Julian Lawson Huxley

Julian Huxley was a talented utility back with a sublime kicking game whose international career was cut down in its prime by a potentially life-threatening condition.

Huxley was a Lindfield junior who attended Sydney Grammar School and then moved to The King’s School at Parramatta. He played two years in the King’s 1st XV and from there won selection for Australian ‘A’ Schools.

A player of great tactical nous and a surprising turn of pace, Huxley moved south in 1998 to study Commercial Law at the Australian National University and it was in the nation’s capital that he joined the Canberra Kookaburras under coach Laurie Fisher. National aged representation soon followed. Huxley then made the Australian 7s team where he played a style of football that shaped his game for the next few years. Considered “an outstanding Sevens exponent” he represented in 2001, 2002 and again in 2006.

In 2002, Huxley made his Super Rugby debut for the Brumbies against the Highlanders before a strong performance for Australia ‘A’ against France ‘A’ in Adelaide, when he scored 19 points, won him a contract with the Queensland Reds for the 2003 season. In that debut season he duly won the Stan Pilecki Medal for the Players’ Player of the Year.

The late 2006 arrival of Eddie Jones as new Reds’ coach saw Huxley return to the Brumbies for what was his breakthrough year of 2007. On the back of a superb provincial season Huxley made his Test debut against Wales in Sydney. Later that year the Wallabies ‘Rookie of the Year’ was selected to his first Rugby World Cup. Unfortunately, tragedy struck in the very next year. In just the third Super Rugby match of the tournament Huxley attempted a low tackle on a rampaging James Horwill, the giant Queensland lock. He placed his head in an awkward position, suffered the impact and then convulsed on the ground. An MRI scan confirmed that Huxley had a brain tumour, one which could well have been there for years. The tumour was about the size of a golf ball with a grade four pathology, i.e. on the low end of the malignant scale.

Two years and two weeks after being diagnosed, having endured an operation to remove the tumour, a month of radiation treatment and then six months of chemotherapy Huxley completed one of the most remarkable sporting comebacks when he played for the Brumbies Runners against the Junior Waratahs. Huxley went on to play 22 Super Rugby matches for the Melbourne Rebels over 2011-12 before he finished his career, on his terms, with French club Narbonne.

Highlights

1997
Represented Australian ‘A’ Schools

1998
Selected in the Australian U19s squad.

2000
Selected in the Australian U21s squad.

2000/01
Represented Australia in the IRB Sevens World Series.

2002
Selected in the Australian Men’s Sevens team for the Manchester Commonwealth Games.

2005/06
Represented Australia in the IRB Sevens World Series.

2007
Huxley won his first Test cap as the starting fullback in the 1st Test, 28-23 victory over Wales in Sydney. He scored his first Test try in the 31-0, 2nd Test thumping of Wales in Brisbane. In his sole season of international XVs rugby Huxley started the opening six Tests of the year and picked up two replacement caps at the Rugby World Cup before he wore No.15 in his final Test, the 37-6 pool game victory over Canada.