about having his livelihood jeopardised by injury. I didn't support his selection but I wish him a speedy recovery.
Realist271
Guest
Crazy Carter isn't there. Lineout has gone to sh|te
Timbo (L)
Roar Guru
Good to see him make the most of his opportunity. With Coleman out, he has a chance to make a name for himself. Not a standout performance but in those conditions, a solid effort without any stuff-ups ends in a pretty good report card Well done Blake!
waxhead
Guest
Well done Blake - he was much better than Simmons too imo