Thomas Cusack (born 1 March 1993) is an Australian professional
rugby union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...
player who plays as a flanker for the , as well as serving as vice-captain in
Super Rugby
Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...
. Additionally, he previously represented Australia in rugby sevens.
Early life
Thomas Anthony Cusack was born in
Canberra
Canberra ( )
is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...
, ACT to an Australian father and Italian mother, and holds a dual Australian-Italian citizenship. He attended
Marist College Canberra
, motto_translation= I keep the Faith
, location = , Canberra, Australian Capital Territory
, country = Australia
, type = Independent primary and secondary day school
, denomination = Roman Catholic
, reli ...
for his high school years, graduating in 2011. A former member of the ARU National Gold Squad, the ARU’s national Rugby development program for high school students, he showed a talent for rugby at an early age. Cusack was selected for Australia Schoolboys rugby team in 2010. He subsequently began studies toward a Sports Coaching and Exercise Science degree at University of Canberra before switching to a Bachelor of Business Management which he completed in 2018.
Rugby career
Cusack joined the
Canberra Royals
The Canberra Royals Rugby Football Club is an Australian rugby union club, based in Canberra.
Club history
Canberra Royals has a proud tradition and identifies closely with the Royals Foundation Team of 1949. Our current Club Patron is life me ...
for his rugby at club level. He was a member of the ARU's National Academy and played for Australia Under-20 at the 2012 Junior World Championships.
Australian Sevens
In February 2013, Cusack was brought into the Australian Sevens squad. He made his debut for Australia at the
Wellington Sevens
The New Zealand Sevens is an annual rugby sevens tournament currently held at Waikato Stadium in Hamilton, New Zealand. For the first eighteen years of its history the event was held in Wellington. The event is the third on the World Rugby Seven ...
tournament and quickly established himself as an asset with ball in hand. Cusack represented Australia in the 2013 Rugby Sevens World Cup, scoring two tries, and was a squad member at the
2014 Commonwealth Games
The 2014 Commonwealth Games ( gd, Geamannan a' Cho-fhlaitheis 2014), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014, ( sco, Glesca 2014 or Glesga 2014; gd, Glaschu 2014), was an international multi-sport ev ...
in Scotland.Tomas Cusack rio2016.olympics.com.au By December 2015, he had thirteen national caps in rugby sevens. He had a wrist ligament reconstruction surgery in early 2016, but recovered in time to compete for Australia at the
2016 Summer Olympics
The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...
Rams
In engineering, RAMS (reliability, availability, maintainability and safety)NSW Country, playing in seven matches for the minor premiership-winning team, including the grand final loss to
Perth
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...
in Tamworth. In 2017 Cusack was named Canberra Vikings Captain, and was awarded NRC’s players player, voted by not only his team mates but his NRC opponents.
Super Rugby
Cusack made his Super Rugby debut for the Brumbies against the
Melbourne Rebels
The Melbourne Rebels is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Melbourne. They made their debut in SANZAR's Super Rugby tournament in 2011. They were the first privately owned professional rugby union team in Australia, until 2017 ...
in April 2017. In 2019, he signed on until the end of the 2021 season in a dual contract with the
Australian Sevens
The Australia Sevens is an international rugby sevens tournament that was first played in 1986. Currently hosted as the Sydney Sevens, the event is part of the World Rugby Sevens Series. The tournament was held in Brisbane, in Adelaide, and o ...
. In the 2020 Super Rugby season, he was named vice-captain, supporting
Allan Alaalatoa
Allan Ala'alatoa (born 28 January 1994) is an Australian rugby union professional player who plays as a prop for the in Super Rugby and the Australian rugby union team, the Wallabies.
Ala'alatoa's father Vili is a fan of cricket and named him ...