SYDNEY (Reuters) – Fans of a certain age might have been forgiven a double take when the Queensland team for Saturday’s season opener was announced on Thursday with a Lynagh named at flyhalf.
Teenager Tom Lynagh, son of Wallabies great Michael, will make his Super Rugby Pacific debut for the Reds against the Wellington Hurricanes in Townsville on Saturday.
The 19-year-old playmaker was born in Italy and raised in England but elected to head back to Australia in 2021 and join his father’s old club Queensland University.
A fine kicker of the ball like his father, he gets his chance with James O’Connor still recovering from ankle surgery and having moved above Lawson Creighton in the flyhalf pecking order at Ballymore.
“Tom Lynagh will debut at 10 and he’s earned his spot over the pre-season,” said Reds coach Brad Thorn.
“We’re looking forward to seeing him in a Queensland jersey.”Lynagh senior wore the number 10 shirt in most of his 100 matches for Queensland over a glittering career that also included the Grand Slam tour of 1984 and a Rugby World Cup triumph in 1991 with the Wallabies.
He will still have bragging rights over his son having made his Queensland debut fresh out of school at the age of 18 in 1982.
Tom’s older brother Louis, an outside back, plays in London with the Harlequins club and has represented England at age group level. He was called into the senior squad for a training camp two years ago by now Wallabies coach Eddie Jones.
(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, editing by Stephen Coates)
