Précis

In a television exclusive, Australian Story takes you inside the private life of Wallabies hero and international Rugby Union star David Pocock - travelling with him back to his homeland Zimbabwe. The program reveals the dramatic origins of the passion that so famously drives him today, both on and off the field.

Twenty-seven year old David Pocock made headlines around the world last year for his acclaimed performances during the Rugby World Cup. He is now widely considered to be one of the best players in the world.

He’s just as widely known for his charity work, and for his commitment to supporting a range of social justice issues from same-sex marriage to climate change to homophobia in sport, and many more.

“David’s passion is to see people in need get a fair go, like we’ve been given a fair go,” says his father Andy Pocock.

Drawing on a rich archive of home movies, this two-part special program explores the Pocock family’s idyllic life on a farm in Zimbabwe. Their lives were turned upside down in 2000, when David was just 12 years old.

Violence and political instability began to grip the country as President Robert Mugabe accelerated his process of land redistribution. White-owned land was ordered to be handed over for black resettlement. It quickly ran out of control.

“I remember being pretty scared, mostly just at night. As a kid, all the different scenarios are going through your mind,” says David Pocock.

The situation came to a head for the Pococks when a neighbouring farmer and close family friend was shot dead. His son was seriously wounded after being shot nine times.

Fearing for their lives, the Pococks fled from their farm in 2001, leaving behind their extended family including David’s much-loved grand-father “Pop”.

“Still brings a big lump to my throat. In retrospect, it’s the finest thing that ever happened for those boys,” says Ian “Pop” Ferguson.

“I knew I had some trauma stuff in there that I needed to actually tell people about and talk through, but in my mind there were people way worse off. I've got this opportunity, I've got sport,” David explains.

As a young teenager, David became obsessed with rugby, and by the age of 20 he achieved his dream to play for the Wallabies.

He got there through hard work and a sheer determination that both exasperated and worried his ever-supportive family.

“We didn’t really get a look in. If it wasn’t about his training, get out of the way, because he was just a bit obsessed at the time,” brother Mike Pocock explains.

After a stellar early career, David Pocock’s will and determination was tested by traumatic back-to-back, season-ending knee injuries.

Many thought it could be the end of his career. David was determined to get back on the field and, according to his coaches, by the 2015 Super Rugby season he was in perfect mental and physical condition.

“He went through a lot of pain to get to where he got to,” says Brumbies head coach and Wallabies legend Stephen Larkham. “But it was inspirational to watch him do it, and to be part of how he did it, and to see where he got to in the end.”

David Pocock’s partner Emma, also interviewed for the program, is more impressed by his achievements off the field.

“His physical presence and his personality can be quite jarring, because he's so big, but he's very soft and quite gentle,” Emma Pocock says.

This intimate profile shows a complex man who uses his celebrity status. In doing so, he’s inspired by the words of Ghandi, “Be the change you want to see in the world.”

A gripping close encounter with a white rhino and her calf is one of many visual highlights of this unmissable special.

Interviews include: David Pocock, his immediate family, his partner Emma Pocock, coach Stephen Larkham.

1     

David on safari in Zimbabwe

Music

00:00

2     

ANDY POCOCK, FATHER: Dave's totally an Australian, but he sees Africa as a part of his life, not just somewhere he visits. He connects back to the people he knows: the African people. He connects back to the nature he's so passionate about: the birds and the wildlife.

00:10

3     

DAVID POCOCK: I have lots of fond memories. For me, as a kid growing up in Zimbabwe, it's one of those things where you grow up in a place, you always have that connection to it.

00:32

4     

Soldiers breaking down doors, chopping down crops, setting dwellings on fire. Zimbabwe, 2000

REPORTER (2000): These are tense and dangerous times in Zimbabwe's rural hinterland. The campaign of intimidation on the farm shows little sign of easing.
JANE POCOCK, MOTHER: Leaving Zimbabwe and coming to Australia,

00:41

5     

Jane Pocock 100%

pretty much everything about our lives changed.

00:54

6     

Andy Pocock 100%

ANDY POCOCK, FATHER: The kids saw too much. It affected them greatly.

00:57

7     

David runs through bush

DAVID POCOCK: And I think my coping mechanism was sport.

01:01

8     

David 100%

That's what I... I threw myself into, I became obsessed about.

01:06

9     

ARCHIVAL. David playing rugby

SPORTS COMMENTATOR: Pocock is arguably the best in the world.

JANE POCOCK, MOTHER: Rugby isn't defining for

01:09

10  

Jane 100%

Dave. It's not what defines him as a person.

01:16

11  

David running through bush

LUKE O'KEEFE: What I've seen in his life so far is a desire for social justice.

01:18

12  

Title fades up: TRUE GRIT

ANDY POCOCK, FATHER: The African story, the Australian migrant, now the Wallaby: his story has shaped the man and I don't think you can understand him without knowing his story.

01:26

13  

Bulawayo GVs
Super: Bulawayo, Zimbabwe

Music

01:47

14  

David and Emma driving

DAVID POCOCK: We're heading from Bulawayo down towards Beitbridge. My grandfather and uncle are still trying to run a citrus farm and a game farm, a wildlife conservancy.

02:11

15  

DAVID POCOCK: By the end of the World Cup, I was certainly looking forward to a break.

02:24

16  

David 100%. Super: David Pocock

I try and get to Zimbabwe once a year. I've still got some family here.

02:30

17  

David and Emma driving

EMMA POCOCK, PARTNER: We've definitely talked about living in Zimbabwe for a time. Dave just has such a

02:34

18  

Emma 100%. Super:
Emma Pocock, partner

deep sense of responsibility to make a positive contribution there.

02:40

19  

David and Emma driving

DAVID POCOCK: On both my mum and dad's side, they've been in southern Africa for at least five generations. It's still a very special place to me.

02:45

20  

David with his grandfather, seated by an open fire, overlooking a river, listening to birds. Super:
‘Denlynian’, family game farm

IAN 'POP' FERGUSON, GRANDFATHER: Could be egrets?

IAN 'POP' FERGUSON, GRANDFATHER: David has come back every year. First he's been able to afford to do it since he's become a rugby player. And he just loves the country. He's got a tremendous passion for the wildlife farm.

IAN 'POP' FERGUSON, GRANDFATHER: Now, you know what that bird is, calling, David?

You'll always find a bird book under his arm or, or something

03:06

21  

Ian Ferguson 100%. Super:
Ian ‘Pop’ Ferguson, grandfather

like that. He, he just loves it out here. You know, he was brought up here and he just loves it.

03:31

22  

David with his grandfather, seated by an open fire

DAVID POCOCK: They're called lapwings now.

IAN 'POP' FERGUSON, GRANDFATHER: Oh, no. Come off it, man.

DAVID POCOCK (laughs): They are!

IAN ‘POP’ FERGUSON, GRANDFATHER: Oh, no. And you've got to learn it all over again!

DAVID POCOCK: I've always been teased in my family for my love of birds. When I was a kid

03:36

23  

David 100%

I'd have, like, my bird book and, like, a list of birds in the area and try and tick them all off when we went,

03:49

24  

David Pocock and Ian Ferguson continue to listen to birdsong by the riverbank

wherever we went.

IAN ‘POP’ FERGUSON, GRANDFATHER: Now, that's a Natal francolin calling.

JANE POCOCK, MOTHER: I'd say Dave always had a special relationship with my dad. When Dave was born,

03:55

25  

Jane 100%. Super:
Jane Pocock, mother

Andy and I had been married for just over two years and Andy was managing on my dad's citrus estate.

04:06

26  

Photos. Family farm

ANDY POCOCK, FATHER: Jane's dad was an agricultural officer back in the 1960s. And late 60s he bought the citrus farm, which was just derelict bush. There was nothing there. And by the time I joined him, we had 100,000 citrus trees on the farm. So he,

04:13

27  

Andy Pocock. Super:
Andy Pocock, father

he grew this thing from virtually nothing to an incredible enterprise.

04:30

28  

Family citrus farm

While we were running the citrus farm, early ‘80s, he bought the game farm.

IAN ‘POP’ FERGUSON, GRANDFATHER: We used to employ up to 300 people.

04:35

29  

Ian Ferguson/Family farm

We led the way in the whole district at the time. Well, that's all gone now. Zimbabwe is very, very different now to when David was a boy.

04:46

30  

Home video footage. Camping. David as child

ANDY POCOCK, FATHER: The first year of Dave's life: when we look back on it, it was just idyllic.

04:55

31  

Family sing happy birthday

[singing]

05:03

32  

JANE POCOCK, MOTHER: When Dave was about a year old, Andy wanted to go up and join his dad and his brother on a joint farming venture.

05:08

33  

Andy Pocock

ANDY POCOCK, FATHER: We moved about 500 kilometres north to Gweru, which is right in the middle of Zimbabwe.

05:17

34  

Home video footage of David Pocock as a toddler, jumping on a bed. David points to his baby brother

JANE POCOCK, MOTHER: David, who's your brother?
DAVID POCOCK: Here.

JANE POCOCK, MOTHER: What's his name?

DAVID POCOCK: Coco.

JANE POCOCK, MOTHER: What's your name?

DAVID POCOCK: Coco.

JANE POCOCK, MOTHER: David Pocock.

DAVID POCOCK: David Coco.

JANE POCOCK, MOTHER: So Dave's one of three brothers;

05:22

35  

Home video footage. David and brothers on farm with cattle

he's the eldest of three.

MIKE POCOCK, BROTHER: Growing up on the farm was... it was a great childhood.

05:39

36  

Mike Pocock. Super:
Mike Pocock, brother

Just being able to do whatever you want. You've got so much space just to go for a ride on your motorbike.

05:46

37  

Home video footage. David and brothers on farm with animals

STEVE POCOCK, BROTHER: School holidays, we wouldn't leave the farm for...

05:52

38  

Steve Pocock. Super:
Steve Pocock, brother

what, four or five weeks sometimes. We'd just be out there and we'd wake up and go on our own, own adventures every day.

05:58

39  

Home video footage. David and brothers on farm with animals

DAVID POCOCK: There were a lot of staff working on the farm and they were a huge part of our lives.

JANE POCOCK, MOTHER: David was often just doing something that little bit differently. As a 10-year-old in the school holidays, he was setting himself a project to research birds and would write up this whole folder. He's always kind of

06:04

40  

Jane 100%

walked to his own beat in a lot of ways; hasn't really ever followed the crowd as such.

06:33

41  

Children practicing rugby in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. David plays with them. Super:
Bulawayo, Zimbabwe

BRENDAN DAWSON, FMR NATIONAL RUGBY COACH: Two hands on the ball! What are you doing with one hand!

DAVID POCOCK: I don't really remember developing an interest in rugby. I don't know, it just seemed like a given. We were always passing with Dad or kicking to Dad or watching rugby on TV. I guess it's a very

06:40

42  

David 100%

white southern African thing: you play rugby at school.

07:04

43  

Brendan Dawson and David on field. Super:
Brendan Dawson, fmr National Rugby coach

BRENDAN DAWSON, FMR NATIONAL RUGBY COACH: We've opened up a little rugby academy to try and develop the skill level at a junior level, because, you know, I feel that in Zimbabwe our skills levels have really deteriorated.

07:07

44  

Home video footage of Andy and his sons playing rugby.

ANDY POCOCK, FATHER: Dave started playing rugby when he was five. Every evening we would kick a rugby ball on the lawn. And then it would be getting dark and I'd say,

07:20

45  

Andy 100%

"Guys, I need to go. I'm tired, you know. I need to go inside." And they'd say, "No, just, just some more."

07:30

46  

Home video footage of Andy and his sons playing rugby. David kicks ball

And eventually we had this rule: 100 more. And they would be satisfied if I just kicked 100 more. And I would count, you know, 99, 100. And then on 100 I would just walk off, otherwise we just, we'd never get out of the garden.

JANE POCOCK, MOTHER: Sibling rivalry was quite strong with the boys because they're all quite strong. So they'd be fighting for supremacy

07:34

47  

Jane 100%

for a lot of the time. (Laughs)

07:59

48  

Home video footage of David playing rugby at school, 1996

ANDY POCOCK, FATHER: Go David, Go David. Beautiful.

MIKE POCOCK, BROTHER: Dave was always a freak child at (laughs) like, he never used to be able to

08:01

49  

Mike 100%

play with his age group because he used to hurt all the kids. So he always used to play up an age group or two,

08:09

50  

Home video footage of David playing rugby at school, 1996

or else all the mums would complain.

ANDY POCOCK, FATHER: Go forward, David! That's it, David. 

DAVID POCOCK: I think since probably, like, seven or eight, I knew that's what I wanted to do after school was play rugby, professionally and one day play for the Springboks.

08:14

51  

David 100%

I don't know, it was something that I really enjoyed and I wanted to be the best at it.

08:27

52  

Home video footage of David playing rugby at school, 1996

08:31

53  

Mike 100%

MIKE POCOCK, BROTHER: Dad always used to say to us as kids that, you reap what you sow; and all the hard work you put in: you will see, see the results of it.

08:36

54  

Andy 100%. Super:
Andy Pocock, father

ANDY POCOCK, FATHER: Never told David to do his homework, ever. Never told him he needs to practice, it's just in him.

08:42

55  

Ian Ferguson 100%. Super:
Ian ‘Pop’ Ferguson, grandfather

IAN ‘POP’ FERGUSON, GRANDFATHER: I mean, even if he lost at a game of cards he'd start crying. So that was an indicator (laughs) that he was going to achieve something. And

08:51

56  

Home video footage of David playing rugby at school. David scores a try

it's very rarely you get a man who gets so dedicated from a very, very young age.

ANDY POCOCK, FATHER: Go, David!

JANE POCOCK, MOTHER: Go, David! Woo! David, good boy.

09:00

57  

Ian Ferguson 100%

IAN ‘POP’ FERGUSON, GRANDFATHER: We didn't really know what was going on, you know, but he had it in his mind he wanted to get right to the top.

09:10

58  

Home video footage. David as child riding horse, David and other kids on trampoline

JANE POCOCK, MOTHER: Zimbabwe when the boys were growing up was just really amazing. We felt relatively safe. There were no restrictions. But

09:17

59  

Jane 100%

things changed and things happened politically that, that have changed all of that.

09:33

60  

Excerpt from news report. Super: Zimbabwe, 2000

REPORTER: Martin Olds died in a hail of bullets, trying to fight off a group of armed independence war veterans. 

JANE POCOCK, MOTHER: Back in about 2000, President Mugabe

09:38

61  

Jane 100%. Super:
Jane Pocock, mother

decided that the land should go back to the people who had fought for the liberation of Zimbabwe.

09:49

62  

Excerpt from news report, Zimbabwe, 2000

They were called war veterans.

REPORTER: And at his party's recent campaign launch, Mr Mugabe insisted half Zimbabwe's white-owned land will be seized for black resettlement.

09:55

63  

Jane 100%.

JANE POCOCK, MOTHER: It wasn't a total, total "white against black", it was very much a politically driven thing

10:06

64  

Excerpt from news report, Zimbabwe, 2000

from Mugabe.

ROBERT MUGABE, ZIMBABWE PRESIDENT: Down with British imperialism and neo-colonialism.

10:13

65  

DAVID POCOCK: A lot of farm workers got beaten up.

REPORTER: They set the houses on fire, destroying everything the owners couldn't save.

10:18

66  

DAVID POCOCK: I guess it showed that it really, it wasn't about land redistribution, it was about votes and it was about

10:24

67  

David 100%. Super:
David Pocock

a number of other things. And I guess land was just a political football for politicians to use.

10:30

68  

Excerpt from news report, Zimbabwe, 2000

REPORTER: Conflict has already spilled onto the streets of Harare as an opposition march turned violent. Black and white were clubbed, kicked and beaten.

ZIMBABWEAN PROTESTER: We are really disappointed. This country belongs to twelve million people, not 50,000 war veterans.

10:41

69  

Mike 100%. Super:
Mike Pocock, brother

MIKE POCOCK, BROTHER: People used to get to school and their back windows were smashed in because there were riots in town. And, and that was kind of... normal.

10:57

70  

Steve 100%. Super:
Steve Pocock, brother

STEVE POCOCK, BROTHER: It was really scary I think being, being young and not being aware of the entire situation and not being able to know when you're safe and when you're... and when you're not safe.

11:05

71  

Setting sun

Music

11:16

72  

Moon in sky/Night GVs around farm

DAVID POCOCK: Given what was happening in other areas of the country, Dad had installed, like, a big security door in the sort of sleeping area of the house, where the rooms were, that we'd lock each night. I remember being pretty scared, mostly just at night.

11:20

73  

David 100%

As a kid, all the different scenarios are, are going through your mind. I remember one time there was a mob of people that we could hear in the area, sort of coming along one of the farm roads from a neighbour's farm.

11:36

74  

Night GVs

JANE POCOCK, MOTHER: We could hear them chanting. We could hear them shouting.

11:51

75  

Jane 100%

So I just started screaming to the boys, "Grab, grab what you want to take. Get in the car. We're going."

11:57

76  

Recreation. Family flee in car

STEVE POCOCK, BROTHER: Dad actually stayed out on the farm at that, at that moment. It was

12:04

77  

Steve 100%

terrifying: the fact that we were leaving our farm, but then the fact that we were leaving Dad behind on the farm, not knowing what he was going to encounter.

12:10

78  

Jane 100%

JANE POCOCK, MOTHER: It was very traumatic for the boys because we couldn't- we ended up having to stay the night in town and we couldn't contact Andy. We didn't know if he'd been killed.

12:18

79  

The next day the farm was peaceful and it was quiet and there was no one around, other than the workers. And it was life as normal. And, you know, I can just remember thinking, "Did that really happen?"

12:29

80  

Fences/Gates/Chains

I think the final straw for us was when neighbours of ours who Andy had grown up with were ambushed at their gate.

ANDY POCOCK, FATHER: They lived about 20 kilometres away. And he was,

12:44

81  

Andy 100%

he was shot and killed. And his son, Ian

12:57

82  

Elsworth in hospital after being shot

Elsworth: I actually coached him rugby. He was a wonderful young man. And they shot him nine times.

JANE POCOCK, MOTHER: We were there in the hospital every day with Ian. And that was just

13:00

83  

Jane 100%

so close. That was so in our face. And for us, after that, there was no turning back. We just couldn't bear the thought that that could've been one of our boys.

13:11

84  

David 100%

DAVID POCOCK: I think when it really sort of sunk in was going to the house a few months later and seeing the ute with all the bullet holes sort of sprayed along the one side of the car. I remember me and my brothers kind of looking at it and sort of putting our fingers in the holes, going, "This is pretty... it's like something out of a movie."

13:22

85  

Steve 100%

STEVE POCOCK, BROTHER: I was paralysed by fear because I thought, if this can happen to a farm 30 kilometres away, it can just as well happen to both of my parents. And then what ends up being of us boys?

13:40

86  

Home video footage of Andy among

JANE POCOCK, MOTHER: When will we start picking this, Andy?

ANDY POCOCK, FATHER: We're picking on Friday.

ANDY POCOCK, FATHER: I think leaving the farm for the final time,

13:49

87  

Andy 100%

I guess the feeling is... It's, it's like a death.

13:56

88  

Family photos from farm

It was like leaving family, I guess.

DAVID POCOCK: I mean, that was a farm that Dad bought with his brother and dad. His dad's buried on that farm, so

14:00

89  

David 100%

if it was hard for me and my brothers, I can't imagine how hard it was for him.

14:10

90  

Family photos from farm

ANDY POCOCK, FATHER: Our closest labour came out. We said our goodbyes. We exchanged some gifts.

DAVID POCOCK: And one of the hardest things was actually leaving farm workers and people that I'd known my whole life.

14:14

91  

Mike 100%

MIKE POCOCK, BROTHER: The only thing I remember is saying goodbye to my nanny.

14:26

92  

Photos. Boys with nanny

So she kind of was always there. I grew up with her. She always looked after us and came on holiday with us. That was probably the hardest goodbye.

14:28

93  

Steve 100%

STEVE POCOCK, BROTHER: It was no longer home and it wasn't really somewhere that we, yeah, wanted to be or felt safe. I think we were very much ready to move on and leave Zimbabwe by that point.

14:37

94  

Excerpt from news report. Super: Zimbabwe, 2000

REPORTER: Farm workers are continuing to abandon their homes, fearing attacks by independence war veterans. 

DAVID POCOCK: I think as a kid I was fairly oblivious to, I guess, a lot of the history in Zimbabwe.

14:48

95  

Family footage. David at school with classmates

And I guess looking back on it now, I was a, you know, a privileged white kid. I think guilt's probably an appropriate - I don't know - feeling when you grow up in a privileged position, just because you've been born to certain parents. Though I think just

15:01

96  

David 100%

being guilty about it does nothing. Like, I think the guilt was definitely there but I was keen to... I don't know, ask the question, "Why?" And,

15:16

97  

Home movie footage. Workers in crop field

"How have we allowed our world to get to this?" I mean, there were almost a million farm workers. And you know, I don't know how many were beaten and killed as well. That's,

15:28

98  

David 100%

that's not the story that people hear about.

15:37

99  

ARCHIVAL Mugabe. Super:
Robert Mugabe Zimbabwe President

ROBERT MUGABE (archive): Land was acquired through colonial settler robbery. But we are now the conquerors of those who conquered us yesterday.

ANDY POCOCK, FATHER: And I'm very aware that sort of a century before,

15:40

100             

Andy 100%

whites dispossessed the blacks of some of their farm- farming areas.

15:54

101             

ARCHIVAL. Farm workers

So there was an axe to grind. Did land redistribution need to happen? Yes, it did. Just the way it was done was really,

15:57

102             

Andy 100%

unjust. And the violence wasn't necessary.

16:05

103             

David 100%

DAVID POCOCK: You talk to the younger generation of Zimbabweans, here in Zimbabwe and overseas, and they know that the old way was never going to work - and it isn't going to work. There has to be some sort of, some sort of healing and reconciliation. And I think land will be a huge part of that, because there really is so much potential.

16:09

104             

Aerial. Farm. Super:
‘Denlynian’, family game farm

Music

16:30

105             

MIKE POCOCK, BROTHER: The land distribution system is still going on in Zimbabwe and it's

16:33

106             

Mike 100%

still affecting Pop's game farm and the citrus farm.

16:36

107             

David walking with Eliot Shoko on the grounds of 'Denlynian' to reservoir

DAVID POCOCK: Is this where the giraffes drink from the top?

ELIOT SHOKO, GAME FARM MANAGER: Yeah, they drink from the top.

DAVID POCOCK: In some ways it's quite hard going back every year and seeing all the challenges and the pressure that places on the game scouts, their families, my grandfather, my uncle.

JANE POCOCK, MOTHER: My dad and my brother still find themselves

16:40

108             

Jane 100%. Super:
Jane Pocock, mother

in a situation where their land has been acquired, but yet not properly taken away.

17:00

109             

David with game farm workers

For the 13 years that we've been away from Zimbabwe, it's just been this long, involved struggle to try and keep his land.

IAN ‘POP’ FERGUSON, GRANDFATHER: On the wildlife farm we're basically surrounded with farms

17:09

110             

Ian Ferguson. Super:
Ian ‘Pop’ Ferguson, grandfather

that the farmers just packed up and left. And that's what they were hoping that we would do - but we haven't.

17:29

111             

David with Eliot. Super:
Eliot Shoka, game farm manager

ELIOT SHOKO, GAME FARM MANAGER: For me, 2000, we started to be evicted by these war vets from the property. Then after we've been evicted, they started to take almost everything that was on the property. They used to come down here to our camps and beat us. And the police would do nothing.

17:37

112             

Eliot and David in four-wheel drive vehicle, driving past properties occupied by liberation war veterans

DAVID POCOCK: People have moved on and started building cattle kraals, dropping bore holes, getting electricity supplies.

DAVID POCOCK: So on the left and right from here for the next sort of kilometre. 

ELIOT SHOKO, GAME FARM MANAGER: They've brought

17:53

113             

all their cattle - everything - on the property. They seem to be building some other structures on the property, which is illegal.

DAVID POCOCK: So this is the guy who's sunk the bore holes?

ELIOT SHOKO, GAME FARM MANAGER: Yeah.

DAVID POCOCK: The water tanks.

18:07

114             

Citrus farm. Super:
‘Benfer’, family citrus farm

MIKE POCOCK, BROTHER: I know that Pop doesn't even go back to his citrus farm any more because it just upsets him.

18:21

115             

David driving through citrus farm

DAVID POCOCK: Times are obviously pretty tough. They've had to let most of the citrus trees die, just because they couldn't afford to keep watering them with all the uncertainty.

18:30

116             

Ian’s abandoned house

IAN ‘POP’ FERGUSON, GRANDFATHER: And I went up to my house once and up to the office block. And I just looked round it and I, I just couldn't handle it.

18:42

117             

Ian Ferguson 100%

It provided a wonderful life for us. We worked incredibly hard.

18:51

118             

David walking around abandoned houses at 'Benfer'.

I try not to think about it.

DAVID POCOCK: This is where my folks - it was the manager's house, I think. My folks lived here. So I would've lived here for the first couple of years of my life.

DAVID POCOCK: Going back there: it's such a mix of emotions. I wouldn't say it's anger: I think it's more disappointment and just sadness, really, seeing the decline.

STEVE POCOCK, BROTHER: You know, the real victims now left in Zimbabwe are the people, because there's

18:57

119             

Steve 100%

extreme poverty, a low life expectancy.

19:30

120             

David and Eliot walk on citrus farm

The situation has stabilised from a lot of the violence and the crime going on. It still is happening to a degree, but it's just living in a time now where, yeah, anything still can happen in Zimbabwe - and that must be quite tough.

19:32

121             

Ian with Eliot

IAN ‘POP’ FERGUSON, GRANDFATHER: I'm no worse off than 90 per cent of the other commercial farmers in Zimbabwe. Some of them

19:48

122             

Ian 100%

lost their lives and some of them have lost everything and some of them are destitute. Some of them that were young enough went to Australia and have done very well.

19:54

123             

Air Zimbabwe airplane on tarmac

ANDY POCOCK, FATHER: Leaving Africa was traumatic. It was terrible. You felt like you were letting the other people staying behind down. I had some other farmers

20:04

124             

Andy 100%

telling me I was running away. I had one farmer's wife telling me I had a yellow line, a yellow stripe painted down my back and I was a coward.

20:17

125             

David 100%

DAVID POCOCK: Moving to Australia, you were just looking for the easy way out. Or, you know, "You should stay if you really love Zimbabwe."

20:25

126             

Jane 100%

JANE POCOCK, MOTHER: My dad told me that we were breaking up the family and we were destroying... but, and we just said, "Well, we're sorry but that's what we feel we have to do."

20:32

127             

Ian 100%

IAN ‘POP’ FERGUSON, GRANDFATHER: Sad. Yes, still brings a big lump to my throat.

20:41

128             

Plane taxis

JANE POCOCK, MOTHER: We've always really tried not to hold any bitterness or- and really practise gratitude.

20:49

129             

Jane 100%

But a lot of, a lot of grief, a lot of loss.

20:57

130             

Plane takes off

IAN ‘POP’ FERGUSON, GRANDFATHER: Of course, I'm too old to move anywhere but in retrospect,

20:59

131             

Ian 100%

it's the finest thing that ever happened for those boys.

21:04

132             

Plane lands Australia

STEVE POCOCK, BROTHER: We arrived in Australia and it was just the

21:07

133             

Steve 100%

five of us. And we had, I remember at the airport we picked up 11 suitcases and that was us.

21:14

134             

Home video footage of the family arriving in Brisbane. Super:
Brisbane  2002

DAVID POCOCK: The city centre of Brisbane.

JANE POCOCK, MOTHER: There's the Brisbane River, David.

DAVID POCOCK: OK.

STEVE POCOCK, BROTHER: The really tough thing was: we had nothing to go back to. We knew that we were here and there was no Plan B: this had to work.

21:21

135             

Home video footage of the family in their new home in Brisbane, 2002

MIKE POCOCK, BROTHER: We've just been doing homework. As you can see we've no desk, so it's quite tough.

JANE POCOCK, MOTHER: The day before the boys needed to start school, we moved into this house. And I think we'd bought a fridge and a kettle. And

21:33

136             

yeah, that was, that was a bit of a shock: suddenly thinking, OK, this is really for real now. (Laughs)

21:47

137             

Mike 100%. Super:
Mike Pocock, brother

MIKE POCOCK, BROTHER: And when we got to Australia, we didn't really have the finances for school fees. And

21:54

138             

Home video footage of the boys in school uniforms

Pop helped out and paid the first year's school fees for us.

ANDY POCOCK, FATHER: Good morning, Australia. We have some very, very smart future Churchie boys going to school. There's David in all his glory. David, go back a bit. You're too big, I can't get you all in at one time.

DAVID POCOCK: As a 14-year-old rocking up with a different accent, and  a

21:58

139             

David 100%

different background, you didn't really fit in. So I think part of it was lost the accent pretty quickly. I was sick of people asking me to say things.

22:20

140             

Home video footage of the boys assembling bed bases

JANE POCOCK, MOTHER: OK, so the big day has arrived: we've got beds.

ANDY POCOCK, FATHER: Beds to sleep on!

ANDY POCOCK, FATHER: The first five years, all of us faced our demons and had to

22:30

141             

Andy 100%. Super:
Andy Pocock, father

re-establish our identities, our self; had to find our feet, had to recover financially or at least learn how to survive financially.

22:42

142             

David 100%

DAVID POCOCK: We were all dealing with stuff when we arrived in Australia. We were all just doing it in very different ways.

22:50

143             

Home movie footage. Assembling beds

Steve probably took it the hardest.

STEVE POCOCK, BROTHER: I suffered from a lot of anxiety; found it really hard to go to school, to adjust. And it actually came to

22:55

144             

Steve 100%
Super: Steve Pocock, brother

quite a big head about three years after being in Australia, where I just completely broke down. I was in hospital as an outpatient for about six months with post-traumatic stress disorder. And it, yeah, took a huge amount of work to, to get through that and just to start being a normal, a normal person again. But, at the same time, it's something that I'm incredibly glad I've gone through and dealt with.

23:09

145             

Home movie footage. David at Rugby training

MIKE POCOCK, BROTHER: I think Dave just threw himself into sport. He was always busy doing some sort of sport, so that's how he dealt with it.

DAVID POCOCK: I knew I had some

23:32

146             

David 100%. Super:
David Pocock

trauma stuff in there or some experiences that I needed to actually tell people about and talk through. But in my mind it was: "Pff, there's people way worse off. I've got this opportunity. I've got this sport, and there's other things that I can control."

23:40

147             

Home movie footage. David at Rugby training

JANE POCOCK, MOTHER: Dave had always been very focused. But definitely,

23:57

148             

Jane 100%

after we came to Australia, probably it became a lot more obsessive, a lot more extreme.

24:03

149             

Re-enactment. David in library

DAVID POCOCK: That first summer holiday I would go down to the library and just hire out books and do training sessions from them. And I had this weird thing that, in my head, I had to do 450 crunches a night or else I was going to get fat. Or,

24:12

150             

like, if I didn't do it, I was mentally weak.

24:27

151             

David training with weights

JANE POCOCK, MOTHER , MOTHER: I think Dave always had a sense that he had to be strong and had to be a coper. And he obviously had felt that his whole

24:29

152             

Jane 100%. Super:
Jane Pocock, mother

life was out of control because... everything had changed.

24:41

153             

David training with weights

DAVID POCOCK:  I didn't have to deal with all this emotional stuff. I could just, you know, stay focused and control things. And I could justify it because I wanted to play professional rugby. I wanted to play for the Wallabies.

24:47

154             

Home video footage of David and Jane, 2002

ANDY POCOCK, FATHER: David playing with the rugby ball as usual.

MIKE POCOCK, BROTHER: Dave was always on a mission when he was about 15 or 16. We really

24:59

155             

Mike 100%. Super:
Mike Pocock, brother

didn't get a look in. If it wasn't about his training, get out of the way because (laughs) he was just a bit obsessed at the time.

25:04

156             

Steve 100% Super:
Steve Pocock, brother

STEVE POCOCK, BROTHER: At one training session when he was under 15, one of the coaches told him he's got a poor left-to-right pass.

25:12

157             

Re-enactment. Passing ball

And so he set himself a goal of 2,000 passes a day. And then he would beg my brother Mike and I to come out and we would have to say, "Just 200 passes, just 200 passes." And we'd have to pass the ball back and forth 200 times while he ran along and passed, left to right.

MIKE POCOCK, BROTHER: And I just

25:17

158             

Mike 100%

thought he was a dick. (Laughs)

25:35

159             

David 100%

DAVID POCOCK: I certainly now wouldn't have liked me then, if I had to live in the same house. Um, it was all about me, a bit.

25:37

160             

Whitsundays GVs

ANDY POCOCK, FATHER: I think he was 14. And we had hired a boat at the Whitsundays. And David wouldn't come because he couldn't train. So the only way we could get David on the yacht for a week is: we hired a trailer, took his full bench press, all his weights

25:46

161             

Andy 100%. Super:
Andy Pocock, father

all the way to the Whitsundays, onto the back of the yacht. And he would literally be doing bench press and all his gym on the back of the yacht, every day, on the Whitsundays. I mean, who, (laughs) who does that?

26:02

162             

David at rugby training

DAVID POCOCK: I thought I was doing everything I could to, I guess, become the best athlete and the best rugby player.

26:16

163             

David 100%

Gain lean muscle mass but not get fat. I had a real obsession about not being fat.

26:22

164             

David at rugby training

ANDY POCOCK, FATHER: We couldn't go for a family meal, because we couldn't find low-enough-fat food. So

26:27

165             

Andy 100%

it was always a drama. So it wasn't: "Oh, maybe this is a problem." We knew it was a problem.

26:32

166             

Home movie footage. David walks in school uniform

JANE POCOCK, MOTHER : I took him to a dietician and she was brilliant because she just said to Dave, "OK, David, you want to maintain this level of training, this is how much you have to eat". And she was dealing with

26:37

167             

Jane 100%

his nutrition but she was -- psychologically she hooked in to what was happening. And then he religiously stuck to that. (Laughs) So it didn't solve his emotional, psychological problem around it, but at least

26:49

168             

David playing rugby

it gave his body the strength to do what he was putting his body through.

TOM BARKER, HIGH SCHOOL RUGBY COACH: In year 11 he injured his knee

27:04

169             

Tom 100%. Super:
Tom Barker, high school rugby coach

and he was very disappointed straightaway to have that injury. But what he did over the rest of that season was to absolutely transform

27:12

170             

Photos. David before and after body work

his body. He committed totally to his work in the gym. He was 78 kilos when I met him and, by the time he had come around to play First 15 in 2005, he was about 90, 95

27:22

171             

David playing rugby

kilo.

MIKE POCOCK, BROTHER: Dave's last year at Churchie, he was one of the superstars in the rugby team.

ANDY POCOCK, FATHER: As a schoolboy, Dave got invited by The Western Force to go

27:38

172             

Photo. David and Andy

across to Perth. And they offered him a contract and yeah, he left home and

27:51

173             

Andy 100%

became a professional at 17.

27:56

174             

Western Force match, Fox Sports

COMMENTATOR: Here's a chance.

COMMENTATOR: Quick hands... Pocock! Pocock for the corner!

COMMENTATOR: And the Zimbabwean born number seven, David Pocock, educated in Brisbane, Australian under 19, Australia A, and now his first Super rugby try...

STEVE POCOCK, BROTHER: Dave was good enough and he was big enough.

27:58

175             

Steve 100%

And his development didn't stop there and he just so rapidly kept developing. And he climbed the ranks really, really quickly.

28:16

176             

Footage of Bledisloe Cup match, Fox Sports 2008

REPORTER: How many 20-year-olds make their test debut in a Bledisloe Cup match in Hong Kong?

DAVID POCOCK: Getting the opportunity to represent Australia and play for the Wallabies was, really, a dream come true. That

28:22

177             

David 100%

had been the drive for so many years.

28:34

178             

Footage of Bledisloe Cup match

IAN ‘POP’ FERGUSON, GRANDFATHER: The day I heard that he'd made it into the Wallabies, quite frankly, I wasn't surprised. But

28:37

179             

Ian 100%. Super:
Ian ‘Pop’ Ferguson, grandfather

absolutely delighted, proud; have been ever since.

28:47

180             

David with kids. Super:
Nkayi, Zimbabwe

DAVID POCOCK: Things were going really well with rugby and I was enjoying it. But having kept in contact with people in Zimbabwe, I knew that it was getting pretty tough there.

LUKE O'KEEFE, FRIEND:

28:51

181             

Luke 100%. Super:
Luke O’Keefe, friend

Dave had been pretty open with me about his journey from Zimbabwe and what had taken place. And I definitely wanted to see the place, see where he grew up.

29:07

182             

Photos. David and Luke

DAVID POCOCK: I met Luke O'Keefe at a church that I started going to when I moved to Perth.

29:15

183             

LUKE O’KEEFE, FRIEND: Dave, when I first met him, even though he was a pretty young guy, was very mature

29:21

184             

Luke 100%

for his age and a deep thinker.

29:27

185             

David and Luke in Zimbabwe

DAVID POCOCK: I don't know, I think it was the start of me questioning all the assumptions that I'd grown up with: I mean, like gender and race and, I guess, class. A lot of it's pretty

29:30

186             

David 100%. Super:
David Pocock

uncomfortable to think about. It's a lot easier just to sit in your, in your box where you're right and you've got the answers.

29:41

187             

David and Luke in Zimbabwe, 2008. David speaks with a villager

DAVID POCOCK: So where do people get water from in this village?

29:48

188             

DAVID POCOCK: We decided that we did want to try and do something to,

29:52

189             

David 100%

as Gandhi put it, "to be the change you want to see in the world."

29:56

190             

David and Luke in Zimbabwe

LUKE O’KEEFE, FRIEND: In 2008 we went on a bit of a tour of Zimbabwe. We saw a lot of things. And it was a culmination of, "Well, everything we've discussed; we're here now. Things aren't great here.

29:59

191             

Luke 100%

If we're going to do anything anywhere, why don't we do something here?"

30:10

192             

David and Luke in Zimbabwe with Anania

DAVID POCOCK: We weren't actually sure what we could do, two guys in Perth, but met Anania Ncube.

ANANIA NCUBE: When I met Dave,

30:13

193             

Anania 100%. Super:
Anania Ncube, Health Education Food Organisation

I don't know who told him about me. There was a day when he just bumped into my office with his friend, Luke.

30:21

194             

Luke and Anania

LUKE O’KEEFE, FRIEND: Started hearing about what Anania was doing out at Nkayi. The community had been hit pretty hard by cholera, by AIDS and a lack of food through drought.

DAVID POCOCK: I was starting to play for the Wallabies

30:31

195             

David 100%

and felt like I could use that little, you know, bit of platform that I had to help raise funds to send over and

30:41

196             

Luke and Anania in office/Cutting ribbon

help their projects in Nkayi. So Luke and I decided to start a charity and called it EightyTwenty Vision.

LUKE O’KEEFE, FRIEND: We've been able to see the community transition from what was, you know, an intensive challenge for them on the ground, with cholera, AIDS, into the next stage.

30:50

197             

Luke 100%

And endeavour to help people grow their own food and not be reliant on us, not be reliant on handouts.

31:16

198             

Cattle on community farm

We're now seeing a push from the community that they want to return to cattle.

ANANIA NCUBE: Of course I was a bit scared about

31:23

199             

David and Anania

his size... and also wondering at the same time, when I got to know how old he was, that: how could such a young man have a heart to support people?

30:30

200             

Cattle on community farm

DAVID POCOCK: So much of the history of aid and development is viewing people in communities like Nkayi as really helpless people who are starving and needed help from the West. Whereas the reality is that these are incredibly resourceful, resilient people, with a number of skills. And, you know, one of Anania's great talents is being able to bring people together and to share information and help people learn from each other.

31:43

201             

We've been able to move with the community as needs arise or priorities change. So now we're moving into more of a value-chain approach to livestock.

32:14

202             

David 100%

And yeah, the community is really excited.

32:27

203             

David and Emma in the bush, Zimbabwe, collecting firewood

EMMA POCOCK, PARTNER: Do we need more? 

DAVID POCOCK: No, that's heaps.

EMMA POCOCK, PARTNER: When I met Dave, I definitely found him very interesting at the start. I guess his physical presence and his personality can be quite jarring, because he's so big,

32:29

204             

Emma 100%. Super:
Emma Pocock, partner

but he's very soft and, and quite gentle.

32:47

205             

David and Emma in the bush, Zimbabwe, collecting firewood

I had said to him, "Oh, Dave, so what do you do?" And

32:52

206             

Emma 100%

he said, "Oh, I play a bit of rugby." And I was like, "Oh, great. And what do you do for work?" And he was like, "No. Yep, I play a bit of rugby." (Laughs)

32:57

207             

David 100%

DAVID POCOCK: Yeah, we talked a lot about feminist theology and um, her pretty strong critique of sports culture in Australia.

33:04

208             

David and Emma in the bush, Zimbabwe

DAVID POCOCK:  How's that for a view?

EMMA POCOCK, PARTNER: I think that was one of the reasons we hit it off so quickly at the start, was because we were probably both at a similar point in terms of moving away from a more traditional Christian faith. Meeting Dave was great, just because it was someone sort of, well, my age, who was interested in similar things.

33:15

209             

Emma 100%

I guess, social justice and thinking about how our faith might be acted out in the world.

33:39

210             

David and Emma in the bush, Zimbabwe, by fire

DAVID POCOCK: This is where I wanted to bring a couple of mattresses.

EMMA POCOCK, PARTNER: Oh, yeah. Sleep out.

DAVID POCOCK: Once we actually started talking about the whole marriage thing and what that meant, we kind of decided that we didn't want to be part of, you know, some exclusive club that didn't allow

33:47

211             

David 100%

some of our friends - should they want to - to express their love and sort of formalise it in that way in society.

34:03

212             

Photos. David and Emma’s ceremony

EMMA POCOCK, PARTNER: At the time, Dave was living with a lesbian couple. And so we decided that while same-sex marriage is illegal, we wouldn't sign any paperwork as, I guess, a sort of act of solidarity with them. Because they could have the ceremony but they just couldn't legally get married.

LUKE O’KEEFE, FRIEND: It was a beautiful ceremony. And I think the decision to not make it official: it's deeply connected to their, to their longing for justice. Whether that be for people, whether that be for the environment or whether

34:10

213             

Luke 100%. Super:
Luke O’Keefe, friend

that be for the animal species that fill this earth, there's a need for justice.

34:38

214             

David and Emma in the Savé Valley, Zimbabwe. Super:
Savé Valley

EMMA POCOCK, PARTNER: Today we're in the east of Zimbabwe.

34:43

215             

Dave's a patron of the Save African Rhino Foundation and so we're here to see some of the work that they're sponsoring.

34:51

216             

Group driving through Zimbabwean bush

Music

34:56

217             

David and Emma in jeep with Bryce

BRYCE CLEMENCE, RANGER, SAVÉ VALLEY ANTI-POACHING UNIT: We've got a group here that actually shot at us.

DAVID POCOCK: Bryce is head of the anti-poaching unit here, which is a pretty tough job.

BRYCE CLEMENCE: We walked into them. And they opened up on us with a folding AK and a G-3 as well. And we were lucky. They just... before we could go down, four rounds had come past…

EMMA POCOCK, PARTNER: There are these highly armed,

35:01

218             

highly organised poaching groups that are coming onto these properties where the rhino are. And they're hacking out the horns and selling them, for you, know tens of thousands of dollars a kilo. And so, in a lot of these situations for the scouts, it's kill or be killed.

BRYCE CLEMENCE: And just your guys' support: just

35:22

219             

Super:  Bryce Clemence,
Savé Valley anti-poaching unit

being vocal and supporting and... gives us massive encouragement on the ground.

DAVID POCOCK: Oh, that's good to hear.

DAVID POCOCK: There's so few rhino left in the world. I think in many ways it sort of represents

35:37

220             

David 100%

the threats to our natural world and, I guess, the really skewed relationship that we have with the natural world.

35:50

221             

Bryce, David and a tracker walking through bush

BRYCE CLEMENCE: We're going to walk in to where the guys are. They've been tracking all day and just protecting. So we're going take David in to where they are and then track the rhino with them.

35:59

222             

Kevin, the team's tracker, detects that rhinoceros have passed by the area recently

DAVID POCOCK: Kevin is one of the best

36:12

223             

David to camera

trackers on the conservancy. When your work and your life depends on being able to read the spoor and the rhinos and tracking poachers: comes in pretty handy, I reckon.

36:18

224             

They continue walking. Rhinoceros are in the distance

BRYCE CLEMENCE (whispers): Got a visual?

DAVID POCOCK (whispers): Just coming through, going left.

BRYCE CLEMENCE (whispers): OK, got it.

BRYCE CLEMENCE (whispers): It's a cow with a fairly small, about a C-class calf, which is, like, quite young. It's under a year old.

36:35

225             

BRYCE CLEMENCE (clicking noise): Move.

BRYCE CLEMENCE (whispers): It's all right. I had to do that. They won't go far: I just didn't want a contact, yeah?

36:50

226             

David to camera

DAVID POCOCK (whispers): Amazing, hey? White rhino and her calf. Incredible.

37:08

227             

David and Emma

EMMA POCOCK, PARTNER: So what did you guys do when they were that close? Were you just totally...?

DAVID POCOCK: We're literally just standing there like this. (Stands ramrod-straight) You can't do anything, because they were looking, and their ears were going... (mimes alert rhino ears) I mean, they were so close you could see the grass in their mouth, they were chewing. Um, yeah.

37:17

228             

Early morning in rural Zimbabwe. David is lifting weights

EMMA POCOCK, PARTNER: I guest when we first met, Dave was on the tail end of his, like, quite obsessive period with food and exercise.

37:36

229             

Emma 100%
Emma Pocock, partner

It just used to astound me: that he would do so much exercise but then order, like, a skinny flat white. And I'd be like, "Are you kidding me?"

37:52

230             

David and Emma training on sand

But I guess the thing I noticed quite quickly was: it was never really about the food as such. When Dave was stressed or felt under a lot of pressure, that would flare up. And it was like:

37:59

231             

Emma 100%

"If I can just focus on this..." It kind of meets some psychological need to have some degree of control.

38:15

232             

David and Emma training on sand

DAVID POCOCK: I mean, for me it really wouldn't have been 'til 2012 in Perth, I started seeing someone on a fairly regular basis to try and work through some stuff;

38:23

233             

David 100%

to try and make peace with that sort of scared 12-year-old Dave who lay awake at night, wondering what was going to happen.

GREG CLARK, PRESENTER: Physically,

38:36

234             

'The Rugby Club', Fox Sports

though, he's a specimen, David Pocock. You know, at 18 when we first saw him at The Western Force he was huge then. He's even bigger now.

38:47

235             

David playing in Rugby World Cup

STEPHEN LARKHAM, ACT BRUMBIES COACH: The physical nature of David: he is extremely well defined. He's got muscles in all the right areas.

COMMENTATOR (Rugby World Cup 2015): And it's the strength and the power of the man.

STEPHEN LARKHAM: And

38:54

236             

Larkham 100%
Super:  Stephen Larkham,
ACT Brumbies coach

he doesn't have an ounce of fat on him. He's got a lot of muscle and, and not a lot of fat.

39:04

237             

David playing in Rugby World Cup

COMMENTATOR (Rugby World Cup 2011): There's the steal from Pocock!

COMMENTATOR (Rugby World Cup 2011): How good is he? How good is David Pocock?

STEPHEN LARKHAM: 2011, he played in his first World Cup.

COMMENTATOR (Rugby World Cup 2011): Bounces out of it! Pocock, you freak!

STEPHEN LARKHAM: And then in 2012,

39:09

238             

Larkham 100%

became captain of the Wallabies. So it all happened really quickly for him.

39:21

239             

Wallabies match. Fox Sports, 2012

COMMENTATOR (Fox Sports, 2012): Pocock, 79th Wallabies captain of all time. He's obviously loving this opportunity, leading the Wallabies.

DAVID POCOCK: By this stage I'd been playing at the Western Force for seven seasons.

39:24

240             

Brumbies match. Fox Sports, 2013). David sustains knee injury

And Em and I decided that it was a great opportunity to move to Canberra and join the Brumbies.

COMMENTATOR (Fox Sports, 2013): We've got a player down. It's David Pocock.

DAVID POCOCK: Got through the first three games of the season. And in the fourth game, got cleaned out a bit off the ball and tried to step, step out of it and just felt, felt my knee sort of give way.

COMMENTATOR (Fox Sports, 2013): Gee, he looks in a distressed state.

DAVID POCOCK: But I guess it's only once you hear the doc say, "Mate, you've done your, your ACL" that it sinks in a bit.

39:35

241             

David 100%

So yeah, that was sort of the whole season.

40:02

242             

David leaving field. Fox Sports, 2013

COMMENTATOR (Fox Sports, 2013): Yes we're going to see David Pocock replaced and that is not what Australian Rugby wants...

STEPHEN LARKHAM: It was a very significant knee injury, but

40:05

243             

Larkham 100%

it didn't seem to be a significant hurdle for him. He was very motivated to get in there and do the rehab program.

40:13

244             

David vigorously exercising in rehab program

ANDY POCOCK, FATHER: Dave's approach to rehab is professional, dogged, determined, obsessed, clinical. But he just does it and does it and does it - and he does it right.

DAVID POCOCK: You know, after going through all that nine-month rehabilitation,

40:20

245             

David 100%

I felt great going into the 2014 season.

40:47

246             

Rugby game

STEPHEN LARKHAM: He just didn't have any luck. Second game of the season, he picked up exactly the same knee injury.

40:49

247             

David in hospital bed, 2014. A nurse attends to his left knee

NURSE: This your second injury of the same knee?

DAVID POCOCK: Yeah, I did it 350 days ago. 

DAVID POCOCK: You loathe yourself a bit.

40:56

248             

David 100%

You kind of blame yourself for being injured. You know, if... I don't know, if my knees were a bit tougher or maybe if I'd done this or that...

41:08

249             

Home video footage of David in hospital bed, 2014

DAVID POCOCK: Yeah. Bitterly disappointed but... um... life goes on.

STEVE POCOCK, BROTHER: As a family,

41:14

250             

Steve 100%. Super:
Steve Pocock, brother

we were just really, really devastated for him. And it was tough and I think a lot of people did say, you know, "Is that it for him? Will he, will he come back?"

41:25

251             

David and Emma in their front-yard vegetable garden, Canberra

DAVID POCOCK: Well, we've got some Brussels sprouts there if you want some for dinner.

EMMA POCOCK, PARTNER: Yeah. Yeah. And I want to pick that big cabbage as well.

EMMA POCOCK, PARTNER: We bought this house, basically because it's on a, like, biggish block,

41:36

252             

Emma 100%

but a very small house - so it would leave more room for gardening.

DAVID POCOCK: How many do you want?

EMMA POCOCK, PARTNER: Um, maybe enough for four?

EMMA POCOCK:  And I guess growing up on a farm in the African bush, for Dave has meant that he both has, like, a love of growing food, but also of just being in nature.

DAVID POCOCK: After rehab

41:49

253             

David and Emma in vegetable garden

in the morning, I'd often come and just spend some time planting or whatever; weeding. Em does most of the hard yards, to be honest. I'll plan and buy the seeds and sort out what we need where and do a bit of planting.

42:09

254             

She's the main weeder, wheelbarrow pusher. Yeah, she's the grunt. I'm studying a Bachelor of Ecological Agricultural Systems. And so when I was injured I managed to, I guess, do a bit more study and actually get to a few of the res schools. So I really enjoyed getting amongst the farmers and meeting

42:24

255             

Emma checks chicken coop.

some people.

EMMA POCOCK, PARTNER: Sometimes they lay eggs in sneaky places.

EMMA POCOCK, PARTNER: Over those two years that was one of the things that we both really had to confront was

42:41

256             

Emma 100%. Super:
Emma Pocock, partner

this kind of idea you have that if you work hard and do the right thing, the universe will reward you. And that's actually just not true. You know, just crappy things happen and it doesn't mean anything, other than it's happened and now you have to deal with it.

42:51

257             

David cuddles chicken

EMMA POCOCK, PARTNER: Is he your friend, Dave?

DAVID POCOCK: The second rehab really gave me the space to try and

43:07

258             

David 100%

explore different parts of myself. I'd been asked to get involved with a few things that were maybe a little bit controversial. And I'd always just sort of hidden behind the thing of: "Oh, I'm too busy. I've got commitments," all these kind of things. But really, they were, you know, something that I feel really passionate about.

43:15

259             

Excerpt from Q&A, ABC TV, July 2012

It came to the point where I just knew that I had to put myself out there a bit.

DAVID POCOCK: People don't chose their sexuality and, you know, we marginalise the LGBTI community for what they are.

43:34

260             

Excerpt from GetUp! ad, YouTube

DAVID POCOCK: I'm Dave Pocock from the Wallabies. I'm joining tens of thousands of Australians who are getting together in their communities to demand stronger climate action.

43:49

261             

Excerpt from news story/Referee cam

REPORTER (Fox Sports): Brumbies flanker David Pocock told the referee he'd heard homophobic slurs coming from a Waratahs player.

REFEREE (off-screen): Sorry?

DAVID POCOCK: Can you just watch the homophobic slurs?

REFEREE: Yeah. 

DAVID POCOCK: Yeah. 

43:57

262             

GFX Twitter

ANNOUNCER (Triple M radio): Jeez, I tell you what, he copped a slagging on social media. It'll mean that he'll never captain the Wallabies again.

44:07

263             

ABC TV News, Nov. 2014

JUANITA PHILLIPS, PRESENTER: David Pocock has been arrested for his part in an anti-coal mine protest in northern New South Wales. The 26-year-old was on the equipment for 10 hours before being arrested and charged.

DAVID POCOCK: I mean, I felt like making a personal stand against mining our food bowl

44:13

264             

David 100%

and the implications of coal mining in a world where climate change is a reality, was far more important than rugby.

44:31

265             

David on mining equipment at protest

If that was going to jeopardise playing for the Wallabies, then that's how it was going to be.

ANDY POCOCK, FATHER: It wasn't a knee-jerk reaction.

44:42

266             

Andy 100%

He had thought about it, he had planned it. He had looked at the consequences.

44:50

267             

Smartphone footage, Nov. 2014

DAVID POCOCK: It's going to have devastating impacts on the water table and then farmland, surrounding farmland.

ANDY POCOCK, FATHER: I was concerned. And um, at the same time,

44:54

268             

Andy 100%. Super:
Andy Pocock, father

I'm very proud that he has the courage of his convictions to do what he believes is right.

45:03

269             

Jane 100%. Super:
Jane Pocock, mother

JANE POCOCK, MOTHER : We realised that it would probably be something very controversial. Um, it would be something that could potentially really blow up in his face with his rugby career.

45:08

270             

ABC News report. Super:
December 2014

JUANITA PHILLIPS: It's created a headache for the Australian Rugby Union and the ACT Brumbies, both of whom have chastised him.

45:09

271             

Larkham. Super on news report:
Stephen Larkham
Brumbies Coach

STEPHEN LARKHAM: From our perspective it's pretty clear as well. He broke the law, therefore breached the code of conduct, and was issued with a warning.

45:26

272             

Steve 100%. Super:
Steve Pocock, brother

STEVE POCOCK, BROTHER: There's no point in having strong beliefs on something if you're not going to do anything about it.

45:32

273             

David on mining equipment at protest

I personally was so, so proud. I was probably more proud than when he ran out on the field for a World Cup. Like, I thought it was just the most incredible thing that he was doing.

LOU RIGGLESWORTH, SEN. CONST., NSW POLICE: OK, guys.

45:36

274             

Anti-coal mine protest)

Like I said, my name's Senior Constable Lou Rigglesworth from Boggabri Police. I'm formally directing you to unlock yourselves and come down from the excavator.

EMMA POCOCK, PARTNER: Dave was determined that he was going to be at work

45:47

275             

Emma 100%

and train really well so that they couldn't, you know, say that it had interfered with his training.

45:58

276             

Larkham 100%

STEPHEN LARKHAM: I'm not sure that he even went home. He turned up here, ready to go for training at 7am, rolled out onto the field and trained better than anyone else.

46:04

277             

Rugby gam. Fox Sports, 2015

COMMENTATOR: Pocock's well forward. Pocock has five points!

STEPHEN LARKHAM: He came back in 2015 in perfect condition, both mentally and physically.

46:13

278             

Larkham 100%

I was amazed at how good he actually was.

46:23

279             

Rugby game

COMMENTATOR (Fox Sports, 2015): But here comes Pocock! Against his old team...

EMMA POCOCK, PARTNER: I think having had two years of hardly watching any rugby, watching Dave play again was like a real shock, because I had forgotten

46:26

280             

Emma 100%. Super:
Emma Pocock, partner

how much of a maniac he is. You know, like, he just- Sometimes I'd be like, "Don't do that! Your body! Think of your body!"

46:37

281             

Rugby game

COMMENTATOR (Fox Sports, 2015): That is brilliant work from Pocock. He is killing them at the breakdown now.

STEPHEN LARKHAM: He went through a lot of pain to get to where he got to, but it was inspirational,

46:43

282             

Larkham 100%

you know, to watch him do it.

46:54

283             

Rugby World Cup final, 2015

COMMENTATOR: Good evening and welcome to Twickenham. Welcome to Rugby World Cup 2015

TOM BARKER, HIGH SCHOOL RUGBY COACH: The Wallabies had an amazing run

46:55

284             

Barker 100%. Super:
Tom Barker, high school rugby coach

to the World Cup final in 2015.

47:03

285             

Rugby World Cup final, 2015

COMMENTATOR: At the breakdown again it's number eight, Pocock. He is brilliant.

STEPHEN LARKHAM, WALLABIES ASSISTANT COACH: Defensively, we just felt that we were the best team in the world,

47:06

286             

Larkham. Super:
Stephen Larkham, Wallabies assistant coach

because we had David out there, who would eventually

47:14

287             

Rugby World Cup final, 2015

steal the ball from the opposition.

COMMENTATOR: Pocock in there again. Ah, it's masterful.

TOM BARKER, HIGH SCHOOL RUGBY COACH: To win our pool and then be able to go right through to get to the final,

47:17

288             

Barker 100%

re-established Australia's faith in our national rugby team.

47:30

289             

Rugby World Cup final, 2015

STEPHEN LARKHAM: The final of the World Cup was something that a lot of the players had dreamed about.

COMMENTATOR: Four years of preparation and build-up comes down to this: the most important rugby game on the planet.

DAVID POCOCK: We knew we didn't have to

47:33

290             

David 100%. Super:
David Pocock

really change that much. We just had to bring, sort of, our game plan and our style

47:50

291             

Rugby World Cup final, 2015

and play it as best we could with all the things that we'd been working on.

COMMENTATOR: Pocock... and Pocock!

EMMA POCOCK, PARTNER: I went to that game

47:56

292             

Emma 100%

thinking, "We've won the final." And it was only at that point, two minutes before the end, when the All Blacks scored that last try, that it occurred to me that we might not win.

48:10

293             

All Blacks take trophy

And then we didn't.

ANNOUNCER (Rugby World Cup final, 2015): Ladies and Gentlemen: your winners, New Zealand!

48:22

294             

STEPHEN LARKHAM: After the game, as a team, it was, it was quite emotional. There were a lot of tears and, ah...

48:36

295             

Larkham 100%

yeah, just massive disappointment.

48:42

296             

Aftermath of game

DAVID POCOCK: Still pretty disappointed, to be honest. I guess it's one of those things that you'll think about for (laughs) the rest of your life.

48:45

297             

Pocock at end of game

ANDY POCOCK, FATHER: He was spent. He was done: black and blue, broken nose. And you just think, you know, that is the warrior.

48:52

298             

Andy 100%

That is what it is to be wholehearted, to give everything.

49:04

299             

David and Emma on farm. Super:
‘Denlynian’, family game farm

DAVID POCOCK: I'm not too sure what I want to do after rugby just yet.

EMMA POCOCK, PARTNER: But I guess we're both really interested in that intersection between wildlife conservation and community development.

49:10

300             

Emma 100%

And Zimbabwe seems like a place that's ripe for that kind of work to happen.

49:25

301             

David 100%

DAVID POCOCK: I've hopefully got a few more years of rugby to go.

49:30

302             

David on farm

ANDY POCOCK, FATHER: I think Dave's worked very hard not to be defined as a rugby player. He wants to be seen as a person who has a wide, holistic viewpoint on life - and who has real opinions.

49:33

303             

David 100%

DAVID POCOCK: When I was a kid I just idolised rugby players, you know. And I had my sort of heroes and had posters on the wall and it was such a big thing to me.

49:49

304             

David and Emma camping in bush

And if I can get young people thinking about things that they may not usually think about - or maybe issues that they would never equate with someone who plays sport - I think that's a really good thing.

50:00

305             

End

Music