Rodney Blake

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Rodney Blake (born 29 April 1983 in Tonga) is an Australian rugby union footballer. He plays prop for the Queensland Reds in the Super 14 competition. He is a popular figure in Queensland Rugby, and is affectionately known as Rodzilla. His father Paul was a flanker with the New Zealand side Otago in the National Provincial Championship (NPC). In June of 2006, Blake made his debut for the Wallabies.

He moved to Australia with his family when he was 13. He played junior rugby for the West Harbour Juniors and was educated at Homebush Boys High School. He is an extremely strong player, weighing in at 130 which is exceptional even for a prop. Considering his size and weight he is relatively fast and agile.

It was during a West Harbour RFC game at North Sydney Oval against Northern Suburbs in 2004 that Blake was recognized. Then Reds coach Jeff Miller had travelled down to Brisbane to actually inspect another Wests player. Blake managed to impress Miller enough to be given a two year contract with the Reds.^[1] He went on to represent Australia at rugby union in the national under-21 side during at the world cup in Scotland.

He made his debut for the Queensland Reds in a Super 12 (now Super 14) match against the Otago Highlanders. He made strong impressions off the bench for the better part of the 2005 season, until he was promoted to a starting position for the latter three games of the season. He has been a regular in the Reds' lineup during the 2006 Super 14 season. Blake had a very good season with the Reds and was widely thought to be a potential Wallaby for the post-season tests.

After a period of speculation regarding Blake's future, it was announced on May 25 that he had re-signed with the Reds for a further two years. The New South Wales Waratahs as well as two French clubs had expressed their interest in Blake. The chance to play for the national team and the Brisbane lifestyle were the deciding factors.^[2] After being included in John Connolly's new look Wallaby side, Blake made his debut against England at Telstra Stadium, playing the full 80 minutes. In the closing minutes of the match Blake charged over to score the final try of the game which saw Australia win 34 to 3. He was injured in the subsequent victory over England, and thus missed the following match against Ireland.

After missing the opening matches of the 2006 Tri Nations Series Blake was included in the Wallabies sided for the Bledisloe Cup clash in Brisbane with the All Blacks, Blake being the only change to the team that defeated the Springboks 49 to nil earlier in the Tri Nations. The match eventually went the way of the All Blacks, who won 13 to nine. He was named the Reds Play of the Year in October, being awarded the Pilecki Medal.^[3]