CSU didn’t have any representatives selected for the NSW Country Cockatoos this season, but they will have a former star running around for the Queensland version of the side when it tours New Zealand this month.

Former university flanker Jason Welburn has been selected for the squad, which will take on Ellesmere and North Otago on June 26 and 29.

Welburn was a fixture in some strong CSU teams during his time at the club from 2007-09, a period which saw them field some of their best sides.

Going back even further than that, he was still a teenager when he lined up for Orange Emus against the students themselves in the 2004 decider, taken out by CSU at Carrington Park.

Now playing with the University of Sunshine Coast Barbarians, he was selected to line up for the South Queensland side at the state’s Country Championships. He now finds himself bound for a trip across the Tasman.

“It is nice to get the call-up, I’m sure it will be a good experience to get over there given the sort of regard New Zealand is held in when it comes to rugby,” Welburn said.

“I had been playing for the [Sunshine Coast] Stingrays last year in the Brisbane Premier Rugby Competition, but they had a lot of funding pulled and as a result, they couldn’t play there anymore.

“It was a side similar to the Blue Bulls in the Central West.

“I think the standard of the Barbarians competition [Sunshine Coast RU] is similar to Central West, but it is hard to compare because rugby has changed a lot in the time since I played for CSU.”

In a nice twist of fate, one of Welburn’s former opponents and an ex-Emu himself in John Ellis is also in the Queensland Country team.

The pair never played alongside one another at the Orange club, but did meet a couple of times on the field once Welburn was playing with the students.

During Welburn’s time at CSU, the loose forward who plays Number 8 most of the time now, was part of some talented squads that with the benefit of hindsight should have achieved more than they did.

Two finals appearances in 2007 and 2009 were an inappropriate return for a team that had plenty of Blue Bulls players as well as NSW Country representatives.

Welburn and flyhalf Jeff Stewart played two seasons together in England for the Oxford Harlequins, and he said he still keeps in regular touch with plenty of his former team-mates.

Former university captain Matt Boylan-Smith joked that Welburn’s latest selection represents the first time a player had been picked for such a side without making a tackle.

“He also likes to remind me about a game where I scored four tries and he still got the three points and players’ player,” Welburn said.

“I still hear from a fair few of them pretty regularly, I enjoyed my footy there and made a lot of mates there.”