feud with the ARU over the terms of his contract led to an unusual early release on 'compassionate grounds' to join Leinster in 2008. This resulted in Elsom being deemed 'unavailable' for the 2008 Wallaby Spring tour despite being named Wallaby of the Year one month earlier. Ten days after a 'Man of the Match' performance in Leinster's victory in the 2009 Heineken Cup Final against Leicester Tigers, Elsom negotiated a return to Australia and the test arena, agreeing to terms with the ARU and ACT Brumbies. Early career Elsom was born in Melbourne and was educated at St. Joseph's Nudgee College in Brisbane where he was captain of the rugby union side; he went on to make the Australian Schoolboys side. He was a fast, agile forward for a young man of his size. He was nearly 100 kg when he finished in the Australian Schoolboys side. He was selected to play number 8 for the Australian Schoolboys in August 2000. Rugby League Following Elsom's success on the schoolboy stage, he spent two seasons with the Canterbury Bulldogs rugby league club in Sydney and was a front-row prop in their 2001 premiership-winning Jersey Flegg Cup side. During that time he lived with fellow Bulldogs players including future test star Johnathan Thurston, Nate Myles, Roy Asotasi and dual-code international, Sonny Bill Williams, whom he would go on to meet on two occasions at test level in rugby union. They resided in a Bulldogs-owned cottage called the 'Dog House' in Belmore. Waratahs & Australia Elsom returned to rugby union in 2003, making his debut in Super Rugby against the Auckland Blues for the Waratahs. He also co-captained the Australian Under 21s at the 2003 under-21 World Cup. Elsom continued to progress in the Australian rugby scene, featuring in 12 of the Waratahs 13 games during the 2005 season, which saw the side make it to the final, only to be defeated by the Crusaders. Elsom was selected as number six for the opening Wallaby test of 2005 against Samoa. He scored the opening try of the match and went on to hold his place as Australia's first choice number six despite strong competition. In 2005, Elsom re-signed with the Waratahs, which saw him stay at the New South Wales franchise until the end of the 2008 Super 14 season. In 2007, Elsom was named captain of the Waratahs for their week