An assistant chartered surveyor from Hampshire will be tackling a challenge of a different kind out in the field next month (October).
Oliver Johnson, 22, is the only player from a team in the South to be selected for the 20-strong rugby league English Lions tour of Canada in October.
The 6ft 3’’ winger, who weighs 15st 7Ib and lives at Fair Oak, near Eastleigh, made the grade after strong performances in the Four Nations clashes in the summer, which England won. He was among a squad of 22 from 175 contenders.
Oliver is in his fifth and final year of training as a chartered surveyor for the Southampton-based civil engineering group Trant.
With contract locations include the Channel Islands, Ascension Islands and Falkland Islands, as well as across the UK, the multi-disciplinary contractor specialises in sectors which help drive the British economy.
They include petrochemical, pharmaceutical, power and transmission, building, civil engineering and mechanical & electrical engineering.
Oliver, a former student at Hampshire Collegiate in Romsey and Twyford School near Winchester, said: “The company is very supportive, allowing me the flexibility to train for top-level rugby league and take study leave once a week at Kingston University in Surrey.
“My objective now is to play my heart out for my country on tour in Canada, including in the crunch tie against the Canadian national squad.”
Oliver plays rugby league for the Southampton Spitfires – www.southampton-spitfires.co.uk – and he used to belong to locally to Trojans Rugby Club at Eastleigh, a long-established bastion of grass roots rugby football.
Previous clubs were Harlequins RL U20 in 2009-10 and London Irish Amateur 2010-12.
The English Lions – www.rfl.uk.com – visit Canada in the first two weeks of October, led by manager Jimmy Aspinall.
