Brisbane Boys’ College prop Oscar Donovan and Nudgee College flyhalf Archie Mesritz added to Australian Under-18 rugby squad

The tough country kid was easily convinced and switched gears in an instant, shifting from the back row and becoming a scrum-time tank to help realise his full potential.

“I looked at him and went ‘gee whiz he has the front row frame for the elite level’,” reflected former BBC head of rugby Todd Dammers.

Donovan, BBC’s loosehead prop during the recent GPS First XV rugby competition, has been called into the Australian Under-18s rugby squad which will assemble in Canberra this week under coach Dale Roberson ahead of clashes later this month.

Also included in the team preparing to face the Australian Schoolboys and New Zealand Schools is flyhalf sensation Archie Mesritz.

Mesritz pulled the trigger on Nudgee College’s outstanding, record-breaking unbeaten season that saw them win a fourth successive premiership and score a whopping 417 points, 12 more than the State High Dream Team’s 2009 tally of 405.

The King’s School prop Hayden Lavercome and Eastern Suburbs Colts No.10 Jonty Fowler have both been ruled out through injury, opening the door for two of the top GPS rugby teens to step in and show their wares.

The school footy rivals hail from rural areas you’d have to search on google to find the location of but will have a common goal, wearing gold, front of mind this week.

The down-to-earth Donovan hails from a cattle station, Donovan Cattle Co, in Duaringa — a rural town located in the Central Highlands Region, about 107 kilometers west of Rockhampton.

Mesritz, from Avoca Beach on NSW’s Central Coast, is neither a city slicker or country kid but a beach boy with time on his hands.

Both were brilliant in school football this season, with Donovan leaving BBC this year “something completely different” to what he arrived as.

When he arrived at BBC in 2022, Donovan was a rugby league junior who was equally keen on rugby and cricket.

A medium fast bowler who belted boundaries in the middle order, Donovan will graduate an Australian under-18 squad select after the big bodied forward forged a considerable reputation across the last three seasons.

Standing at 193cm and weighing 110kg, Donovan has the hunger to match his stature.

“He’s not a big talker, he’s big on actions,” Dammers said.

“He plays with the right intent. An aggression and intent that is really impressive.”

Polite and quiet off the field but a scary presence on it, Donovan transitioned to prop back in 2023, the same year a fractured eye socket prevented him from trying to make the Reds Under-16s.

Mesritz, a crafty playmaker, was a revelation this season for Nudgee after coming off the bench last year.

It was the infamous The Season Documentary, documenting Nudgee’s 2021 season, that resulted in Mesritz finding himself in the dorms of the North Brisbane school.

Mesritz was captivated and inspired by that behind the scenes look into Nudgee’s program and told his parents ‘I want to go there’.

Sure enough he got what he wanted, but he couldn’t have envisioned a 2025 season as dominant as it was and being involved in two unbeaten campaigns that secured the first four peat since Gregory Terrace’s in the late 1970s.

Good judges think unbeaten Nudgee were on track for the title in 2021 however the season was shortened due to Covid and no premier was named.

Originally published as Brisbane Boys’ College prop Oscar Donovan and Nudgee College flyhalf Archie Mesritz added to Australian Under-18 rugby squad