Ben Alexander

CA Brumbies prop Ben Alexander was the bolter when the Wallabies squad was announced on Monday. No-one was more shocked that Alexander himself when he was informed that after six appearances for the CA Brumbies off the bench in 2008, he was now part of a 30-man Wallabies squad. Brumby Jack caught up with Alexander to find out how his first Wallaby experience was treating him.

Brumby Jack: What was your reaction when you received the phone call to say you were part of the Wallabies squad?
Ben Alexander: I know people always say this when they get selected but I honestly thought it was a joke. It took Phil Thomson, the Wallabies Team Manager, a few minutes to convince me that it wasn’t and that it was fair dinkum. After that I think I went into a bit of shock and shut down and almost collapsed. I was at a mate’s place on his verandah and I had to grab onto the railing so I didn’t fall over.
 
BJ: How have you found the first few days as part of the Wallabies squad?
BA: It’s been good. To be honest it probably hasn’t been too different from when we go away with the Brumbies. The media interest and attention has been the biggest difference for me. Apart from that it’s been an extremely positive experience and I don’t have one bad thing to say about it… except the weather, it’s been coming down constantly since we arrived and this morning we had to train in torrential rain. Apart from that it’s been a best-ever experience.

BJ: What were your personal goals at the beginning of the year?
BA: Just to get one cap off the bench for the Brumbies and have a good season for [Sydney club rugby side] Norths and hopefully get them into the finals. I would have been happy with that but this has far and away exceeded those goals – making the Wallabies squad wasn’t even on the radar.

BJ: Now that you are part of the national squad, have you set yourself goals within the Wallabies?
BA: While I’m here I just want to train as hard as I can and try to impress. If someone does get injured and the opportunity arises to get some game time then I want to make sure that I don’t let the team and my country down. It’s also a great opportunity to develop my game and take this all in for future reference for when I come back to the Brumbies. But at the moment I want to prove the selectors were right to pick me and make sure I’m doing what I can to consolidate my spot and prove this wasn’t a one-off thing.

BJ: Finally, Robbie Deans has come across from New Zealand to take up the role of Wallaby coach. How have you found him?
BA: We were all aware of his reputation as a great coach and after spending the first few days with him I couldn’t be any more impressed. I admire the way he came straight from a Super 14 final across to get stuck into the Wallaby job. He’s got a few ideas which are a bit different to what I’m used to but his track record has proven that it works. It’s now up to us to implement it and get used to it.