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17th January 2023
03:22pm GMT
John Porch of Connacht celebrates with Tom Daly after scoring against Zebre, at The Sportsground. (Photo by George Tewkesbury/Sportsfile)[/caption]
"It was very much a case of going up against this fancy, private school - 'We hate you. We want to beat the living hell out of you!'"Porch was mainly on the wing, tried out 10 'but hated it' then had a regular run at fullback. He was starting to turn heads and switched back to the wing when he got call-ups to representative sides. Once school days, and rugby rivalries, were done, Porch says he became quite friendly with several of those Armadale players. For Porch, Tamworth was his world for so much of his formative years. The region has a population of around 60,000 but swells to 90,000+ once a year when it hosts a big country and western music festival. Porch's parents split up when he was young, and some of his time was spent up on his dad's farm. Porch has a brother on his mum's side of the family and two younger sister's on his dad's side. He learned to drive a 'buggy around the bush' but it was an automatic. When that car broke down, in Sydney, he borrowed a manual and had to learn all over again, in a more high-pressured and unforgiving setting. His father would often travel about to other farms, and regions, shearing sheep and Porch would help out, when and where he could. He recalls selecting a course, in Year 10 at school, on sheep-shearing and all he can say now is, "I don't know how my dad did it for about 20 years. It's one of the hardest things ever. Tough work." The sheep-shearing life may not have been for him but rugby was already starting to look like a viable option when he was making age-grade regional selections at 16. When he was 17, he was called into the national, indigenous squad. With them, he got to experience division two of a national schoolboys competition and drove him towards making a New South Wales selection, where he competed in division one.
"In New South Wales, the only place you go if you want to make a go of it in rugby is in Sydney. So, as soon as I was finished with what you'd call the Leaving Cert here, I packed up from home said, 'Mum, I'm moving to Sydney' and was down there from 18."[caption id="attachment_280806" align="aligncenter" width="800"]
John Porch of Australia passes the ball during the HSBC Singapore Rugby Sevens, in 2017. (Photo by Power Sport Images/Getty Images)[/caption]
"I suffered a compound fracture (ankle dislocation) and had to take 10 months off everything; moved back home with my mum... That was probably one of the toughest periods of my life. When it happened. I didn't really know how serious it was until I woke up from the operation. "What I was told was that when I was first going into the operating theatre, they were thinking of amputation. The doctor that did the surgery was Dr. (Stephen) Ruff. He came in the day after my surgery, doing the rounds, and said, 'The surgery went well but it looks like you'll probably never play rugby again'. That just absolutely killed me."Still only 18, Porch starting talking to his Northern Suburbs coach about staying involved in the game as a coach, instead of playing. He had just settled on his dream profession and was not keen on giving it up so soon. However, he started doing some rehabilitation work with a physio that had experience from the Wallabies set-up and he was advised that not all hope was lost. "He reckoned I could get back playing with 18 months," Porch recalls, "so I carried on with him. He was amazing and my body responded to everything and I was back playing within 10 months."
"Andy will tell you, he told me I was going and he said I looked like I'd seen a ghost. I couldn't believe it. It was unbelievable to be told you were going to the Olympics and going to be representing your country."The Aussies got to enjoy a few days of soaking in the Olympic Village experience, and some sights around Rio, as the ladies side stormed to Olympic gold. Porch and his teammates reached the quarter finals but were well beaten by eventual bronze medallists, South Africa. He returned to Northern Suburbs, played Sevens at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and was plotting another run at the Olympics when Andy Friend, now with Connacht, gave him a call. [caption id="attachment_280807" align="aligncenter" width="800"]
Connacht director of rugby Andy Friend. (Photo by George Tewkesbury/Sportsfile)[/caption]
"We were doing a scouting tour in South Australia, looking for indigenous talent," Porch recalls. "We were in Coober Pedy, which is in the middle of Australia (600km from the coast), at the time. Friendy had first called me and said there would probably not be an opportunity to get me over that season [2018/19] but there probably would be, the following year. "So it was when I was in Coober Pedy, when Friendy called again and said, 'Can you come over in four months? We've got a contract for you'. "I said yes on the phone, right there. I hadn't even told my wife!"After I got off the phone, I called Ella and said, "We're moving to Ireland." And she said, "What?!" Porch and Ella, who is also from Tamworth, had just signed a one-year lease on a house but they would have to get out of that. They were heading to Ireland. https://www.instagram.com/p/CVAAkFDA6iH/?hl=en
"All I'm focused on is playing well for Connacht," he says, "and if those [international] honours come, that's as big achievement. I see a bit of talk about Ireland and if that path comes along and I've been here long enough [five years to become Irish qualified] then we'll cross it then."When Andy Friend returns to Australia, in the summer, Porch will be parted from the man who gave him the two biggest breaks of his rugby career. Now 28 and a bit wiser about the world, Porch understands the call of family and friends back home, as well as young grandchildren that Friend has only fleetingly seen. In terms of his stand-out moments from his three and a half years in Connacht, Porch goes straight to Connacht beating all three Irish provinces away from home, in 2020/21. Personally, it has been 'enjoying my time here with my wife and getting over to see other parts of the world that we may never had got the chance to see'. "It's been a hell of an experience," he says. That experience is set to bring him all the way up to 2025 with Connacht and, if he keeps the boot down, Ireland. WATCH THAT JOHN PORCH INTERVIEW (from 36:50) HERE: Related articles:
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