Bridie O’Gorman’s analytic mind is a perfect fit for playing rugby for Australia

Saturdays are for rugby. Saturday mornings driving school kids across town for junior matches followed by afternoons watching muddy Shute Shield games before Saturday evenings spent umpiring Wallaby Tests from the couch.

But the Wallaroos like to do things a little differently.

While the team still plays their matches on a Saturday, the ‘Test Match Tuesday’ moniker has become a mantle for bringing the same level of intensity expected in an international game onto the training pitch.

Its origin lies with Wallaroos prop Bridie O‘Gorman – and was a little more trivial than intense.

“It came from a couple of girls, myself included, rocking up to training in long socks,” O’Gorman says.

“We were about to do a full contact session and just didn’t want to get ruck marks all over our shins and so we wore long socks, just like you would in a game and so it became ‘Test Match Tuesday’.”

From there, the tradition has grown to become an expectation, one for all Wallaroos. Come to Tuesday’s session with the same attitude you would a Saturday Test.

“It’s always the session where you’re expected to put your best foot forward because it’s our last chance to prove ourselves before team selection,” O’Gorman says.

Following the Wallaroos’ defeat to the Black Ferns in their opening pool match in Auckland, the vigour of the team’s training sessions this week have been more important than ever.

“Test Match Tuesday this week, we placed a huge focus on defence and it was super positive but there are areas that we need to work on.

“We were really firing, hopefully we can bring some intensity into the game against Scotland.”

Wallaroos defensive coach and former Wallaby Scott Fava knows that nothing less will do

“In defence we really need to work hard on our intensity and keeping that up for the full 40 minutes,” he said in the lead up to the team’s second World Cup game.

“It’s the championship minutes that could be a factor in any one of these games, particularly against Scotland this week.”

With Scotland going down to Wales in their opener, the match presents a must-win for both team’s chances of progressing to the quarter-finals, and given the teams haven’t met in more than a decade any edge in preparation may make the difference.

The Wallaroos fell flat after shocking the Black Ferns with an incredible attacking display during the first 30 minutes. Scotland may be a less awe-inspiring opponent, but Fava is unwilling to leave anything to chance.

“We haven’t encountered them so it’s difficult to prepare the same way we’ve done against other teams, particularly the Black Ferns,” he says.

“The big one is going into the maul and the rumble. We need to repel them at every opportunity.”

Tuesday, Saturday, any day – the Wallaroos will leave it allout on the field.

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The likelihood of O’Gorman running out in the gold No. 18 jersey last week was small, but she’s comfortable working on probabilities.

“I’m a nerd,” O’Gorman laughs.

No sugar-coating it, O’Gorman wears it as a badge of honour. It wasn’t rugby prowess that took her to the University of Sydney – it was a penchant for mathematics.

For many of O’Gorman’s teammates at both the Super W and international level, rugby is the pastime inherited from dads and brothers for whom backyard touch games ignited passions.

In the O’Gorman household, the obsession was more with Lego than a Gilbert.

“My dad works in construction, as does my brother, so I started out labouring to make some pocket money during the school holidays and then decided that I wanted to go to Sydney University to study engineering,” she says.

“Through school I loved maths and physics so it was a natural fit.”

Eager to throw herself into some extra-curriculars, O’Gorman took herself to the school’s O-Week in the hopes of picking up a sport.

“I just walked down through the stalls at O-Week and I had my eye out for a team sport. I really wanted to join a team and really just happened upon rugby.

“It was pretty fluky how I ended up in it but am obviously stoked that I picked it and stuck with it.”

Sticking with it is what she does. O’Gorman has earned herself a reputation for being one of the game’s most persistent and hardworking players, with her off-the-ball antics leading to her call-up to the Wallaroos squad for this World Cup.

“It took me a couple of years to really pick it up, a bit of stubborn persistence got me there. I couldn’t catch a ball at the start, I was very green as I grew up rowing and around the water,” she says.

“I wouldn’t call myself naturally talented at rugby but I am a hard worker. I am really studious in my approach and I prepare for the games. My brain is just wired to try and understand things before jumping in.”

She approaches a rugby game with the same intent she does her studies, knowing that without a natural advantage, workrate can set her apart.

O’Gorman was the top clip on the highlights reel for the 2022 Super W season, after scoring an astonishing try for a front rower.

Considering gaps, weighing up weak spots and knowing the most advantageous attacking angles shows the harmony that now exists between the two facets of her life.

“I don’t quite go to the extent of calculating the best hypotenuse to run at but I am probably more calculated in my approach to preparing,” O’Gorman jokes.

She’s one of the lucky ones. Having picked up a cadetship with the Wallaroos jersey sponsors Buildcorp (the job came well ahead of the Test debut), O’Gorman’s found an employer empathetic to her rugby, allowing her plenty of flexibility around the Waratahs’ season and national team camps.

“It’s important to maintain yourself physically and mentally so I have kind of struck the balance in work and rugby and my employers have always backed me on both my career development and rugby development. They’re very forgiving!” she says.

“It can be a really fatiguing lifestyle, going to work for 7am and then straight to training into the nights and then doing it again the next day.

“I don’t have a lot of free time but that doesn’t really bother me – I get to play for my country at the end of the day.”

It doesn’t hurt that the further she goes with one, the better she can create a flow on to the other.

“Some of the technical parts of rugby I can process quite well because I’m very logical, it’s just the way my brain is oriented which is why engineering made sense,” she says.

“I prefer to understand something before jumping into it, I’m persistent with my learning. Preview, review and understanding.”

Previewing and predicting what they can expect from Scotland on Saturday, as well as reviewing where they let themselves down against the Black Ferns, before understanding what they need to do to win.

“Our big focus is keeping the foot on the pedal in the last few minutes of the second half and then coming out firing. We need to retain momentum through our forwards.”

Given the hours poring over physics textbooks, O’Gorman is just about the best person to have onside when it comes to creating momentum – though with humility the seeming denominator across the entire Wallaroos squad, she sees her role in the team as more cog-like than firestarter.

“It’s important for everyone to do their role on the field, same as a worksite,” she says of the symmetry that exists between her life’s two great loves.

“We’re a really close bunch of girls and we work hard for the people next to us, that’s what I intend to do when I get onto the field.”