By Michael Atkinson

From shotput to UQ to Ireland and India and back again, international prop Tom Court, is back where it all began, 14 years later.

A promising athlete, Tom Court was on a trajectory to great things in the world of shotput in his early 20’s.

But a disappointing twist of fate in relation to a representative team, and some complications with his health led Court to the beginning of a journey no one could have predicted.

Needing to deal with some high blood pressure, the then 24-year-old was given the recommendation to take up a team sport “with some cardio”.

As a student at University of Queensland in 2004, Court would see the rugby teams training on the fields at St. Lucia and decided to give rugby a go.

“I just went down and joined the sixth-grade boys,” Court told Rugby News.

“By the end of the season, I was packing down in the front row for Premier Grade in the Grand Final.”

The front-rower’s rise to the professional ranks from there was rapid.

A stint in the NPC in New Zealand in 2005, was followed by three Super Rugby caps for the Reds in 2006, before Ireland came calling.

Court and his partner Cath packed up their things and moved to Belfast where Tom would play 154 games across nine seasons with Ulster and made 32 appearances for Ireland – including a victory over the Wallabies at the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

A few seasons at London Irish followed, before retirement in 2017.

Court, Cath and their two young children took the opportunity to see some sights before coming back to Australia.

“We’d never really had that opportunity (to travel),” said Court.

“We went back to Ireland for almost a month; went to Greece for a month; India for a month; Thailand for three weeks; and then to Japan for three weeks.”

The Courts returned to Brisbane in November last year and thought rugby – Tom’s playing days at least – was behind them.

Tom took a job at UQ working with research and PHD students but it wasn’t long before rugby found its way back into their lives.

Initially, the former international prop returned to the Red Heavies as an assistant coach, but a string of injuries up front saw the 37-year old eventually pull on the old boots following a passionate plea from UQ coach Mick Heenan.

“There was a lot of open handed gesturing and pleading,” laughed Court.

“My missus isn’t too happy about it, but as long as I don’t get injured and I don’t miss any time with the family, it should be ok.”

Court made his first appearance for the Red Heavies in more than a decade in round six against Norths, coming off the bench.

Last week against GPS, he was named to start, but promised by Heenan it’d only be very limited time.

“He said it would only be 25 minutes,” Court revealed.

“But I ended up playing the whole game!”

Minus, a 10 minute break for a yellow card, Court’s retirement less than 12-months earlier had come full circle.

“I always loved playing, part of me sort of wanted to play (when I returned to UQ).”

“I just wasn’t really interested in training and you get to the age where you can’t cope with the training load.”

Luckily, as an assistant coach slash player, Court can make the call on when he sits himself out of training, but UQ will need him on the field on Saturday.

The Red Heavies face Souths in a top-of-the-table clash on Ladies Day at St.Lucia.

Court hasn’t been involved in a day like this at ‘Stade de Heavy’ for a very long time, but is relishing the opportunity to play on the occasion – as long as it’s less minutes than last week.

“Mick feels a bit bad I think,” Court revealed.

“I think he’ll be trying to get me off the field a bit earlier on Saturday, but I still love playing and I’m enjoying be out the with the younger guys.”