Wallabies prop Sekope Kepu will play his final home Test on Saturday night after announcing his international retirement.
Kepu, who became the first prop to play 100 Tests for the Wallabies when he hit the milestone last year, is heading to London Irish after the World Cup but would still be eligible to play international rugby under the “Giteau Law”.
The 33-year-old announced on Monday that this would be his final year of international rugby, though, following in the footsteps of halfback Will Genia in calling time on his Test career post-World Cup.
The Waratahs front rower made his debut for the Wallabies back in 2008, but never really thought he would one day be a part of an exclusive group of Test centurions.
Kepu was asked to speak to the team along with the other Wallabies centurions in the current squad ahead of the Auckland Bledisloe and said it was only then that he felt the achievement fully.
“Cheik got us to speak in Auckland, speak to the group, the centurions group and it was then that I realised what a unique group to be a part of,” he said.
“Obviously through the years, you just play footy and you love it, you just want to get every Test you can and play in every game you can but to actually notch 100 last year and to be a part of such a special group...It's one of those things - you never thought you'd be able to achieve that and to have done so, it's something I'm very, very privileged to do and I've been fortunate to play for as long as I have been.”
There is some sort of poetry in Saturday’s match against Samoa being his final Test in Australia - it was against Samoa back in 2011 that he made his starting debut.
While that shock loss might be a day the Wallabies would rather forget but Kepu said there was something significant in coming somewhat full circle in Parramatta.
“I remember that day very well - baptism of fire, I guess,” he said.
“in 2011, leading into the World Cup as well, it was my first start at loosehead. To come full circle again in my last Test match on home soil is going to be very special."
Kepu has spent plenty of months on the road with the Waratahs and Wallabies since making his debut 11 years ago in Italy - the same year his daughter Faith Rose was born.
Since then, he and wife Anna have had three more children - Israel, Isaiah and Steven-Judah - and Kepu feels it’s time to be with his family a little bit more.
“I had my daughter is now 11, she was born in 2008, the year I debuted for Wallabies and Waratahs. For as long as she's lived, I've been playing rugby,” he said.
“She's almost ready for Dad to hang it up and just be a bit at home a bit more.
“They've been supportive, they've been awesome, they've sacrificed a lot for me.
“(They’re) the reason I get up out of bed at 5:30 in the morning or whatever it is for our training sessions, but also not taking away the privilege we have to be in such a unique group and an environment that you love and you live you breathe rugby.
“I've really, really enjoyed it and...you see it coming to an end and I said to the guys, ‘I just want to make the most of it’.
Kepu will have one last chance to make the most of his time in Test rugby with the World Cup kicking off in a fortnight’s time.
The Japan tournament will be his third World Cup campaign and the tighthead said the best advice he could give to his younger teammates was just to embrace the ride.
“Before you know it, you're in week one, two, three rolls around and if you can build that momentum from the start it's such a great journey to be a part of, things just start to build momentum and the snowball just gets bigger and bigger,” he said.
The Wallabies are currently in camp in Noumea, arriving back in Sydney on Wednesday night ahead of Saturday’s Samoa Test.
Winger Jack Maddocks and backrower Rob Valetini have joined up with the squad in Noumea ahead of the match.
Australia takes on Samoa at Bankwest Stadium, Parramatta on Saturday September 7, kikcing off at 7:30pm AEST, LIVE on Network Ten, Foxtel and via RUGBY.com.au RADIO.
