Former Junior Red Devil named in Junior Wallaby squad

Former Junior Red Devil, Harry McLaughlin-Phillips, has been named in the 31-man Junior Wallabies squad to play in a two -test series against New Zealand.

Junior Wallabies coach Nathan Grey announced the team last week with the first match at NZCIS in Wellington at noon on Monday, May 29, with the second fixture on Saturday, June 3, at 2:30pm.

Grey said that many of the players in the squad essentially picked themselves through the quality and consistency of their performances playing for their clubs over the previous month.

“The scheduling of the second game as a curtain-raiser to the Super Rugby Pacific fixture presents a valuable opportunity for the players to experience a big stadium and a big stage to perform on,” Grey said in a statement.

Harry McLaughlin-Phillips is one of eleven Queensland Reds players selected in the team. He has been a part of the Queensland Reds Academy since he played in the under 15s in 2022.  He captained the Reds under 18 team, made the Australian under 18 team and Queensland Reds under 19 team, and was named Premier Rugby under 20 player of year, Souths Rugby Club MVP Colts.

Harry played with the Junior Red Devils when he lived in Gunnedah for four years while his parents Jodie and Andrew ran the Court House Hotel. After moving to Queensland with his family, Harry played rugby on the Sunshine Coast from the under sevens through to under 12s. He attended Brisbane Boys College for Years 8-12, the same school as another Junior Red Devils export Ben Gunter who is now an international playing for Japan.

Now based in Brisbane, he was selected in the Junior Wallabies training squad last year leading up to the World Rugby under 20 championships.