His days as scrum doctor-in-training might be on hold, but Waratahs prop Tom Robertson has his sights set on adding to his Wallabies caps this season.<\/p>\n
Robertson, who made his test debut in a whirlwind 2016, has deferred his medicine studies, with the option to resume the degree until 2020, when he’d have to re-apply, a deadline that leaves him unlikely to return anytime soon.<\/p>\n
“They said it would be a good option to defer and hopefully I might come back to it at a later date but I’ll start a masters of public health in second semester and o that part-time.<\/p>\n
“I had to grovel and get the Dean’s permission to defer and I can go back until 2020 and after 2020 I’ll have to re-apply but in 2020 I’ll be 26 so I don’t think I’ll be going back to do medicine and quitting rugby at 26 hopefully.<\/p>\n
“I’d love to get back there and become a doctor one day.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Robertson began his Super Rugby career as a tighthead but the 22-year-old said loosehead was his long-term vision, having been switched there with the return of Sekope Kepu.<\/p>\n
The front rower has been used on both sides of the scrum for the Wallabies, but he doesn’t want to spend his career as a utility if he can avoid it.<\/p>\n
“I wouldn’t like to keep swapping every week and even in games,” he said.<\/p>\n
“I guess the good tightheads going around these days – Keps and the Franks brothers , they’re 120kg around that and I’m only 111 and a bit sawn off, so I think I’ll probably be staying at loosehead for a while.<\/p>\n
“Whatever the team needs, I’ll play it but I think long-term would be a loosehead.”<\/p>\n
Robertson will have a chance to prove himself against the Rebels this Sunday and said the thought of Wallabies selection was well in his conscience.<\/p>\n
“It’s getting close to June so all the guys that are in Wallabies contention are going to be trying hard,” he said.<\/p>\n
“That’s not to say that we haven’t been trying hard all year, but it definitely places more of an emphasis now that we’re having Wallaby meetings and stuff on a regular basis.<\/p>\n
“It’s in the back of your mind but when you’re on the paddock for 80 minutes you’re not thinking in the back of your head, ‘Cheik’s watching me I better play well’, it’s just a thing you’ve got in the back of your mind.”<\/p>\n
Wallabies scrum coach Mario Ledesma has been a regular sight at trainings through the year and Robertson said he was helping out with the minutiae..<\/p>\n
“He’s been coming in and talking to us and not having more of a physical coaching role but just telling us what he’d like from a Wallabies perspective and the stats and stuff that they bring on the side.<\/p>\n
“It helps modify your game in a small way but he’s not your main coach, obviously, but he helps with more the peculiarities of the game.”<\/p>\n