In a continuing series on former and current players reflecting on their debuts for Australia, RUPERT GUINNESS speaks with former Wallaby and NSW prop Al Baxter who is President of the NSW Rugby Union. He is also an architect and Principal with Populous, specialising on stadiums. He was head architect on Bankwest Stadium and has worked on the Moore Park Masterplan, AIS Masterplan and West Coast Eagles Centre of Excellence.
It is mid-week. Early evening. August, 2003. Al Baxter is driving to Norths Rugby Club training in Sydney. His mobile rings. He answers. On the other end of the line is Eddie Jones, coach of the Wallabies who are training at Coffs Harbour on the central coast of NSW.
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Today, 18 years on, Baxter, 44, recalls the telephone exchange that would change his rugby life: “It was like, ‘Oh, we've had a couple of guys who have been injured … we want you to come up and help out at the training so they don't have to do any contact training, or live scrummaging during the week. Then you can get back to your club sometime next week.”
Baxter didn’t read too much into Jones’ request. Having played Super Rugby for the Waratahs since 1999, the tight head prop had not been called up to the Wallabies before. Becoming a Wallaby was the last thing on his mind. “I didn't think I'd play any professional rugby,” says Baxter. “I'd never played in a rep team at school [Sydney’s Shore School]. I didn't play Aussie 21s because I was injured. I was lucky to get picked up by the Waratahs.”
Baxter’s focus was on becoming the architect he is today, and he was thriving on being able to pursue that ambition while playing professional rugby. By 2000, he had earned a degree in architecture at Sydney University. He had also been working part-time at Cox Architecture and did so full-time after his rugby career ended in 2011 to 2016 when he joined Populous, the architecture and design firmwhere he is a Principal today.
Key to that pathway was the support of Rugby Australia and the Rugby Union Players Association which offered Baxter the internal framework it has for players who are wanting to pursue education and training for careers outside of professional rugby, in readiness for when their playing days are over.
This support for his long term career after rugby also helped Baxter keep perspective on the the game and its unpredictability, from set-backs to opportunities like what Jones gave Baxter on that cold wintery night in August, 2003 with his unexpected telephone call to him.
So, the morning after that call, Baxter eagerly arrived at Coffs Harbour with “clothes for a couple of days,” knowing he was “to get absolutely smashed” by holding pads, running simulated All Black plays against the side and clashing in hours of live scrummaging and maul defence.He knew he was “cannon fodder” and expected to return to Sydney before the Wallabies flew to Auckland for the August 16 Test against the All Blacks at Eden Park.
However, Baxter was not ready for when Jones suddenly called him into his office on the “Monday or Tuesday” before the Test. “He was like, ‘Mate, you might need to get your passport,’ recalls Baxter who was taken aback and replied: “What?’.” Baxter recalls Jones answering: “Unfortunately, Ben Darwin's not going to be any good this week. Patricio Noriega's still injured. We're short a prop. So, mate, you'll be starting on the bench.’"
The Big Fear … That it was a “big joke”
Understandably excited, Baxter began “a mass of phone calls to family and friends telling them, ‘I've just been bloody picked in the Wallabies. It's unbelievable’,” But he still suspected something else may be at play. He had heard rumours from New Zealand that his selection was a ploy, that Noriega would be a late inclusion at his cost.
“It was like, ‘What happens if Eddie Jones is playing games?’” says Baxter. “One per cent in the back of my mind was going, ‘What happens if he's actually doing that.’ But as soon as we got our training gear on, had the first training session, it was, ‘I'm the one doing the light run.’”
He knew his selection was for real, and that he was on the cusp of becoming a Wallaby.
Baxter can’t recall who handed him his first Wallabies jersey at the presentation at the Crown Plaza Hotel where the Wallabies stayed before the ‘captain’s run.’ He only recalls clutching his jersey and looking at the coat of arms. He was also worried about saying or doing the wrong thing: “You don't want to trip over walking up, stumble. You want to take your jersey, shake their hands, then get it in your hands to make sure it's not one big joke.”
But it was no joke. The number 17 jersey was Baxter’s to wear. He had to return it to the team manager after the official team photo, but knew it was his. “You're so proud to be handed the jersey,” he says. “You don't want to let your teammates down, or your country. “When you get this gold jersey with the Australian emblem on it, you feel on top of the world. You look towards it as a kid, but never realistically think it will happen. When it does and you put that jersey on, run out with the team and sing the anthem it’s extraordinary.”
Baxter next saw his Test jersey in the Eden Park locker room where he sat with the front rowers: props Bill Young and Glen Panaho and hookers Brendan Cannon and Jeremy Paul. As a Test rookie, Baxter was nervous, but felt comfortable. He started every game of that Super Rugby season and had played with all or against them.
But, as he says, the side: “had a heap of Wallabies that had been together for much the '99 World Cup. It's a tight-knit group. You come in wanting to do your best and everything right, but also follow in their slipstream … these are some of the most experienced and successful Wallabies. You have so much respect for who you're playing and know you're a small cog in a big machine.”
In his Test debut as Wallaby #785, Baxter replaced Panaho off the bench. Down 15-9 down at half-time, Australia lost 17-21. On that result, New Zealand won the Tri Nations and Bledisloe Cup that Australia had held since 1998. The loss did not dilute Baxter’s pride though. Not that he had time to lose it either because soon after he was named in the Australian squad for the World Cup in which he started in the first two games against Argentina in Sydney and Romania in Brisbane.
Darwin replaced Baxter as a starter in the last pool game against Ireland in Brisbane, the quarter-final versus Scotland in Melbourne and the semi-final against the All Blacks in which Baxter was picked on the bench. However, early into the semi-final, Darwin sustained a neck injury in a scrum, requiring Baxter to come on. Australia’s win also ensured Baxter’s start in the final against England that Australia lost.
From World Cups to beyond …
For Baxter, it was a remarkable twist of fate. He had never even thought of playing in the World Cup. “I was planning to go and watch games,” he says. “I had even bought tickets to games. “I wasn't part of any of the training squads for the World Cup during the year. I had no illusions I was going there. I also felt that [on his Test debut] I'd just play as best as I can, and assuming the other guys don't have any injuries that they'll come back into the squad.”
Don’t be mistaken. Baxter’s story in rugby is not one of luck and opportunism … far from that. His story showcases how a player can prepare and play rugby at the highest level – or to their potential – while still carefully establishing the pathway to their life after rugby and balancing a family life; in Baxter’s case that being in Sydney with his wife Jenny and their three children who had all supported him through his entire journey – and still do today.
Baxter never took selection for granted throughout the 2003 World Cup and after, including the 2007 World Cup in which he passed Ewen McKenzie’s record of 51 Tests to become the most capped Wallaby front rower. He respected every Test as if it was his first. He knew selection was always fraught with uncertainty, and that his career in the game could be determined by many factors, from the faith of selectors to the misfortune of injury.
Life after rugby was also uncertain, but with the support system in place, he knew he could be as well prepared as possible for it. Baxter continued to work part-time for Cox Architecture while playing, and he welcomed the RA and RUPA resources and programs that assisted him on that pathway.
“RUPA and RA assistance for players is still a benchmark for professional sports in Australia and is the envy of many of the other professional sports organisations,” says Baxter.
“It is one of the reasons so many of us are able to go on to successful post rugby careers.”
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Nearing the end of his rugby career Baxter also drew on the assistance of his RUPA Player Development Managers, especially Rosemary Towner and Lachlan McBain. They helped with training courses, lining up discussions with financial planning consultants and providing general support and written material dealing with player transition.
In the same period, Baxter also utilised RUPA’s training and education reimbursements scheme. This allowed him to complete a number of short courses such as the Australian Institute of Company Directors course that not only kept him “up to speed with my architectural colleagues,” but also helped to provide him “a competitive edge for when I went back to the workforce.”
For Baxter, when the day of retirement from rugby came, with 69 Test caps with the Wallabies and 121 appearances for the Waratahs to his name, he was ready and happy.
“When you see a sunset on your career, that the end is a possibility, it's not necessarily an unhappy thing,” Baxter says. “It's a transition. You get to move on … to switch that drive and focus on something else.It's also healthy when you're playing that you love playing, as opposed to playing because it is a job, a branding or marketing thing, or a way to make lots of money.
Great things come with being a professional footballer, but working part-time when I played gave me a great insight into the privilege you have and extraordinary things you are able to do when representing your country. You don't take any of it for granted.”
So, what is Baxter’s advice for any Wallaby today? It is, to "live the moment ….” It may sound simple, but as he adds: “It's really easy [not to] when you're focused on not wanting to stuff up, doing your best for the team, your country. But you need to sit back after the game, even at points in the game and think, ‘This is awesome. This is a massive privilege.”
