You might be surprised by who isn’t starting for the Men’s Collegiate All Americans in the opening game of the team’s Australian tour, but don’t worry, you’ll see everyone eventually.

The game itself will have open subs - a situation requested by the Darling Downs club, but one that fits right in with what Head Coach Gavin Hickie wants to do.

“It works out very well for us because we want to have every player get at least ten and get a blow-out,” said Hickie.

The Coach added that it’s important to look at the starting 15 that he picked as the All American team.

Meeting time, notebooks out.

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“Is it our strongest team? Well you could say it is, but at the same time we’ve got players like Dylan Audsley, one of the top collegiate players in the country, on the bench. They could easily be starting. But our mind-set as coaches is to go out with all guns blazing and then be able to re-assess where we are after this game.”

Hickie was hugely complimentary of the attitude and approach of the players. Despite delays in the travel and the difficult of jet lag and coming together through a bunch of unknowns, the players have been able to get down to business.

“I’ve been fortunate to be a part of the Collegiates and the U20s and the ARC teams, and I’ve never been part of a squad that has gelled so quickly,” Hickie told Goff Rugby Report. “The staff here are so pleasantly surprised by how quickly this group has come together.”

Hickie said the players and the staff set the tone, but he also gave credit to their college coaches and the coaches of the age-grade programs before, where many of these Collegiate All Americans cut their international teeth.

“From the very first meeting they walked into in LA, we were ready to go. They had their gear packed in their bags, and were talking amongst themselves and the tone was set. That really helped unite this squad very very quickly.”

The players, of course, know of each other, at least. As Hickie said, “they’ve all been beating seven bells out of each other every week. The vast majority know each other in some form or other.”

Among those players setting the tone is the first game day captain, Aladdin Schirmer, who has stepped forward unequivocally as a leader and an example.

So the locals are nice, and the players are professional, and the first game won’t be easy, but will get all the healthy players a chance to get on the field and working. It seems a dream start.

Now they have to do the job.

Hickie said they are focusing on accuracy.

“We are a high performance team and we expect and demand very high standards from all our guys on and off the pitch,” said the coach. “The players have bought in immediately. I am really pleased with the appetite of these guys to work very hard. They’ve all gone through a really tough collegiate season and they are putting in a massive work load. Everybody is just getting it done to the best of their ability, and that’s been pretty rewarding.”