Player Focus: Wallaby debutant Jordan Uelese

It may come as a shock to many that 20-year-old hooker Jordan Uelese was named on the Wallabies bench to face the Springboks this weekend but Michael Chieka has shown his faith in the youngster - who has played just 28 minutes of Super Rugby.

Australia has, in the past, benefited from giving youngsters an early start to their test careers, with the likes of George Gregan, Matt Giteau, Adam-Ashley Cooper and David Lyons all given early starts to their test careers and went on to become test players. 

Uelese is surely used to playing against opposition who are more experienced than himself as he started playing rugby at the age of two-years-old for Oriental Rongotai’s under-6 team, with nappies hiding underneath his shorts.

Weighing in at 118kgs Uelese was named in the Australian U20s side last year and was reselect again this year and starred for the side in both the 2016 & 2017 U20 World Championship.

His highlights vs New Zealand U20's in 2016

Uelese will have learned a lot during his time in the Wallaby camp with two seasoned campaigners in Stephen Moore and Tatafu Polota-Nau setting the example.

He has a high work rate which showed in his 28minutes of Super Rugby. He made 4 tackles, carried the ball 12 times and won 15 metres. 

Whether it's too early for the hooker to make his first appearance on the international stage or not Uelese has the fundamental skills and potential to be a mainstay in the Wallaby squad.