Rhys van Nek has played his rugby across Queensland, Victoria and the ACT, with his rise up the front pack ranks being rewarded with a call up to the Australia XV side in 2024, and to the Wallabies in 2025.
Back in the ACT, van Nek played a major part in Uni-Norths Owls picking up their first ever John I Dent Cup, defeating the Tuggeranong Vikings 29-19 at Viking Park over the weekend.
Now, with ten days to go until the maiden season of Super Rugby AUS kicks off, the prop is excited to play his part in helping the next generation - and is excited by what he sees.
“There's a few Owls now that have got an opportunity to play in Super Rugby AUS,” the 34-capped Brumby told reporters yesterday.
“Tauati [Chan-Tung] was as a loose head, he played really well in the backend of the season, played really well on the weekend, now he's got an opportunity here with us.”
The Brumbies confirmed their squad for the upcoming competition a few weeks ago and van Nek has enjoyed several full-circle moments as one of their senior members.
“[I’ve been impressed by] their effort and willingness to learn,” van Nek said.
“When you are coming from a club environment, where you're working a nine-to-five and then you get exposure into a professional program, it's really good to see that guys want to learn and want to get better and want to take that opportunity.
“This comp's massive in terms of giving guys an opportunity while the Wallabies boys are away, to give them a taste of what it's like and to see where they go from here.
“It'll be interesting to see how many guys get a pre-season opportunity. It's no different to Shoppy [Blake Schoupp] and I getting a pre-season opportunity - and then we debuted round one.
“Little stories like that, I'm really interested to see who the stories come out of: that starts now and bleeds into pre-season, bleeds into trials then into round one and those stories happen all the time.
“I'm just glad I get to witness it all.”
In addition, van Nek’s own story seems like it has plenty to play out, following his last minute selection for the Wallabies after James Slipper’s concussion injury.
While the Brumby didn’t end up taking the field, having time on the ground with the squad in Cape Town proved highly educational.
“I had about four hours notice before I had to get on a plane to leave here to go to Cape Town,” van Nek revealed.
“I think it took me 30 hours to get there, you're just on adrenaline the whole time. You gotta sort the house out, gotta try and get everything sorted, telling my partner who's got a five-month-old I'm actually going away now.
“At the time we didn't know how long it was going to be. She just held the fort at home and kept everything moving.”
“In camp [I] was just trying to learn as much as possible.
“I know now what it looks like to be there and I know that I want to stay there. If another opportunity arises I know that I'll hopefully continue to take it.”
While van Nek has been released from the Wallabies, the prop will be excited to use the Super Rugby AUS competition to push his own case.
He won’t be alone, with fellow Wallaby Luke Reimer also looking to bounce back into contention with a solid season.
“A lot of the time we wouldn't really play much footy now,” van Nek explained, highlighting the value of the new competition.
“It's good that we get a competition where we get to verse guys that we get to verse in the season next year.
“We get to play more games of a high level, it's really good that guys like myself, Luke Reimer get opportunities to continue to show our consistency.
“We want to play at that next level with the Wallabies, we get tastes of it here and there.
“[Now] we get an opportunity to continue to grow our games and put our hand up if another opportunity comes."
