Sid Harvey debuts in the green and gold at Global Youth Sevens tournament in Auckland

Sid Harvey’s soaring rugby union career reached a special new height last week when the talented Narrabri boy represented Australia for the first time at the 2023 Global Youth Sevens tournament in Auckland.

Sid, the son of Denis and Carmel Harvey, was only just coming to terms with 13 years of schooling coming to an end as he walked out of his PDHPE HSC exam back in October when he checked his phone and had received an email from Rugby Australia that invited the 18-year-old to be a part of a preliminary train-on squad ahead of the annual under-18s tournament.

Four training sessions later, he was included in the final 14-man squad to travel to the tournament and was on a plane headed to the New Zealand city last week on Monday. The prestigious sevens tournament was held at Auckland’s King’s College from Friday, December 15, to Sunday, December 17.

The Australian men’s national team, which was coached by Aussie sevens legend Stu Dunbar, was placed into Pool D alongside NZ Barbarians, NSW Fiji and Niue, which is a small island nation in the South Pacific Ocean.

They trained from the Tuesday to the Thursday and then received their playing strip at a jersey presentation on the Thursday night, before lining up for their first game of the event on Friday afternoon.

Australia recorded a massive victory over the Niue men in their opener as they outscored their opponents 66-0, and Harvey eased his way into the tournament with a classy try after receiving a pass out on the left edge before beating a defender with an explosive in and out play and then crossing the line.

Australia breezed through their final two pool games on Saturday morning as they beat New Zealand Barbarians 41-7 and NSW Fiji 41-0, which saw them top their group and earn a spot in the round of 16 playoffs.

In their third game of the day on Saturday, the boys in green and gold made it four from four with a 38-5 win over Ba River Fiji to go through to the quarter-final on Sunday morning. They challenged New Zealand outfit Rangataua in that clash with a spot in the semi-finals on the line, and they got the job done with a 35-0 win to progress to the final four.

The Aussies came up against the New Zealand under-18s national side in a semi-final match that kicked off just after midday, and it was the hosts who got the job done as they won a game that was fit to be the grand final 31-21. Australia was well and truly in the contest until the end, with the score at 24-21 with seconds remaining, but the New Zealanders scored a late try to stretch their lead to 10.

The New Zealand men went on to win the tournament after outscoring the New Zealand Cavaliers 26-19 in the decider later that afternoon, and Australia finished placed third based on their seeded ranking as there was no third-place playoff game on offer for the two semi-final losers.

Harvey certainly made a name for himself at the tournament, with his explosive goose step in the green and gold going viral on social media early on before he was named in the team of the tournament on the final day.

The event was the opportunity of a lifetime for the former Narrabri High School vice-captain and one that he grabbed with both hands. He told The Courier that he relished the opportunity to make his debut for his country and said he was honoured to pull on the green and gold.

“Getting the email after I’d only just finished my HSC was pretty crazy. It was a big shock,” he said.

“Two days later, I was down training in an Australian squad. We trained once a week for a month and they picked a final squad of 14 to tour.

“I was at work the day they said we’d find out if we made the team, and from about 12 o’clock onwards I was checking my phone every half-hour. I was really hoping to make the team, and I thought I’d worked hard enough to make it.

“I got the email at about 5 o’clock that afternoon and I rang dad straight away. It was a bit of an outburst of emotions. I was pretty pumped up. It was just massive.

“It’s been a pretty big year with footy and all the travel and the HSC, so to make that team meant a lot. I was pretty excited.

“It was one of the best trips of my life. It was just so good to be able to play at that level and everyone was so good to each other. There were no personality clashes or any egos there in our group, just 14 boys wanting to win for Australia.

“It was the best.

“We got matched up against New Zealand in our semi-final, which we were absolutely pumped for. We were all keen as but we lost 31-21 after they scored on the bell.  It was one of the best games I’d ever been in. It was so close but we fell just short.

“We did pretty well overall but just missed a few little key things in that semi-final, and that’s what costs you in sevens.

“The team of the tournament was pretty surreal. You don’t expect that. It was a nice little reward, but there were a lot of other boys that deserved to be in it too.”

The Australian national team call-up was certainly a well-deserved one for a dedicated boy from the bush who has sacrificed so much to put himself in a position to succeed in the rugby arena, including giving up playing cricket, missing a schoolies trip with his mates and sacrificing many of his weekends during the year to travel for training and games.

Making the tournament even more special for Harvey was the fact his father Denis, mother Carmel and eldest sister Mae all travelled to watch him play.

“I knew dad was coming but I thought it was only supposed to be dad coming,” he said.

“I went outside to see him when he turned up, and then mum and Mae were there too. They surprised me, and it was pretty special to have them there.”

Harvey will arrive home in Narrabri today to reunite with his family and friends for a brief Christmas and New Year break before returning to Sydney to resume training with the NSW Waratahs early next month.

The Narrabri boy is currently part of a 22-man Waratahs senior academy that includes a group of youngsters identified as potential Super Rugby players of the future for the NSW club.

Harvey will train with the Waratahs until pre-season trial matches begin for the Shute Shield Clubs, which will see the fullback link up with Eastern Suburbs Rugby Union Club. He said that he expected to start the 2024 campaign in the Easts colts twos team but hoped to work his way up to the colts ones and then into the senior sides for grade rugby.

His other significant goal for 2024 is to earn selection into NSW Waratahs’ under-19s squad that will compete in the 2024 Super Rugby Under-19s competition later in the year.

Away from the rugby arena, Harvey is also looking forward to tackling a brand-new challenge when he begins a Bachelor of Secondary Teaching degree at the University of New South Wales early next year.