The 110kg prop played junior rugby for Woonoona before moving to Nudgee College on a rugby scholarship in his last two years of school, and playing in the Queensland schoolboys team in 2016 alongside Tate McDermott and Fraser McReight.

Schoupp moved back to Sydney to study teaching and played colts for Randwick for a season, before joining Southern Districts via a connection with now Wallaroos coach Jay Tregonning. He debuted in first grade in 2019 but was up and down for the next 18 months, playing as low as third grade.

“I was questioning whether I was good enough. It was a shock to the system and I was questioning whether it was worth it to keep playing. I was still studying teaching and it was time-consuming, Shute Shield is a second job almost,” he said.

Under Todd Louden and front-row mentor Duncan Chubb, Schoupp returned to the top grade in 2020 and has since developed a reputation as one of Sydney’s most destructive loosehead props.

Schoupp got on the Brumbies’ radar when Chubb invited his old Souths teammate Dan Palmer – the former Wallaby who is now ACT’s scrum coach – to a pre-season training at the start of 2022.

“Chubby pulled me aside and said ‘this is an opportunity for you to put your hand up and show what you can do’,” Schoupp said.

“After the training session Palms pulled me aside and asked me a lot of questions, like ‘had the Waratahs made inquiries, have you had any look-ins there?’”

No, came the answer from Schoupp. NSW have Wallabies star Angus Bell on the books and brought in Tom Lambert this year, but last year opted to recruit Ruan Smith for experience.

Palmer stayed in touch and after a season where Souths’ forward pack claimed a lot of scrummaging scalps, he invited Schoupp to Canberra. Though in his first professional environment, seasoned Brumbies players immediately recognised Schoupp’s strength and quality, and an injury to Harry Vella opened up an opportunity.

“When I was coming up through the ranks there was no talk of junior reps or academies,” Schoupp said.

“I had no inkling I was good enough to do that and personally I wasn’t really confident enough at that stage. I had been in and our of firsts colts and in and out of first grade in Shute Shield.

“It was a bit of a mixed bag from me during that period, transitioning from colts to grade.

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“I don’t have any resentment [against NSW]. There were times in recent years I thought I could be good enough to get into environment, even just to train with them. I thought at the time I was doing enough, but they obviously didn’t think that.

“But I don’t have any resentment because I love where I am at, I want to be here as long as possible. As a front rower, there is no better place to be than at the Brumbies. I am very happy and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

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