Day Four: 1st XV Sanix World Cup Campaign
Woken early by the LMCs (Lazy Man’s Club) or fat boys as we prefer to call them, getting up at 6am for an extra fitness session with Tama. They have been working extras most days to get their skinfold measurements down. Glad not to be in that club! I sleep until 6.50 and then get up for breakfast.
Joey Webber’s in charge of all our dress calls, which are strictly adhered to or else we face the wrath of Chris Lolohea and Te Ate Walker who are the designated team sheriffs. Not too many of the boys have cash to waste so it’s a good motivator to be on time and well dressed. We have breakfast in a large players’ dining room. I’m enjoying the food, although rice with breakfast takes a bit of getting use to. There’s always some cornflakes, some type of egg and sausage, salad, soup and (of course) rice.
Today’s a free day and all teams are visiting Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum and Peace Park. The two hour bus trip passes quickly with singing and games. The museum is a freaky place with photos, video footage, artifacts and personal descriptions of the atomic bombing on August 9th,1945 at 11.02am. I hope my teachers at Boys’ High appreciate the educational benefits of the tour…it’s not all rugby, rugby, rugby you know!
We have lunch at a local restaurant and then back on the bus. A couple of hours of solid singing led by Alex, Joey and Benny…Mr Sutherland would be proud of us. Cameron Moorby realises on the way home that he’s lost his backpack. Our interpreters are quickly on their mobiles and track it down in a few minutes. The English team has picked it up from in front of a large statue and Cam looks sympathetically at our sheriffs. We stop for an hour at a mall in Fukuoka and then go back to Global Arena. Me and few others use the spare hour before dinner for work-ons. The group includes our kickers, hookers throwing and a few boys working on tackle technique. It’s something the coaches have impressed upon us; we need to take responsibility for our weaknesses. We have dinner, a team meeting and a late inside training. The team for tomorrow’s game against Miyoshi HS is named and I’m starting. A quick run through the patterns for tomorrow and we stretch down while Mrs Clark reads through today’s e-mails. The delight is obvious on the face of each lucky recipient and the Lonely Hearts Club drops to 7. Thankful it doesn’t include me. I shower and lie in bed, visualizing the game I hope to play tomorrow.
Sayonara
No 17