Rocky Elsom

At 41 years old, Rocky Elsom has this physical status:

Rocky Elsom (born 14 February 1983) is a former Australian rugby union player.

He played the positions of flanker and number eight.

He was selected for 75 caps for Australia.

He is the most capped Australian blindside flanker.

Rocky was the 76th Australian test captain, having replaced Stirling Mortlock in 2009 for two years.

Rocky Elsom played for the Wallabies from 2005 until 2011.

Rocky Elsom played professionally for New South Wales, Brumbies and Leinster. Elsom is one of Australia's most decorated players, having won Herald Super 14 player of the year in 2007, Wallaby of the year in 2008, European Player of the Year in 2009 and inducted into the European Cup Hall of Fame in 2010.

He also holds the record for most tries by a Wallaby forward and is one of only a handful of Australians to win a Heineken Cup medal twice.

Brian O'Driscoll once lauded Elsom as the best player in the world.Elsom's post rugby career started in spectacular fashion, taking over RCNM Racing Club Narbonne Mediterranean in 2013.

RCNM's 2013/14 season, Elsom's first at the 110 year old club, broke every major record in the club's history, except for highest individual point scorer and according to the LNR, occurred with the lowest player spend and lowest central funding in the league. Elsom's low-cost, lightly-staffed, profitable model attracted the attention of the Qatar Investment Fund, with RCNM being pursued by its Chairman & CEO in 2015.

Source

Career

Elsom has played for 75 international championships, as well as 64 Super Rugby Caps and 21 caps for Dublin-based province Leinster. Elsom has been named as the year's best sportsman of the year, Wallaby of the Year, Leinster Rugby Player of the Year, and European Player of the Year. Elsom was named as a blindside flanker in a European dream squad by the ERC in 2010 to commemorate the Heineken Cup's fifteenth anniversary. Despite him only being with Leinster for one season, his effect during the tournament that year was evident. In 2007, Elsom was also honoured the Waratah Medal for outstanding contribution to NSW Rugby. Elsom is one of just a handful of Australian players to win a European Cup. Elsom's career hasn't been without controversy, with a handful of suspensions (one of which was later reversed) in the case. Also, an ongoing dispute with the ARU over the terms of his employment culminated in an unexpected early release 'compassionately' to join Leinster in 2008. Despite being named Wallaby of the Year one month earlier, Elsom was deemed "unavailable" for the 2008 Wallaby Spring tour. Elsom negotiated a return to Australia and the test arena ten days after a 'Man of the Match' performance in Leinster's victory in the 2009 Heineken Cup Final against Leicester Tigers, a 'Man of the Match'.

Elsom was born in Melbourne and was educated at St. Joseph's Nudgee College in Brisbane, where he was captain of the rugby union team; he then moved to the Australian Schoolboys team. He was a stifling forward for a young man of his height. When he finished in the Australian Schoolboys, he was nearly 100 kilograms. In August 2000, he was selected to play number 8 for the Australian Schoolboys.

Following Elsom's success on the schoolboy circuit, he spent two seasons with the Canterbury Bulldogs rugby league team in Sydney, where he was a front-row prop in their 2001 premiership-winning Jersey Flegg Cup team. During that period, he worked with fellow Bulldogs players Johnathan Thurston, Nate Myles, Roy Asotasi, and dual-code international Sonny Bill Williams, who would continue to meet on two occasions in rugby union, he lived. They lived in Belmore, 'Dog House,' a Bulldog-owned cottage.

Elsom made his rugby debut against the Auckland Blues for the Waratahs in 2003. At the 2003 under-21 World Cup, he captained the Australian Under 21s.

Elsom continued to develop in the Australian rugby scene, playing in 12 of the Waratahs 13 games during the 2005 season, but the Crusaders defeated them. Elsom was ranked number six in the first Wallaby test of 2005 against Samoa. Despite strong competition, he scored the first attempt of the game and went on to retain his position as Australia's first choice number six. Elsom re-signed with the Waratahs in 2005, extending his involvement with the New South Wales team until the 2008 Super 14 season.

Elsom was named captain of the Waratahs in Sydney for their week 12 match against the Highlanders, his 50th appearance for the Waratahs. In 2007, Elsom was also named in the Matt Burke Cup for the Waratahs, as well as the Herald Award for the best-performing Super 14 player of 2007 and the NSW Medal for outstanding contribution to NSW rugby. He was also voted Australia's most valuable flanker. He scored a hat-trick of tries on his first appearance against Japan and set a new record for a hat-trick by a forward in World Cup history (18.33 minutes). Elsom, a late 2007 World Champions South Africa, reached Number Eight in the Barbarians VS. South Africa match, where he scored an incredible goal early in the second half, helping the Barbarians beat the World Champions South Africa.

Elsom was named 'Wallaby of the Year' in 2008 after playing in all but one match of the Wallaby's Tri-nations tests and scoring a crucial effort to beat the All Blacks in Sydney. Elsom signed an agreement with Irish provincial side Leinster in August 2008 to join them.

Elsom went to Leinster Rugby in 2008 in the hopes of competing in the Heineken Cup in 2008. He was instrumental in Leinster winning their first title and being named man of the match in two of the three playoff games, including the final, where he was credited with the pack's 19–16 victory over the Leicester Tigers.

Elsom was named 'Leinster Rugby Player of the Year' in 2009, gaining an unprecedented 70% of the popular vote. After Leinster defeated the Heineken Cup with three Man of the Match appearances from Leinster's six wins, he was also named "European Player of the Year 2008/09." Elsom earned 11 Man of the Match awards from his last 13 outings and was named the 'Magners League Player of the Year 2008-2009' alongside fellow Leinster player Brian O'Driscoll, as well as being included in both Celtic and European 'Dream Teams'. So popular was Elsom during his stay in Leinster that the fans developed a 'Rocky' chant, based on the Rocky films, and the Australian flanker rolled out every time the Australian flanker appeared in Leinster colours.

Elsom was a vivacious physique in the pack, with consistently breaking top-level tackles. Elsom, along with Leinster colleagues Gordon D'Arcy and Chris Whitaker, was selected in the Barbarians squad to face England and Australia in May 2009.

Elsom opted for the ACT Brumbies for two years in June 2009, citing his desire to restart his international work with the Wallabies as the deciding factor in his decision. Elsom joined the California Brumbies in 2010 on a two-year contract, but injuries limited him to 13 appearances.

Elsom was named in the 45-man squad to tour Britain and Ireland in November 2009 and became Australia's 76th test captain, replacing Stirling Mortlock. At the end of the tour, he held two victories (against England and Wales), two losses (against New Zealand and Scotland), and a draw against Ireland in which he scored a try at the 60th minute to put his team back in front.

Elsom led his team to defeat in the first Bledisloe Cup Match of 2010, where the Wallabies managed to put 28 points on the All Blacks with only 14 men for more than half of the game after Drew Mitchell was controversially dismissed. Elsom scored the last attempt for the Wallabies. On a one-year contract, he agreed to rejoin the NSW Waratahs.

Following his release from the Waratahs and a protracted court dispute with Kobe Steelers in 2013, Elsom signed to Toulon, a French Top 14 giant.

Post-playing career

Elsom, a major shareholder of the French ProD2 team RC Narbonne, is currently involved in the introduction of a World Class S&C scheme as well as innovating in recruitment, planning, and development of better Rugby players.

Source