Huge Welsh rugby talent unearthed in Australia as five major teams scout him

When Jaxson Collins moved to Australia’s Gold Coast at the age of three, his father, Ross, was very much a rugby union man.

The Cardiff native had played alongside Sam Warburton for Cardiff Schools in the DC Thomas Cup, as well as for Ely, Glamorgan Wanderers and Llandaff North.

Now, at 14, Jaxson is making a name for himself in rugby league and is regarded as one of Australia’s most promising young talents.

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He attends Keebra Park State High School on Queensland’s Gold Coast, one of Australia’s leading rugby league schools. The school has produced 82 players who have gone on to play in the NRL.

Its alumni include dual-code international Benji Marshall and Brisbane Broncos, Queensland and Australia star Reece Walsh.

Jaxson is already well on the path to following in their footsteps.

The 14-year-old is a member of no less than five NRL academies — Brisbane Broncos, Gold Coast Titans, Dolphins, Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and South Sydney Rabbitohs.

He has also been selected again for the South Coast Rugby League representative team and will compete at the Queensland State Championships for the third season in a row while he has also played for Gold Coast Cyclones Rugby Union, and Queensland Rugby Union.

His ambition is clear.

“My long-term goal is to be one of the best players in rugby league in the NRL,” he tells WalesOnline.

“I’m determined to make it. I’ve got to keep up the hard work and hopefully I’ll get there.

“In league I play second-row/lock and in union I play in the back row or inside centre.

“I’d say my strengths are my line running, and my defence is pretty good while my effort is good as well.

“I’m a big admirer of Patrick Carrigan who plays for the Brisbane Broncos and I’m a similar type of player.”

His father, Ross, and mother, Lori, have sacrificed a great deal to give Jaxson the best possible chance of fulfilling his ambition of playing in the NRL.

That commitment includes spending long hours on the road to make sure he gets to training sessions and has every opportunity to develop his talent.

“You get one training session each month and different days for training for each academy,” Ross tells WalesOnline.

“This week he had Broncos training and next week he is with the Dolphins.

“Brisbane Broncos is around the corner. The Dolphins will be the furthest and that’s three to four hours.

“Jaxson is in all of these academies and they are all looking at him.

“The year you turn 15 you are allowed to legally get signed by a club like the Broncos or the Gold Coast Titans.

“You then concentrate on that one club and they look after you then.

“Next year in January we will look to get Jaxson signed up to one of these five clubs.”

The NRL is widely regarded as the highest standard of rugby in either code in the world.

If Jaxson does reach the top, he would not be the first Welshman to make his mark in the competition, with Jonathan ‘Jiffy’ Davies and Allan Bateman both having enjoyed successful careers in Australia.

And there is already plenty of evidence of Jaxson’s ability to perform when the pressure is on.

One of his proudest achievements came in the Under-13 Division 1 Grand Final for his club Burleigh, when he struck a 43-metre penalty goal on the full-time siren to secure the premiership for his team.

More recently, he played a starring role as Keebra Park State High School won the Queensland Schools Rugby League Broncos Cup Grand Final, scoring two tries in the final.

“Last year in the U13s grand final for my club we got a penalty right on the buzzer from 43 metres out,” he said.

“It was probably 15 metres from the sideline and the fans were all yelling.

“There was heaps of pressure on me but I got it to win the game.”

With the NRL firmly in his sights, there is another possibility that could one day bring Jaxson back to his father’s rugby union roots: Wales.

Would he consider representing his father’s country?

“Yeah, I’d play for Wales,” he said.

“But in 10 years’ time hopefully I’ll be playing in the NRL for the Broncos.”

His father, Ross, has his own hopes for his son.

“I would love for Jaxson to go home on a gap year and play in Wales,” he said.

“My mother has never been out to Australia so I’d love Jaxson to be able to play a local game in front of my mum.

“I’d love it if Jaxson played for Wales in the future. That would be very special.”

For now, though, the Gold Coast remains home and the NRL is firmly in Jaxson’s sights.

But with Welsh rugby in his blood and a family dream waiting for him on the other side of the world, there may yet come a time when the journey that began in Australia leads him back to Wales.

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