Australia's renaissance man Dan Vickerman, talking to David Sygall of the Sydney Morning Herald, admits the excitement is brewing after being named in the Australian World Cup squad.
"Dan Vickerman relinquishing his hard-won place in the Wallabies team in 2008 was surprising. Completing an honours degree at one of the world's great universities was exceptional. Regaining his place for the World Cup in New Zealand next month is astonishing.
It's a rare breed that is prepared to risk a career in international rugby to spend three years buried in books. But what Vickerman might lack in overt exuberance, he makes up for in single-mindedness. His reward is a third World Cup, another time around with his second-row partner and good friend Nathan Sharpe in the Wallaby scrum and a chance to repay Australian rugby for welcoming back the Cape Town-born 32-year-old after he realised his academic goals.
''I don't show a lot of emotion at the best of times but, for me, this is something really very special,'' Vickerman says. ''On the inside I'm really bubbling."
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