Nick Champion de Crespigny's elevation to a maiden Wallabies squad is the latest step on a life-long adventure for the Canberran journeyman.
Champion de Crespigny, 29, cut his teeth with Sydney University and the NSW Country Eagles (NRC) after school - winning two Shute Shields along the way - but decided to head abroad in 2021 after limited opportunities on the Super Rugby fringes.
A three-year stint with Top 14's Castres yielded 50 professional caps and a hard-nose skillset that has shone through since his 2025 return to Australian rugby, with Joe Schmidt naming the versatile backrower in his 36-man Wallabies squad for Fiji.
Tickets to the Force-Lions game are on sale now via Ticketmaster.
Speaking in Perth on Sunday, Champion De Crespigny told reporters he always had "ambition" to don the gold jersey but never an "expectation".
"Yeah, it's been pretty surreal. You sometimes feel like a little bit of an imposter with everything going on, but no, it's been very special," Champion de Crespigny said.
"I don't think I've been able to stop smiling, which is a little bit embarrassing at times, but no, very special.
"I always had the ambitions to be a Wallaby, but I didn't have an expectation that would happen.
"This is the first step, but there's a lot of work to do now to actually get into the team."
De Crespigny is one of five Force players who will remain in Perth to don blue against the Lions before linking up with the Wallabies next week.
It's a rare opportunity for the Wallabies hopeful to line up his rival Lions backrowers as the tourists look to open their win column following last week's 24-28 loss to Argentina in Dublin.
"To go up against some of the best in the world would be an awesome challenge, but also an opportunity for myself and a lot of the guys here," Champion de Crespigny said.
"Our objective is to go out there and be really competitive and put on a performance we're proud of. That would be very special and that's something we're working towards.
"I think you sort of look at that (Lions) back row spot and it was very hotly contested.
We were watching them playing all the Six Nations and all those sort of games and the amount of quality over in Europe in those positions is enormous and then to sort of see the make-up of their squad, yeah, it's really exciting.
"The breakdown is going to be massively contested. They seem to have picked a lot of guys who specialise in that area."
With the Lions having touched down in Perth early on Monday morning and the Wallabies forming camp in Sydney, Champion De Crespigny told reporters he's already feeling the buzz.
"The build-up to it is insane, especially over here (in Perth). I was going out at a café the other day and people were already starting to talk about it," he said.
"You hear about the Sea of Reds coming over, so hopefully we'll have the Sea of Blue out in force and be able to battle them at the stadium."
Tickets to the Force-Lions game are on sale now via Ticketmaster.
