Shock Jock’s form surge

TSS product a driving force behind Country’s bid

JOCK Campbell is the tryscoring machine who battled once upon a time to make the cut in his school rugby side.

The 23-year-old winger has been in fine form for Queensland Country, scoring six tries in the opening four rounds of the National Rugby Championship – not bad for a guy who spent much of his final year at The Southport School in their second XV.

Nonetheless, Campbell (pictured) credits TSS and his current premier rugby club University of Queensland for laying the foundations to be the player he is today.

“I wasn’t a superstar schoolboy … but I loved my rugby at TSS and I think I learnt a lot of skills there that were really valuable later in life,” he said.

“Having Mike Wallace at TSS and then Mick (Heenan) at UQ, both are really good coaches that thrive on little things. I owe a lot to those two coaches.”

Tomorrow at 3pm, he will be up against Heenan, who coaches Country’s archrivals Brisbane City. Directly opposite him on the field will be UQ teammate Con Foley.

Country tasted defeat for the first time in their premiership defence last weekend – a 42-40 loss to the Western Force – and are aiming to make an immediate response against City up at Toowong.

“Their season is really on the line against us,” said Campbell, who hails from Inverell in northern NSW.

“They will be out to prove a point and we really want to keep that (Andy Purcell) Cup and make the country proud of us.”

If all goes to plan, the finalsemester commerce student will be finding the tryline yet again; only Melbourne’s Tom English is ahead of him on the top tryscorer list.

“It probably starts with Duncan,” Campbell explained of the side’s backline success, pointing to captain and inside centre Duncan Paia’aua.