SON OF NRL GUN READY TO SCRIPT OWN LEGACY
AS superstar James Tedesco lurked to his right, little-known Jack Johns looked at home as he guided Italy around at training in the stifling Cairns heat yesterday.
The 19-year-old son of titlewinner Matty Johns and nephew of Immortal Andrew Johns is yet to play in the NRL.
But he made an immediate impact with the Azzurri and will be rewarded later today with the No.7 jersey for Sunday’s World Cup clash against Ireland.
Johns’ debut in Cairns comes 22 years after Matty and Andrew played together for Australia in a World Cup.
Sadly for Matty, he will miss his son’s international debut because he is scaling Mount Everest to help raise funds for the Mark Hughes Foundation.
Italy coach Cameron Ciraldo said Johns had made it easy to include him, especially after the way he bounced back from being steamrolled by Andrew Fifita during last Friday’s warm-up clash against Tonga.
“The way Jack has trained and played the other night, he forced me to pick him,’’ he said.
“He was in our top two or three players the other night.
“He took control and wasn’t overawed by anyone. He told people where to go and where to be. He showed real confidence.
“Fifita ran at him from the kick-off and skittled him, but he didn’t miss a tackle after that. He also took on the line.”