I have a confession to make. Months ago, when the initial Elsom release dramas were ongoing, I was of the opinion that while Rocky was the form 6 in the world, and his play would no doubt benefit from a move, that his career would probably suffer from it.
I thought there was a good chance that the boggy fields of Ireland would suck him into anonymity (along with a few other names from down south) and the whole experience could wind up being a short term dash for cash that may well threaten his Wallaby jersey.
How wrong can you be? Have a look at these latest highlights of Rocky’s 11th man of the match performance out of Leinster’s last 13 games. Oh, and it just happened to be in the Heineken Cup final, which his team won 19-16.
Brian O’Driscoll (Ireland and former Lions Captain) described Elsom as the best footballer he’s played with and said “Let’s put it this way, we wouldn’t have won the Heineken Cup without Rocky Elsom.”
As far as Rocky’s next move goes an ARU official said “We remain quietly confident a resolution will be reached with Rocky”. I’d be keeping that confidence very quiet as well.
Tags: rocky elsom, youtube
Matt a.k.a Gagger or GAGR (short for GreenAndGoldRugby, not a fetish)
Matt started G&GR just before the 2007 Rugby World Cup and has been enslaved ever since. You can follow him on Twitter here http://www.twitter.com/Matt_Gagger 
The man is a legend. He’ll be a huge presence in NZ 2011. While I hope he stays with Leinster, I would fully understands if he leaves and nobody in Leinster would hold it against him. That is one of the great Heineken Cup performances from a truly great modern flanker. Australia are blessed to have him! & we at Leinster will never forget his contribution to our first European title.
For anyone unfamiliar with Leinster, here’s some highlights from the last few years – not all Northern rugby is dull English-style stuff!
Any chance you could send me the whole match? It’s not available anywhere up here for a month and I’d love to watch it again as I was in the stands. Many Thanks!
Full match up on Diwana.org.if you can get access to that!?!
Yeah, sorry – the most you can put up on youtube is 10mins, if you can get past the lawyers!
I had a Match Report pulled from YouTube because of supposed copyright infringement. The only problem is, finding out exactly what was the problem is very hard.
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I loved the one where Leicester were on the march, they got caught in the ruck but Leinster well on the back foot, and Rocky went deep to the corner to cover the missing winger, sure enough it was kicked there. He caught it and, where the typical modern winger would just kick it back uselessly, charged upfield.
I watched it in French and dear me Fabien Galthé loves Rocky! It was hilarious listening to him ‘Rocky Elsom, the Australian, the animal‘, ‘really a man superpowerful‘, ‘stupendous Rocky Elsom, rams forward and drives the whole team with him‘, or ‘He lives his name well, …his parents were fans of Stallone, they named him accordingly, and well you see the results’…
If the ARU don’t get him back I hope he plays for Ireland and teaches them a friggin lesson. Digby with him.
The man is a human wrecking ball.Stuart Barnes called him a rhino, trampling all over the field.
He has been doing this all season for Leinster.They broke the mold when they made him.
he’s so good at falling in a way that protects the ball and sets it up for the scrummie (once they’re able to actually bring him down)
he almost looks like a brumbie there doesn’t he? lol
Ok, after watching Rocky play balls-to-the-wall against Munster and Leicester, would somebody toss this flanker a Wallaby jumper for the May/June tours and Tri Nations? What more does he have to do to earn one? Just a heroic performance against the Tigers.
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i dont think anyone would argue against him being the starting blindside for any team atm.
Including World.
Great Video. The guy has excelled, hasn’t he?
It will be ridiculous if the brumbies get him as well. Surely the ARU won’t allow them to hoard all that talent? If they get O’Connor it’ll only get worse
I remember watching him play for Aus A against Samoa or some crap. His work rate is a big part of his game, he always looks tired but never stops running. He’s not all that fast but he’s desperately hard to slow down. The other thing is that he’s a pretty damn good 8 as well. Come back Rocky!!
Elsom is too good for the tahs and reds, signing for them would be like taking 4 steps backwards the next logical step for him is the brumbies with less money but more glory.
He’ll get more touches on the left wing, thats what he likes judging by that video.
Would like to see him, george smith and giteau taking apart the super 14 next season.
Can you imagine him offloading to the likes of Giteau? He almost always breaks the line, so he creates the perfect circumstances for Gits or JOC or even Tyrone Smith to just cut loose.
yeah i think he can see that the brumbies are probably on the verge of a revival. Giteau back and we saw what he could do for the force, i think he’s decided he wants to be in a winning team and start gunning for being a player who can win both the Super 14 and Heineken Cup.
It really would be an achievement, imagine if it could happen back to back!
Has anyone else done that? Any statisticians know? I bet it would be a first.
doug howlett’s won both.
albeit quite a few years apart
Still it has to be the everest of club rugger. Respect.