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11th November 2021
05:34pm GMT

"I didn't play that midweek game against Munster," he recalls. "Mr Murray picked us up from the ground and was driving us home. I was feeling a bit guilty from having not played, and wanted to do a bit of extra fitness work. So I asked him, 'Would you mind just dropping me five kilometres from your home?' He did. "In hindsight, though, I had only been to their house once and I had no idea where I was going, or how I thought I was going to get to their house. And I just got horrendously lost. "Eventually it got dark, I'd been chased by an Alsatian. I was just thinking, 'This is done!' It was before everyone had mobile phones, so I just walked into a random person's house and said, 'Listen, I'm terribly lost. I'm staying with the Murrays. I don't know where they are.' "Luckily, she knew the family. She ended up giving Mr Murray a call, he came around to pick me up and everything ended up all right."That story of Pocock - going for a 5km run just because he missed out on some game-time - sums up an attitude that saw him made his Test debut at the age of just 20. His work ethic was famously captured in a class documentary called 'True Grit', which we'd highly recommend.
"You absolutely demolished us," he says. "It was yourself, Kurtley Beale and Quade Cooper just taking the piss out of us! "It was those older days of rugby where the teams would all have to hop in the baths together, after a match. I just remember all of us looking at you, going, 'Look at him, he's all triangles!' There was just muscles everywhere."Pocock smiles as he thinks back about that Australia vs. England clash, 16 years ago.
"Something just clicked with Kurtley and Quade. They were on fire. They were doing consecutive chip-and-chases, and all sorts of ridiculous stuff!"Goode will never forget the sight of Beale and Cooper doing one-two passes all the way down the pitch on their way to another Aussie try. Never has one game drove a team of young rugby players to the gym quicker. Playing Against The Clock is hosted by BT Sport's Craig Doyle and includes David Pocock and his wife Emma as guests, along with Martin Offiah and Ledley King. The show focusses on the fight against climate change and the duty of sport to be sustainable.
BT Sport will premiere Playing Against the Clock on October 31 on BT Sport 1 at 6pm, part of a BT Sport focus on sustainability to inform and inspire viewers on the climate emergency. To sign up to BT Sport’s Green Routine and make a change visit btsport.com/greenroutine. For more on BT’s work to fight climate change, visit: www.bt.com/sustainability
WATCH THAT FULL DAVID POCK CHAT HERE:
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