Bo Abra's pursuit of his rugby dream has taken him from Tamworth to Bathurst, to Sydney, Canberra, Perth and now Newcastle.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
The Western Force prop is one of a couple of Super Rugby players to join the Hunter Wildfires in recent weeks for their Shute Shield campaign.
Previously aligned with Eastern Suburbs, being closer to his family was for the former Pirate one of the big attractions to the Wildfires, with the 23-year-old actually reaching out to them about playing post the Super Rugby season.
"I thought it would be a good opportunity to live near home again," he said.
"And also my brother and sister are down here so I thought it would be nice to be in the same town again as them."
In past 'off-seasons' playing with Perth Bayswater in the premier grade competition over there, the Force, who he made his debut for during the 2022 season, were fortunately obliging for him to do that.
Playing his first game for the Wildfires in their come-from-behind 31-27 win over Warringah, Abra was originally named on the bench, but ended up starting after the tighthead was a late withdrawal and playing the full game.
His first run for a few weeks, he admitted it "wasn't as bad" as he thought it was going to be.
He went pretty well too being named in the Wildfires' team of the week from across all of their teams.
On the Saturday just gone, he came off the bench and played the second half after catching the 'red-eye' back from Perth at midnight after having to attend the Force presentation night.
The closest he has lived to Tamworth since he moved away to board at St Stanislaus in Bathurst to further his rugby opportunities, Abra is enjoying it.
"It's been nice being near my brother and sister," Abra said.
"I'm staying with my sister as well so it's been good to hang out with them."
"And most mornings I go down for a swim at Merewether beach and get a coffee."
He is also excited about doing some work with the local branch of disability support service What Ability.
Utilising professional and semi professional athletes as support workers, it provides support to people living with a disability with an emphasis on fun first.
Abra has been a support worker with them for close to a year.
"They've just kind of opened up in Newcastle so it's been nice to help them try and take off a bit in Newcastle," he said.
Reflecting on the Super Rugby season, while he didn't get the game time he hoped for - he was limited to just three appearances - he views it as "a year to grow".
"I don't want to say it's a failure of a year because I don't believe in that really," Abra said.
"It's just like a year of learning."
"There's new coaches that have come in so just adapting to them and being able to expand my game so that I can play under different coaches and play with different players as well."
And it has only fuelled the fire to push even harder to nail a consistent starting spot next season.
