lifestyle

Whoever wins the rugby tonight, there's a sportsman on that field to be truly proud of.

Public service announcement: There’s something about David Pocock.

In fact, there are many, many things about him. And they’re all good.

At a time when it feels like reaching for men we can be proud of in sport is a fools’ game, the Wallabies has more than one player on its team who is a Role Model in every sense of the term.

He’s intelligent. He stands up for what he believes in. And he can score a try and handle a tackle like a machine.

Just look:

Video via ARU TV

Here are six more reasons to celebrate him.

1. He’s a firm supporter of gay marriage

A man after our own heart.

The 27-year old has spoken publicly about his stance on gay marriage. And he is all for it. So much so that he and his partner of five years Emma Palandri decided that they wouldn’t get married until their gay friends could.

David with his partner Emma.

‘‘I don’t see the logic in excluding people from making loving commitments to each other.” He told Fairfax in 2013, “so we’ll have to wait and see.’’

2 He stands up for rural issues and climate change.

Just last year Pocock and his partner Emma were arrested for taking part in a non-violent protest against a coal mine in North west NSW.

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Pocock chained himself to a digger with a local farmer for 10 hours to protest the Maules Creek mine.

He was charged. But no conviction was recorded.

He’s also studying Bachelor of Ecological Agricultural Systems. To become more aware about the planet and how the food system works.

3. He’s politically aware.

With all that under his belt how could he not be?

Pocock has appeared on QandA and spoken about issues affecting various demographics in Australia.

He doesn’t put his head in the sand, and he’s extremley articulate.

Watch his Q and A appearance here:

Video via Q&A, ABC

He also had a pretty excellent point to make about Tony Abbott’s Thatcher lecture this week:

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4. He champions other players

Rugby can be a brutal sport, but the Wallabies have a special bond going on at the moment. And Pocock is right in the middle of it . Pocock is always supporting his team mates on social media and on the field. You just need to watch him in the games and on social media to see what we mean.

  Selfie. ???? #StrongerAsOne #RWC2015   A photo posted by Wallabies (@wallabies) on Oct 28, 2015 at 2:40pm PDT

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5. He’s pretty brilliant at that whole rugby thing.

He’s played 54 games for the Wallabies. In the opening game of the World cup he scored two trys. In one game. That in itself is a pretty big deal. Need we say anymore?

Check out Poey doing his thing here:

6. He’s a gun on Twitter.

We’ll just leave this here:

Be still our beating hearts.

But in all serious, we wish the Wallabies all the best tonight. And hope they win. #Strongerasone.