Horwitz’s season of hope
Australia's first Jewish rugby player at Super Rugby level, David Horwitz, has finished his debut season feeling satisfied, but determined to improve.
AUSTRALIA’S first Jewish rugby player at Super Rugby level, David Horwitz, has finished his debut season feeling satisfied, but determined to improve.
The 21-year-old NSW Waratahs’ back, used as a centre and fly-half in 13 games – mostly off the bench – told The AJN on Monday it’s been a steep learning curve, but being in the Waratahs’ train-on squad for the previous two seasons made his transition easier.
“I think it was easier for me early in the year, on reflection, to make an impact but you find out fairly quickly how consistent you need to be at this level,” Horwitz said.
“Preparation and putting everything into training is the key.
“What I learnt most is you need to do that for all 15 weeks [matches] in the season.”
The Waratahs won eight of their 15 games, but narrowly missed securing a spot in the quarter-finals, finishing in second place to the ACT Brumbies on the Australian ladder of the Super Rugby competition.
Horwitz, a former Randwick Rugby Club player and student at Moriah and Scotts Colleges, got 529 minutes of game time for the ‘Tahs, scored one try, set up two others, made 127 running metres, 32 open play kicks and 55 tackles with a tackle success rate of 75.3 per cent.
“My goal, and all I wanted to do this year, was to get a taste of Super Rugby,” the 2015 Maccabi NSW Sportsman of the Year said.
“Now that I’ve had quite a few games under my belt, I want to secure a spot in the starting side – that’s next year’s goal.
“It was a kind of a changing of the guard at the ‘Tahs in 2016 – I was one of seven or eight players making their debuts.
“So now we all know the standard required and we will be stronger for that.
“We’re lucky to have top quality coaching staff and some amazingly talented and experienced players that are guiding us.
“As a team, we know we need to play well consistently in the early stages of games – I think not doing that cost us a lot this season.
“It’s something we know we need to work on.”
Horwitz acknowledged it may be a long while yet before another Australian Jew plays at Super Rugby level, but he hopes with greater participation, that day will come.
“I think Jewish sport is on the rise in Australia and Maccabi is doing a very good job in that area.”
SHANE DESIATNIK
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