It’s easier said than done, but Joe Roff wants Jordan Petaia to try and have fun on debut against Uruguay in Oita.
Roff, the legendary 86-cap winger, knows how Petaia will be feeling in Oita on Saturday. As in, exactly how he feels.
Before he went on to win a World Cup in 1999, Roff also made his debut as a 19-year-old in a World Cup game.
Playing on the wing against Canada in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, in the 1995 Rugby World Cup, Roff was an “absolutely daunted” teenager suddenly playing on the big stage.
"I was a country kid from Canberra, playing in my first Test on the end of a backline containing Lynagh, Horan, Little, Campese,” Roff said,
"When you are that age, you still have posters of those guys on your wall. So it was daunting.
"I remember Bob Dwyer at halftime absolutely tore strips off me for not talking enough on the field, and my thought was: ‘who am I to be telling Jason Little to pass me the ball? That’s not my right to do that’.”
Roff scored a try in Australia’s 27-11 win and scored another two against Romania a week later.
The said the significance of making his debut at a World Cup only registered after the fact.
"You've earned your place there but it still a massive moment. It’s the stuff of childhood dreams, teenager almost straight out of school almost and into a Wallabies jersey,” Roff said.
"You get the jersey and the cap and so on but you probably don’t appreciate you’re in a World Cup setting when you make your debut. You are pre-occupied with just playing but you realise afterwards it is part of a bigger campaign,
I"n hindsight it was very special to make my debut at a World Cup.”
The year of 1995 was literally epic for Roff. He played in every possible Australian rep team that year - under19s, under 21s, Australian sevens, Australia “A” and then the Wallabies.
"I think I ended up playing 55 games that year, if you include sevens,” Roff said.
"And ended up having two knee operations at the end of that year, at the age of 19.
"Which wasn’t ideal. But I was a student and I was 19 and Bob Dwyer or someone would say “do you want to come and play for the Australian Barbarians against Ireland in Mount Isa?” Do I? Of course I do.”
Neither Roff or Petaia sit in the top 20 of youngest ever Wallabies; though the latter was set to be the fourth youngest ever last year when injury robbed him of a debut.
Roff said he liked the look of Petaia.
"From what I have seen, he is electric. He has game changing ability so if he is given time and space to show what he’s got, you can’t underestimate a guy who gets an opportunity like this, no matter how young,” he said.
"With his sort of talent, he might put his hand up to make a mark, and be there come finals time.”
Asked what advice he would give to Petaia to help him settle faster and be comfortable in Test rugby, Roff said: "The only way is to have fun, which is a weird thing to say for a Test match.”
"But if you’re a player like that, you can’t close up,” Roff continued.
"You can’t just be frightened and comply because you’re the new kid. Just try and enjoy yourself. It’s a game of footy."
