Croc Wallabies: Jones planning 2003-style World Cup camp in Top End

Members of the 2003 Wallabies World Cup squad still chuckle about the moment Lote Tuqiri was almost chomped by a crocodile during a pre-tournament camp at Darwin and Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory.

They also remember the day when Joe Roff had a “near-death experience” during an unexpected fitness session organised after a night of refreshments.

Two decades later, Wallabies coach Eddie Jones is preparing to take Australia’s best rugby players back to the spot where the 2003 team bonded and made life-long memories before marching into a home World Cup final.

“We’re pretty sure we’ll head to Darwin and Arnhem Land for a pre-World Cup camp post the Rugby Championship,” Jones revealed this week.

While Wallabies officials still need to sign off on the trip, which would take place in August before Australia depart for the World Cup in France, it’s a sign Jones wants to replicate some of the preparation from his first stint as Wallabies coach.

“You don’t get any hotter places in Australia than Darwin,” Jones said. “We know the quarter-final [venue in Marseille] is likely to be quite hot. That makes sense. Arnhem Land is the spiritual home of Australia and we want the players to feel that.”

Justin Harrison, George Gregan and Brendan Cannon model a new Wallabies jersey at the team’s camp in 2003. Credit:Getty

The 2003 camp was a mixture of punishing fitness sessions and learning about the local areas and its people.

There was bush tucker, face painting, fishing for barramundi and down time to enjoy each other’s company.

Former Wallabies second-rower Justin Harrison said the camp was an unforgettable experience.

“It was around getting us connected to parts of Australia that we hadn’t really recognised or appreciated we were representing,” Harrison said. “This connection to land is powerful for everyone in an Australian jersey. That was also the hardest we’d physically worked for the entire period. It was physically very demanding and taxing.

“Beaver [Jones] is very good at getting people to recognise when to work exceptionally hard and when not to. There was still a capacity to have down time.

Justin Harrison (left) with Bill Young, David Giffen and Nathan Sharpe at a Wallabies World Cup training camp in Darwin and Arnhem Land.

“The cauldron of World Cup expectation is frightening. It’s terrifying. You need to draw on every bit of familiarity and resource you have available to find security and connection. That Northern Territory experience gave us another level of connection.”

Harrison recalls the day when Jones surprised Roff by putting the star winger and his fellow backs through a tortuous fitness session.

“This one night Roffy falls off the wagon and has a couple of beers,” Harrison said. “He has a fair few, just quietly. Roffy thinks he’s safe in the knowledge that tomorrow [at training] at most it’s going to be a few kicks for goal and watch the forwards do Malcolms [a type of fitness drill normally for the forwards].

Wallabies training at Optus Oval in Darwin during a camp in 2003. Credit:Getty

“In turns out all the backs then had to do it for the first time for the whole trip. Roffy’s hung and in pieces. He had a near-death experience that day.”

One night during a fish expedition, a four-metre crocodile took exception to a floodlight and lunged at a boat with multiple players in it.

It was a near-miss for Tuqiri, one of the side’s star players, who jumped out of the way.

A large saltwater crocodile moves towards the boat carrying Australian rugby players who move away during a tour of Arnhem Land. Credit:ARU

“Lote certainly showed some fancy footwork,” Jones said at the time.

The current Wallabies team will be hoping they go one better than the team of 2003, who have done everything they can to forget Jonny Wilkinson’s match-winning drop-goal in the final.

“We want everything to repeat itself, except for the last two minutes of the final,” Harrison said.

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