by Paul Cook –

“We put him on the bench in game one because he hadn’t played a lot of 15’s this year. But he came on and outplayed the guy that started that day, and he never looked back.”

NSW Country Eagles head coach Darren Coleman

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There have been many success stories attached to the high altitude flightpath flown by the NSW Country Eagles this NRC season. The bolshy reminder from Tolu Latu – which led to a Wallaby call-up – that it is he who holds pole position to assume hooking duties for his state next year in the seismic absence of Tatafu Polota-Nau; the anointment of Jake Gordon as next in line to the Waratahs – and maybe even the countries’ – halfback throne in due course; and the affirmations of both Kyle Godwin and Dave Horwitz as centres worthy of their seats at the Super Rugby top table.

You can add to that list league convert Reece Robinson’s coming of age as a rugby player; Paddy Ryan’s successful first tilt as a leader of men; the burgeoning of reputations fostered in the Shute Shield by Andrew Deegan, Rowan Perry and Sam Ward; and perhaps most importantly and impressively, the way that the Sydney Stars have been effortlessly stirred into the Country soup in such a way that has allowed for all the combined ingredients to sparkle.

But if you’re looking for evidence of someone who has used this competition as an opportunity to reassert themselves into the rugby public’s consciousness, to reignite a promising career that was in danger of stalling, and to just get back out onto a footy field and remind themselves of how much bloody fun playing this game can be, it’s hard to go past Sam Figg.

Having returned in January to the Aussie Sevens arena he first graced back in 2013, Figg joined a host of Olympic hopefuls in what has been a breakout year for the short-form of the game in global terms. But despite loving, almost, every minute of his adventure, missing out on the plane to Rio hit hard. A lost opportunity hampered by a frustrating lack of game time in the World Series.

“I think I played more footy in the first three or four weeks of the NRC than I did in the whole year of Sevens,” Figg explained to me earlier this week. “I went along to three of the World Series events – Wellington, Singapore and London -the rest of the time I was running myself ragged back here in Sydney doing fitness work. I was a glorified trainer.

“There was a portion in the middle of the season where I was selected internally to head along to Vancouver and tournaments around there, but slight injuries and sickness meant that I had to pull out. If I’d played then it really could have shaped the rest of my season. I thought I went well in Singapore, then London where I think I found some of the form that I’m in now, and that got me along to the Darwin camp where the final squad of 16 for Rio were chosen.

“From there it came down to the make up of the team that ‘Friendy’ (Aussie Sevens head coach Andy Friend) wanted. There’s the seven starters that are some way ahead of all the other boys but the bench spots were pretty hotly contested. I don’t know if it came down to talent or ability in the end, but it was also about team dynamic, who gets on well with each other and who has experience. To go that close to an Olympics and not get on the plane is a pretty hard thing to swallow.”

Battling against an impressive Western Sydney Rams last week – Photo: AJF Photography

So when the chance to pull on the Eagles jersey was offered again by Darren Coleman, a shirt he served admirably in 2015, the 24-year-old understandably jumped at the opportunity. And when he joined the fray off the bench some 45 minutes into that round one clash against reigning Premiers Brisbane City, he did so with all the gusto, aggression and desire of someone who had a point to prove, and a belly-full of pent-up vexation to burn.

“You hit the nail on the head there!” laughed Figg when I put my observation to him. “Sevens is a frustrating environment where you don’t get to play as much footy as you want to, and maybe some guys enjoy that, I don’t know. But for me, it was just great to get back out on the park and do what I love doing again really.

“There was a bit of talk around town that ‘He’s been playing Sevens, he won’t know what to do in 15’s’. But the way I look at it is that it’s a lot easier to go from Sevens to 15’s than the other way. I’ve spent the whole year training full-time, my skill set and my size has improved and I’ve been playing against guys like Sonny Bill Williams and Ardie Savea, so I kind of walked onto the field knowing I was in a position to put some kind of performance on, and I’ve managed to grow each week from playing.”

As coach Coleman inferred in this article’s opening quote, Figg’s all-action 25 minute cameo against City rendered him an impossibility not to start the following week against the UC Vikings. That that game subsequently transpired into one of the most eyebrow-raising results of the NRC’s short history – the Eagles demolishing the Canberrans 60-28 on their own turf – only strengthened his position. But he was a standout performer in a match that sent a warning message to the rest of the competition in big, bold, capital letters.

“I’ve played a lot of footy in my life but I’ve never been in a game like that where everything has just gone our way,” he admits. “But I do believe that you make your own luck, and the way the guys played their football and played for one another that day, it was awesome to be a part of. We scored one try, then another, and you could just feel it on the field – no-one was going to stop us.

“If I’m honest, we actually walked away from that game a little bit disappointed, because we stopped playing, and that isn’t good enough. It’s tough to keep it going when you’re up by 60pts, but I think that match was good for us in terms of understanding that you can’t just hold a game when you’re that far in front, you’ve still gotta go out there and fight for it.”

Those high standards have served the 2016 Eagles well. Six weeks after they laid down that marker in the nation’s capital, they sit proudly on top of the ladder as Minor Premiers, with a semi-final against Melbourne Rising tomorrow afternoon in Newcastle as their reward. But after maintaining his impressive form in the backrow against both the Rising and Sydney Rays in rounds three and four, Figg’s rejuvenation came to an abrupt end, just as he was beginning to enjoy himself again.

In fairness, his Sevens contract only stipulated a release for three Eagles matches ahead of a return to training for the 2017 World Series, so Andy Friend had already been amenable in allowing a fourth run-out when Figg headed back to camp to discuss his future.

He wanted the chance to see out the NRC season and get some footy in his legs, while Friend – no doubt mindful of the recent departures of Cam Clark, Con Foley and Tom Cusack from a squad that underachieved in Rio – wanted him back in tow asap to allow for the best preparation possible ahead of a Sevens season which may well decide his own longevity in the role.

But after a week of negotiation, rumination and reflection, Figg decided to back himself, walking away from the contract to take a leap of faith into the unknown for a chance at achieving his dream of professional rugby – in the traditional format of the game. A smart, erudite and determined young man, Figg concedes that it was a brutally tough decision to have to make.

“All I’d ever wanted growing up was to be a professional rugby player, so when Sevens offered me a fulltime position I jumped at the option. However, I was careful to show transparency in my wishes to eventually play 15’s again,” he reveals. “After a frustrating year, I was keen to just finally play some rugby again. I was surprised at how much I was enjoying the NRC and the resultant form I was experiencing because of this. So when Sevens, having an offer on the table for me, said I had to return to begin pre-season, I found myself at a crossroads.

“On one hand I wanted to take what was in front of me, secure my income, return to my teammates and live the life of a professional athlete once more. On the other, I wanted to continue to play 15’s and begin my transition back to the regular format of the game, where my passion truly lay.

“So began the decision making process, and after chatting to many mentors and to Andy Friend himself, I soon realised that if I was to take the Sevens option I would be taking a contract for the sake of having one, a decision which did not sit comfortably with me. So instead I’ve walked away from the shorter form of the game and have backed myself to achieve my goal of making it in 15’s.

“The easier option was to take the Sevens contract and I would have enjoyed it, it’s full of a great bunch of guys with a great culture, and I miss them already. But I wouldn’t have been able to commit myself fully to the program and that’s not fair on them, the ARU or the game of rugby in general. I’m backing myself in 15’s and I know if I keep working and playing the way I am, something will open up somewhere, either in Australia or overseas.”

Pondering his next move in the colours of Randwick against Uni – Photo: AJF Photography

No doubt part of his drive and ambition is fuelled by the fact that he was given a second chance at the game he loves. Others have not been so fortunate.

Born in Johannesburg, his family made their way to Sydney, via Auckland, back in 1999. His first game of rugby was for the St Ives Angels under-8’s, before an education on and off the field at Barker College was followed by a stint in Subbies, and his eventual arrival at Northern Suburbs.

In 2013, he played some local Sevens which led to a rapid rise to the national ranks and a debut in Tokyo, and with the words of then Norths coach Scott Fava still ringing in his ears ‘I just don’t see you as a 1st grade footballer,’ he left the Shoremen – the young nucleus of which recently went on to win a Shute Shield Premiership – to pursue a globetrotting experience.

He returned to Sydney and a new challenge at Randwick in 2014, but after finding form – in 1st grade – and garnering some pretty healthy reviews around clubland, he suffered his first real injury in rugby, and it very nearly proved to be his last.

“I fractured the C1 vertebrae in my neck in a tackle gone wrong,” he recalls. “I was lucky to be alive and originally thought I would never play again.”

After missing several months in rehab, he somehow convinced the doctors that he could return to the game, and he made up for lost time with a terrific second half of last season with the Galloping Greens, leading to his initial foray with the Eagles and representation for the Aussie Baa Baa’s, before Sevens came calling once more at the start of the year. The rest you know.

Now fresh from his potentially life-changing decision, Figg is firmly back in the Eagles fold and back in the shop window. And he certainly has no regrets about his time in Sevens. He feels it has been of immense benefit on many levels.

“It’s definitely been a great experience for me,” he confirms. “I was really hoping to just immerse myself into a professional environment, and I probably went in there a little bit arrogant thinking I was going to be able to do everything and that I was going to fit in. But not only was it good for my rugby ability, it was good for my personality, because it taught me that there is more to being a professional than just running around a footy field and throwing a ball around, there’s all the off-field stuff as well.

“The fitness is definitely there, I’ve got a much better base now. Sevens is very good at taking you to a dark place where you’ve just got to get through the pain and get to the light at the end of the tunnel, and I’m finding that, in games where I’m in a dark place, I’m able to just keep pushing through a lot more – and that’s the kind of player I’ve been trying to make myself into.

“For a long time, it’s been my opinion that Australian rugby has this fascination with having guys who are 110 kilos and able to bash people around the park, and I think it’s absolute crap. What I’m trying to mould myself into is a backrower who is able to get around the park and have a lot of involvements, but has a skillset where I’m not bashing people but being smarter with the ball – a bit like Stephen Hoiles. I’m not built like Wycliff Palu, I’m not going to be able to bash people, but I don’t miss my tackles.”

Only two in fact, according to the ARU stats gurus, with 71 successful hits at the opposite end of the scale, and 41 carries for good measure in his 394 minutes on-field. It’s fair to say that after missing out on the round five win over Perth Spirit while his future was being pondered, he barely skipped a beat when stepping back into the no.6 jersey for the last two regular season games against Queensland Country and the Western Sydney Rams.

The Eagles are hoping to add the Buildcorp NRC trophy to the Horan-Little Shield and Benn Robinson Bell they claimed last week against the Rams – Photo: AJF Photography

But after dispatching the supposed ‘power-players’ of the NRC in the first five weeks, the Eagles’ two clashes against sides at the wrong end of the table – allowing for the fact that the Rams were still in with a chance of making the finals before kick-off last Saturday – proved to be tougher than the ladder suggested. Defeat in Toowoomba was oh so nearly backed up by another at Concord Oval, with only a captain’s knock rescuing a situation that threatened to derail all their previous good work.

But Figg firmly believes both experiences have set them up nicely for knockout footy.

“It’s no secret one of our goals was to go undefeated this season but in saying that I think we actually took more positives out of that Queensland Country game than negatives,” he says. “There’s the old adage of ‘It was a loss we probably needed to have’, but add to that some blokes getting much needed rest and other blokes getting minutes and therefore experience, and we came away from that game probably all the better for it. Plus, Queensland Country is not a team to be taken lightly either.

“Again, last week wasn’t our best game. A slight improvement on the week before, but still not our best. The mark of a great team however, is when they can find a way to win even when things aren’t going their way. And not much was going our way in that match until a ‘Bundy Big Play’ from skip (Paddy Ryan) saw him charging over the line!

“I think the past two games have been perfect for us. We’ve got the most dangerous backline in the comp and our forwards, we’re not the biggest or the strongest, but I challenge you to find a tougher bunch of blokes. We’re now coming up against Melbourne, whose game plan is going to be trying to hurt us. But we’ve had two weeks of it, we’re used to it, and we know how use it to our advantage now.”

The first encounter between the two sides ended with a narrow 32-30 win for the Eagles up in Tamworth. But a look at the Victoria based side this time around illustrates just how much they’d like to be the second team to etch their name onto the Buildcorp NRC trophy after Brisbane City. To reach their maiden final, the boys from the bush are going to have knock over a squad that is more Rebels than Rising.

“Yeah, they seem to have loaded themselves a little more than they did during the round matches,” notes Figg. “But the way I look at it, when we hold the cup we want to be able to say we beat the best, and playing a full Super Rugby team is the best way to do that. Personally, as a bloke who is keen on that next level, I’m looking forward to the opportunity to benchmark myself against their backrow.

“There’s solid match up’s all across the field, what we can be sure of is a certain level of physicality. In terms of opportunities, it comes down to the two different styles played by each team. My view of Melbourne is that they bring a physical game, especially in the forward pack, and that’s fine. The Eagles have a certain finesse about us, we play open expansive rugby, and we’re happy to run big bodies around.

“We had a lot of faith in what we had in terms of our own squad before the season started,” he finished. “But the performance we put on against City and then Canberra, kind of surprised ourselves at first I think. But now we’re in a position where we know we can beat anyone, and the confidence we’ve got as a team is awesome. We’re all competitors, that’s why we’ve been so successful. Put us in a high pressure, highly competitive atmosphere and prepare for some amazing footy.”

Bring it on!