Joey Fowler played a starring role in the Australian under-20s side’s 54-26 win over Eddie Jones’s Japan under-23s in Coffs Harbour last Friday night.
The Narrabri boy and his teammates took on the ex-Wallabies coach’s side at C.ex Coffs International Stadium and ran over the top of them in the second stanza after trailing 19-14 at the break.
Fowler was a substitute and was introduced off the bench with about half an hour left to play, and he helped the Aussies outscore Japan 40 points to seven as he made the most of his time on the park by setting up one try and scoring another.
His assist came in the 59th minute as Australia led 33-19 when he produced an offload just inches from the ground to put Finn Prass in space, who passed to eventual try-scorer James Martens close to the line.
The Narrabri boy then made a line break on the halfway line in the 77th minute and was brought down a few metres out from the tryline, but that put the Aussies on the front foot as they pushed to hit the half-century.
It was Fowler himself who got them there as he outmuscled a defender close to the tryline and reached out to score with 90 seconds left on the clock.
He then kicked his second goal of the game as he converted his own try to make the final score 54-26.
The match wrapped up a week-long camp that kicked off preparations for the Under-20 Rugby Championship in South Africa in May and the World Rugby Under-20 Championship in Italy in June and July.
The squad for the South Africa tour has since been announced and Joey was named for the Australian team for the second year running after he competed at the same tournament last May at the Sunshine Coast.
He will travel to Perth next week to link up with the squad before they depart, and this Saturday he will play his first Shute Shield game of the year when he lines up for Sydney Uni.
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