Izack Rodda

Standing more than two metres tall, giant lock Izack Rodda enjoyed a meteoric rise in 2017 to claim a first Test cap.

Growing up on the far north coast of New South Wales a young Rodda relied heavily on his mum Donna to ferry him from his hometown of Evans Head into Lismore several times a week for training and junior matches. Rodda said, “Mum made heaps of sacrifices. The home loan got extended to get me to school at Ipswich Grammar to help my rugby.” Those sacrifices paid dividends in late 2016, early 2017 when a strong National Rugby Championship for Queensland Country saw him handed a Super Rugby debut with the Queensland Reds.

Rodda then caught national coach Michael Cheika's eye when he called in a group of Reds to train with the Wallabies in the lead-up to their clash against Italy in Brisbane. Just two months later Rodda found himself in the match day 23 against New Zealand.

In 2019 Rodda won selection to his first Rugby World Cup however a year later he left Australia to play for Lyon in the French Top 14. A surprise return via the Western Force in 2021 reignited his Test career and he finished the season as the incumbent Wallabies lock. Unfortunately, a foot injury - one that later required surgery, saw him miss all of the 2022 international season.

Rodda’s Wallaby honour cap sits beside his bed. “I still pinch myself everyday because it’s still not sunk in 100% that I’m a Wallaby,” Rodda once said. “It’s been surreal and I look at that cap most days as a reminder that I’ve got there and have to keep improving every day to stay there.”

Highlights

2014 Selected in the Australian Schools squad to tour New Zealand.

2016 Selected in the Australian U20s squad for the ninth-annual IRB Junior World Championship tournament in England.

2017 Rodda won his first Test cap from the bench when he replaced Rob Simmons in the heartbreaking 29-35 loss to New Zealand in Dunedin. He made his run-on debut when he partnered Adam Coleman in the 27-27, 2nd Test draw with South Africa in Pretoria. Shoulder surgery ruled Rodda out of the 3rd Bledisloe Cup Test and forced him to miss the season ending Spring Tour.

2018 Rodda started at lock in all 13 Wallaby Tests, 11 of which he played alongside Coleman.

2019 He played in eight of the year’s 10 internationals, all at lock, of who which seven saw him paired with Rory Arnold.

2021 Rodda missed the home series against France and the first two Bledisloes before he returned, off the bench, in the third Test against New Zealand. He then started at lock, initially with Matt Philip and later Arnold, in the eight remaining internationals of the season.