From NZ U19s to Australia’s ‘gold jersey’: Josh Turner’s stunning SVNS journey

On a sweltering afternoon in the Western Cape last weekend, sevens veteran Josh Turner charged onto the field at the Cape Town Stadium to take on Australia’s arch-rivals New Zealand.

Australia and New Zealand share a headline-grabbing sporting rivalry built on respect, with both nations battling it out for more than just a win and bragging rights – national pride is on the line.

But for the HSBC SVNS star Josh Turner, this matchup pits him against the nation of his birth. Turner was born and raised in Hamilton, and even went on to captain the New Zealand U19s side.

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Turner played for Counties Manukau as an outside back in New Zealand’s provincial competition before making the move across the ditch in 2016.

After impressing for the Manly Marlins in the Shute Shield and the Sydney Rays in the National Rugby Championship, Turner was called into the Australian men’s sevens program.

While Turner was made to wait “a while to debut” as the New Zealand-born talent waited for his Australian citizenship to come in, the 28-year-old has looked right and home since embarking on a new rugby chapter in green and gold.

Turner debuted in 2019 and has gone on to win the World Sevens Series with Australia and compete at the Tokyo Olympics – becoming a genuine leader and star within this talented squad, too.

Back on the revamped SVNS Series with Australia in 2023/24, Turner was part of the Australia team that went on to make the cup final at the Cape Town SVNS last weekend.

During their run to the decider, Australia came up against fierce rivals New Zealand in pool play.

Before playing the All Blacks Sevens, Turner opened up about his journey from growing up “thinking about” the black jersey to playing in a gold one.

“I always get this question but every team is the same for me,” Turner told RugbyPass

“I get great support from back home in New Zealand, I get great support from Australia. I was born and raised in New Zealand but I’ve had two kids in Australia so I’m a fifty-fifty split.

“Obviously you grow up thinking about all these things but once footy gets going, once you start getting into an environment like this, it’s amazing mate. No matter what team you’re playing for it’s the love you play for that team, the hard work you put in at training.

“This gold jersey we’ve got on, it’s a special group. If we all get together we’re hard to stop.”

While their journey to the decider in South Africa was largely seen as an overwhelming success – albeit a tad surprising, too – the road to the top was far from smooth.

Australia were met by a colossal speedbump in their Kiwi foe during pool play. It’s safe to say that the Trans-Tasman matchup didn’t go to plan for the Aussies.

World Rugby’s Sevens Player of the Year nominee Leroy Carter scored a first-half hat-trick as the All Blacks Sevens ran away with a commanding 35-5 victory.

Coach John Manenti later told RugbyPass that the team were admittedly “pretty terrible” during that match, but the Aussies didn’t let that result define them.

Wins over Canada, South Africa and Fiji followed as Australia showed plenty of heart, fight and passion on their way to their first cup final in quite some time.

Their success made another one of Turner’s comments that much more meaningful.

“It was just more action less talk. That’s the whole philosophy for us this weekend,” Turner said before Australia’s 30-point loss to New Zealand.

“It’s more action, less talk, and get a little bit of ticker about ourselves.”

The Aussies certainly let their rugby do the talking as they bounced back with a series of stunning wins over genuine contenders at the Cape Town SVNS.

Tickets are on sale now for the next SVNS Series event in Perth which gets underway on January 26.