PARIS – It was barely one year ago that Blake Schoupp was finishing up his teaching job. Now, the 25-year-old is set to make his debut for the Wallabies against Les Bleus at the Stade de France in Paris on the eve of the World Cup.
Amongst several brilliant tales this year about how the 33 players – and their coaches – ended up in Paris, including Eddie Jones, Schoupp’s rise from the classroom to the highest stage goes close to topping them.
A Super Rugby rookie this year, it took a visit from Dan Palmer at Southern Districts in the Shute Shield competition on the recommendation of an old mate, Duncan Chubb, for Schoupp to get a look-in.
“You’re obviously looking for a few different things when you go and see a player like that,” Palmer said.
“Schouppy was clearly physically ready to take the next step.
“Technically, we saw a lot of potential, a lot of elements we thought we could work with and develop to get him that next step, and then probably the most important part was his attitude. He desperately wanted to be a professional rugby player and since he started with us down at Brumbies, we’ve seen evidence of that.”
Blake Schoupp ahead of his Wallabies debut. (Photo credit Julius Dimataga/RugbyAU Media.)
Suffice it to say, Schoupp took it. And some.
Few props land from the sky and are readymade for international rugby as pups like Wallabies front-rower Angus Bell, but Schoupp’s rise from obscurity to the world stage is yet another example that the men who often make and break Test matches can’t be purely judged when they first burst onto the scene.
“Not everyone’s coming from that base, but he certainly was,” said Palmer, the former front-rower who played one Test for the Wallabies in 2012.
“So, that kind of gave him a head start coming into our [Brumbies] program and then we could really focus on refining what he was doing technically around the scrum and other areas of the game to get him up to speed, but coming from that base was a massive benefit for him.”
Wallabies assistant coach Dan Palmer helped find Blake Schoupp in Sydney club rugby. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
Extraordinarily, despite not playing a single Super Rugby match before this season, Schoupp still was eyeing selection in this year’s World Cup campaign.
“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think about it,” said Schoupp, who sat next to Palmer on the rooftop of the Wallabies’ flash hotel next to Roland-Garros.
“At the end of the day, that’s everyone’s goal in Australian rugby. It has been a crazy 12 months, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t thinking that.
“Once I was in the Brumbies set up, I just thought anything could happen. It was a pretty whirlwind start to the journey.”
Described as being “built like a brick shithouse” by his Wallabies coach in April ahead of Jones’ first training camp, there were no tears from Schoupp when the team was internally announced earlier in the week.
Schoupp said he took a moment to celebrate but added, it’s “also about doing the job”.
Blake Schoupp put Australian rugby on notice with an impressive performance off the bench against the Blues in Melbourne in March. (Photo by Daniel Pockett/Getty Images)
It’s that attitude that will have won over Jones.
But it’s also the hard, long-travelled route to the top that Jones will have appreciated in Schoupp’s story.
Nor is it just the fact it took him until the age of 24 to get a crack, but also that his younger brother, Aaron, debuted in the NRL as a teenager in 2021.
“It was a pretty good childhood because I’ve got another older brother as well and a younger sister, so there’s four of us and it was pretty chaotic there at one stage when we were all pretty close in age running around the house trying to bash each other,” Schoupp said.
“We were always competitive. I remember during the [Covid] lockdown period when Aaron moved back home, we were at home just training together and trying to outdo each other because that’s just what brothers are about.
“I think we’ve both got that real competitive nature about us, and I think it’s pretty special that we get to share those moments and now be able to put them into fruition in our own way.”
Even better, Schoupp can scrum and get on the ball.
Those two attributes were first on display in the early rounds of Super Rugby, as Schoupp announced himself to Australian rugby first against the Waratahs in Sydney and, second, when he helped lead the Brumbies to a stunning upset win over the Blues in Melbourne.
That ability to hold up the scrum under pressure was also on display when the Hurricanes tried to roll the Brumbies over on their own tryline in this year’s quarter-final in Canberra.
Schoupp, meanwhile, loved it. Despite the pressure of needing to hold the Hurricanes out, the Super Rugby rookie whipped the crowd up and called on them to make some noise.
“I just think being a front-rower, I’m just passionate about the certain areas of the game that I’m involved in,” he said.
“Whenever it comes down to a key moment or something like that, I’m a very emotional player as well, so if there is a moment to take advantage of, I will take it.”
(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
That scrummaging strength will need to be on display against the French on Sunday in Paris, with the host nation boasting one of the best packs in the world.
A strong performance will not just fill his own boots with confidence, but Jones’ too.
With Angus Bell one of the Wallabies’ most important players in this campaign and James Slipper being plagued by a foot injury, if Schoupp can drive straight and help the scrum move forward it will be a major boost for their World Cup hopes.
After all, as John Connolly will tell you following his experience in 2007, World Cups are often defined by strong scrums.
For that reason, it’s a good thing a Brumbies coach scoured Sydney’s market to find a diamond in the rough.
“Absolutely, I’m stoked for him. It’s panned out pretty well,” he quipped.
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