Red hot chilli steppers: 'We're special' - celebrating the new inductees to Australian rugby's Ranga XV

Harry Johnson-Holmes, Tane Edmed and Spencer Jeans don’t win a shot at Rugby World Cup glory with selection in this team but they will be lauded by proud rangas everywhere.

Flyhalf Edmed (Waratahs) and halfback Jeans (Reds) are the newest inclusions in Australia’s Redhead XV.

This red hot line-up salutes prop Johnson-Holmes (Waratahs) as captain with his flaming hair and beard.

Rugby rangas have always made a bigger bang than red hair’s one to two percent presence in the population. Flanker supreme Simon Poidevin won a World Cup and shared in Bledisloe Cup glory.

Whether it’s the playground niggle they rise above early in life or not, rangas are a resilient lot. You know the nickname game. Former Reds redhead Dallan Murphy copped it all from “Ranga” to “Fanta Pants.”

Former Wallabies flanker Jeff Miller, another 1991 World Cup campaign standout, has always worn the nickname “Ginge.”

Jeans, 21, has made a good impression for the Queensland Reds with his well-grooved pass in his first taste of Super Rugby Pacific this season. He’ll come off the bench against the Western Force in Friday night’s appealing clash in Perth.

He gave his playful take on life as a modern rugby ranga rising above teasing early in life.

“At a younger age, it comes in pretty thick and fast,” he said with a laugh.

“You get over it. It’s part of your identity, you take it in your stride.

“The lines don’t change very much over the years. You know, ‘don’t go out in the sun too long’…’you got your sunscreen on?’”

He does remember a good gag from his First XV days at The Southport School in 2017 from flyhalf Campbell Parata, who signed with the Force this season.

“We were doing Secret Santas for Christmas and Campbell gave me some hair dye to help me out around the place,” Jeans said with a grin.

Do rangas have any superpowers? Certainly, one group in Queensland thinks so because there’s a team on the sevens circuit called the Red Hot Chilli Steppers. You have to have red hair to even get a start.

“We’re just special. We group up really well as if there’s a Bluetooth, a mind link, between rangas,” Jeans offered.

Spencer Jeans.(Photo by Glenn Hunt/Getty Images for Rugby Australia)

Young Edmed is making his way with dedication in the crowded flyhalf ranks in NSW. For now, he’ll have to spend more time on the bench in the Ranga XV behind Randwick’s former Wallaby flyhalf David Knox, who played 13 Tests in the 1980s and ‘90s.

Melbourne Rebels winger Andrew Kellaway was a standout winner of Rugby Austalia’s 2021 Rookie of the Year award with the way he excelled for the Wallabies. He restored balance to the Test side as a quality red.

You always want any fresh naming of the Redhead XV to be an educational flashback to rangas of old. How else are they to be properly revered when the days of black and white photos so conveniently stole their identity.

You’ll see the name “Garth Jones” on the wing in this Redhead XV.

He was red-haired, lean, pale and, boy, could he run for Queensland and Wallaby sides of the 1950s.

We rightly salute George Gregan for “THE Tackle” against the All Blacks. Jones scored “THE Try” for Wallabies of the 1950s.

With time almost up, the Wallabies launched a sweeping move at Newlands in Cape Town in 1953. Jones finished the long-range effort magnificently for a stunning 18-14 victory over the Springboks, their first loss of the post-war era.

The name “Michael Bermingham” won’t register with everyone. He was glow-in the-dark red. As a prop for Brisbane Grammar, he won Australian Schoolboys A honours in 2010.

Former Prime Minister Julia Gillard has been the longtime patron of the Redhead XV.

The off-field staff takes care of itself. Mick Heenan steps up as head coach. He is the six-time premiership-winner at University of Queensland who is shooting for No.7 in 2022.

Join experts Brett McKay and Harry Jones and special guest Jamie Wall as they look at Super Rugby week 2, that debut by Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and tip what four teams will miss the finals this year.

Former Waratah Steve Talbot and Australian women’s sevens guru Tim Walsh are his quality co-coaches. Former Wallaby, Doctor John Roe, is an easy pick as team medico. Queensland Reds media man Brendan Hertel will fill the role of comms officer and photographer.

Referee Damon Murphy may blow his whistle too often at times but younger fans may not know he was a dynamic attacking fullback in his day for the Australian sevens side and Brisbane club Brothers.

Ed Sheeran has played Suncorp Stadium on a previous concert tour. Who knows? Rangas are a creative lot so he might quickly learn the word “girt” and belt out a national anthem on game day should his fellow rangas ever gather en masse.

Or do a cover version of the old Split Enz hit, I See Red.

Enough. Here goes with our Redhead XV with a little back-up offered in key positions.

Jim Tucker is a card-carrying member of the ranga brigade.