Young star tries for top

By Marc McGowan
NATHAN Paila will become the latest Endeavour Hills Rugby Union Club member to represent his country this year.
The 18-year-old Narre Warren South resident earned selection in the Australia A schoolboys’ squad last week for a match against the Tongan schoolboys’ team in Sydney on 19 September.
Endeavour Hills has produced a string of high-profile players, including Australian Wallabies winger Digby Ioane and Paila’s cousin Siliva Siliva, who made the Australian schoolboys’ side last year and is now in the Western Force Academy.
Paila was a key member of the Combined States squad, which included players from Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Tasmania, that made the final of the Australian Schools Rugby Union Championship in Sydney last week.
The Combined States outfit lost the final 43-17 to Queensland I, but it was the first time in history that the former had reached the decider.
Paila, who plays the number eight position, said it was a goal to make the Australia A team, but was still pleasantly surprised.
“It felt pretty good,” he said.
“I spoke to Siliva just before I went up there for the tournament and he just told me to go hard and give it all.”
Paila, who has played the sport at Endeavour Hills since he was four, was delighted to make history with the Combined States side.
“In the first game we got smashed, but the team just came together in our second game and it was good to knock New South Wales off,” he said.
“The final was the hardest rugby I’ve played. Queensland really played as a team.”
Paila’s rugby talent doesn’t stop with union.
He has represented Victoria in rugby league and also made the Combined States team in that version of the game, but chose to play union instead.
“I’ve played rugby union for most of my life, so I had to choose rugby union,” Paila said.
“It was a tough decision, but I had to make it.”
Paila will do his own training ahead of the clash with Tonga before meeting up with his Australia A team-mates a week before the match.
“I’m looking forward to it, but I’m not sure what to expect because I’ve never played them before,” he said.
“It will be great to play for my country for the first time.”