by Israel Folau
Daniel knew that from the moment he sat down in the bus, he wanted to be the leader, not a follower. He was certain that his rugby prowess made him ready for the job as a representative player, but projecting himself into the role of captain – that would be what would set him apart on this tour.
‘Just don’t forget that this isn’t the end of the road,’ his dad said. ‘The job of the selectors is never over. They’ll be watching this team, too, looking for the players they think will best represent the entire state at the end of the year. You’ll have to fight for your spot on that team every year until you’re an adult and aiming for the Wallabies.’
Daniel nodded absently. He had heard this speech a hundred times. Every night at dinner his dad would talk to him about leadership and playing for the Wallabies and everything else. Daniel loved hearing he was destined for greatness, but he’d heard all his dad had to say already. He hoped that Israel Folau might be able to mentor him in a more direct manner.
Daniel thought back to the assembly the week before and the email from Izzy that the headmaster had read out. What Izzy had said about having fun excited him. It was a refreshing change from what he usually heard.
‘Here it comes!’
Daniel stood up as soon as his dad spoke, and approached the kerb. The coach was large and black, with dark, tinted windows. It looked to Daniel like an enormous limo and that made him feel special. He could see excited boys peering out at him and pointing in his direction.
‘It seems your fame has preceded you,’ his dad laughed.
Daniel walked up to the front door as it opened. His dad wished him good luck and Daniel put his foot on the bottom step. Looking up, he saw the great Israel Folau walking down the few steps to meet him.
‘Hi,’ Izzy said with a smile. ‘You must be Daniel.’
‘That’s me,’ Daniel replied.
‘Welcome to the tour,’ Izzy said. ‘It’s so great to have you!’
Daniel smiled back at his idol. ‘Thanks.’
‘You can get on the bus if you like. I just need to introduce the staff to your dad.’
Daniel decided to step back off the coach to watch Izzy and three other adults in the Valley gear come out to shake hands with his dad.
‘Nice to meet you, Israel,’ his dad said.
‘You too, but please call me Izzy.’ They shook hands, and Izzy introduced the others as Daniel looked on, one hand on the bus’s doorhandle. ‘This is Jeremy Fisk. He’s the tour manager, getting us everywhere we need to go to on time. This is Tom and Mary Parker, who will be looking after all the boys’ needs. They’ll be the ones who’ll call you if we need anything.’
‘Fine, fine, nice to meet you,’ Daniel’s dad said briskly. He pointed at his son. ‘He’s some player. You’ll be amazed at what he can do.’
Mr Fisk smiled and nodded. ‘Every boy that was selected was chosen because they have special talents.’
‘Not quite like Daniel’s, I’m sure,’ Mr Masters countered. He waved goodbye as Daniel climbed onto the bus and put on his headphones.
‘Everyone,’ Izzy announced at the top of the stairs, ‘this is Daniel. He plays fly-half for Valley. He’s a great goal kicker, too.’ Everyone clapped and cheered, and Daniel nodded. It seemed that they all loved him already. This was going to be sweet.
The seats on the coach were in rows, two seats on either side of the aisle. They had high backs, curtains at the windows and reading lights. It was almost as good as a plane.
Daniel chose the chair behind Izzy so he could get close to his new coach right from the start. He put his bag on the luggage rack above and settled into his chair with his music playing soft enough that he could still hear everything.
Some boys were chatting up the back but otherwise it was a very quiet bus. Daniel assumed it was because no one knew each other. He looked across the aisle and saw another boy sitting just like him, headphones on, minding his own business. The bus moved out of the bus stop and Izzy announced that there were only three more players to collect before heading off to the conference centre.
There were a few small TVs hanging from the ceiling at various points and a movie the boys had been watching flicked back on. Some were watching it intently, but Daniel ignored it. He had to focus.
Daniel looked back at the other boy, sizing him up. He was tall and thin, probably a winger. Daniel racked his brain for a way to begin a conversation with Izzy, who was now sitting just centimetres away.
Izzy turned, but instead of talking to Daniel, he called out to the other boy across from him. ‘Sione!’ he said. The boy turned his head cautiously. ‘Tongan?’ The boy called Sione smiled and nodded. ‘Me too,’ Izzy said.
‘Yeah – I know,’ Sione replied sheepishly.
Izzy turned back to look out the window and so did Sione. Daniel sank low in his seat. He was behind in the score already.
‘Um, excuse me, Israel,’ he said through the seats.
‘Izzy,’ came the reply with a chuckle.
‘I just wanted to say thank you for the email you sent. My headmaster read it out at assembly. I thought it was great.’
Izzy turned to face Daniel over the back of his seat. ‘My pleasure. I’m glad you liked it. It would be great to win, all I can ask is that we do our best and enjoy ourselves along the way.’
Daniel nodded. This was awesome! Izzy was awesome!
The bus pulled to another stop, and as Izzy and the other adults welcomed the next player to the team, the rest of the boys started chatting, looking through their windows and pointing. Some were guessing what position the new boy outside played.
‘Flanker,’ a boy said. ‘We’ve only got one so far. Or second row, maybe.’
Daniel stood up to look at him. He knelt on the seat next to Sione and peered over his shoulder. He saw a regular-looking boy standing next to his parents, talking to Izzy and the others. Then the boy’s mother bent over and kissed him on the cheek. Daniel laughed. This made Sione look up at him.
‘Your mum doesn’t still kiss you, does she?’ he asked. When he didn’t get a reply, Daniel shrugged his shoulders and returned to his seat.
The new boy climbed on the bus with Izzy, who announced, ‘Hey guys, this is Tim. He plays second row and I hear he is a great goal kicker, too.’
Everyone clapped and cheered loudly, except for Daniel, who didn’t make a sound. Another goal kicker? he fumed. And the clapping is for everyone?
Hunching down in his seat, Daniel turned up the volume and glared out the window.
Music blared in Sione’s ears as he read Izzy’s email for the hundredth time. He still couldn’t believe that Izzy had taken the time to write to him. Over the past week he had taken to reading the letter whenever he felt sad or anxious. Somehow it made him feel special, knowing that one of the greatest rugby players in the world knew who he was.
He looked over at Izzy sitting diagonally in front of him, and chuckled to himself. He was still so excited by Izzy’s letter that he hadn’t fully taken in the fact that Izzy himself was riding on the same bus!
The boy across the aisle shot him a quizzical look. His face seemed to say, ‘What’s up with you?’, before he looked down at his pockets and began emptying them onto the seat next to him.
Chocolate after chocolate, lolly after lolly appeared, and by the time he was done there was a pyramid the size of which the ancient Egyptians would have been proud of. The boy rummaged through his pile until he found the bag of lollies he was looking for.
Sione couldn’t help but watch. He hadn’t even thought to bring any junk food, wanting to look healthy in front of Izzy. This boy, on the other hand, seemed to be taking pride in all that he had.
The boy noticed Sione watching and sighed. Reluctantly, he held out his bag. ‘Want one?’ he asked.
Sione didn’t. The taste of toothpaste was still in his mouth and he didn’t think its mintiness would mix well with the sour cola lollies he was being offered. But he took one anyway and said thank you so as
not to hurt the boy’s feelings.
‘What do you play?’ the boy asked next.
Sione, struggling to enjoy the rubbery lolly, answered though glassy eyes and clenched teeth. ‘Rugby.’
‘I know that!’ the boy snorted. ‘I meant, what position do you play?’
Sione blushed. ‘Wing.’
‘Are you a goal kicker as well?’
‘No.’
‘That’s good.’ The boy smiled. ‘I think it’s bad for morale to have too many people try out for the same positions.’ He swallowed a mouthful of lollies without flinching and said, ‘My name’s Daniel. I play fly-half.’
‘I’m Sione. I play wing.’
‘Yeah, you already said that.’
Sione knew that the rules of conversation said that it was now his turn to come up with a question or snappy comment to keep the discussion going. He hated it when this happened. Why couldn’t the other person just keep talking? After a long pause, he came up with something. ‘Who do you play for?’ he asked in a tiny voice.
‘Huh?’
‘Who do you play for?’ Sione repeated.
Daniel looked at him, puzzled. ‘I play for my school. Don’t you?’
Sione shook his head. He had no idea you could play rugby at your school, and certainly not regularly enough to get rep selection. He wanted to ask how long Daniel’s lunchbreak was that they could fit in official matches, but his instincts told him this would not be a good follow-up question.
‘I go to Barton Grammar,’ Daniel added. ‘What about you?’
Sione had never heard of that school. It didn’t even sound like the name of a school to him.
‘Valley North?’ Sione squeaked.
Daniel snorted. ‘Does Valley North have lots of rugby players?’
Sione wasn’t sure what Daniel was asking. ‘Tonnes of people love it,’ he said. ‘I play on the grass pretty much every lunchtime.’
Daniel’s eyebrows lowered. ‘That’s how you were selected for Valley? Mucking around at lunchtime? What sort of standards do these selectors have?’
‘No, no,’ Sione said, waving a hand. ‘I play for the Tigers in the local competition. We train at Henderson Oval near the swimming pool – you know the place? We play proper games every Saturday or Sunday. We wear uniforms and everything.’
‘Huh. To tell you the truth, I was expecting everyone here to come from the schools comp. I didn’t think the level of the club rugby was that high.’
Sione wasn’t sure exactly what Daniel was talking about, but he wasn’t going to try and guess. He had just said more words to a stranger than he ever had in his life and he felt exhausted.
To Sione, Daniel was his total opposite. His rugby experiences were of a type unknown to him, and it seemed Daniel was thinking of Sione in a similar way. It was more than awkward for him, but deep down Sione realised he was liking the idea of this trip much more now. Meeting people who lived close by but whose life stories were so different was interesting. He looked at Izzy, who smiled back. Had he heard the conversation? Sione hoped not.
Sione’s very first day at rugby training felt similar to this. His dad had taken him along because Sione had said he wanted to join a team. But when he’d walked onto the field that first time, his desire was immediately replaced by fear. All the other boys already knew each other. The coach was joking around with them when his dad introduced him to the group. For some reason that had embarrassed Sione, and he had felt extra shy once he realised there were no Tongan boys on the team. No one talked to him and he didn’t talk back. Everything felt foreign.
There were two reasons alone why Sione didn’t ask to go home right there and then. First, he didn’t want to disappoint his dad. Second, once the training drills began, Sione felt somehow free from the stares. He let his feet do the talking and he ran all over that field, chasing balls and tackling padding until he was drained of all energy. Sione made his own fun and he had never felt prouder than after that first session, gulping down some much-deserved water as his new coach sang his praises to his dad.
That was the feeling he had strived for at every training session since. ‘Push yourself so that you can feel proud and enjoy that bottle of water,’ was something he was continually telling himself.
‘I guess they have to share things around and give everyone a go,’ Daniel said, half to himself, bringing Sione back to the present. ‘By giving some spots to the clubs, I mean.’ He looked at Sione. ‘Some people play well off the bench – that’s what my dad says.’
‘Some do,’ Izzy said, turning to face Daniel. ‘And some champions have come from the most unexpected places.’
Daniel turned around. ‘Have you ever played off the bench?’ he asked Izzy.
‘Of course.’
‘Where did you play when you were a kid? What school did you go to?’
‘Minto.’
‘Where’s that?’
‘My home, in Sydney,’ Izzy answered. ‘But who you play for isn’t as important as how you play. Did you know that even players from teams at the bottom of the ladder can be selected for Australia?’
‘Yeah, but it’s rare,’ Daniel said, now sucking on a lollipop.
‘That’s a lot of sugar for an athlete,’ Izzy laughed. ‘We won’t be allowing junk food on tour, just so you know. You can only be the best you can be if you eat right.’
Daniel pulled the lollipop from his mouth with a pop. ‘Sorry,’ he said, not sounding sorry at all.
‘No problem,’ Izzy said, breaking into a wide smile. He looked over at Sione. ‘The most important thing isn’t where you started, but where you finish,’ he said.
Soon after, the bus pulled up to the conference centre, which was to be the boys’ home for the next two nights. It had cabins, a central building with a dining room and a big hall, and a large rugby field at the back.
‘This is it, guys,’ Izzy called. ‘Time to get your things and get settled in. We are now officially on tour!’
The boys stood outside the bus in a straight line as Mary Parker went down the line, counting by twos. There were twenty boys in total. Enough for five reserves, Daniel thought, telling himself that there was no way he would become one of them.
‘There are seven cabins for us,’ Mary announced. ‘They back onto the rugby field, so we’ll be nice and close to it for our training sessions. Four boys to a cabin, two cabins for the adults.
‘Before we take you to your cabins, there are a few rules you need to know. There may be other groups staying here, so no loud noises or playing around the other cabins. Also, there is a games room and swimming pool in the main building, but please don’t go there right now – or without one of the adults – this time is about getting settled in our rooms. In half an hour we will meet back here and talk more about the weekend.’
‘Oh, and the snack machines are out of bounds, too,’ Jeremy Fisk added, and all the boys groaned.
Tom Parker laughed. ‘Don’t worry, we will feed you very well.’
They walked in single file towards the first cabin. Some boys were passing footballs to each other as they walked.
‘Eric, Joseph, Steven and TJ,’ Mary said, pointing to its open door. The four boys rushed inside excitedly.
At the next cabin, another four boys cheered and high-fived when their names were read aloud. Clearly, they all knew each other. Daniel made a mental note to find out who they played for – having four from the same team went against his theory that they had shared the selections around.
Then came the third cabin. Daniel’s name was called and he was inside before the other three names were even read out. As he entered, the bathroom was on his left, and in front was the main bedroom that consisted of one double bed and two sets of bunk beds. Daniel immediately threw his bag on the double bed and looked around for the TV that wasn’t there.
In walked his three roommates. The first two he hadn’t met yet, but the boy at the back was Sione from the bus. ‘Hey, guys,’ he said, nodding at the
first two. ‘I’m Daniel, the fly-half.’
‘I’m Jake,’ said the first.
‘Adam,’ said the second.
‘How come you have the big bed?’ Jake asked, pointing at Daniel’s bag. He was a huge boy who looked too old for the team. He was tall and wider than both Daniel and Sione put together. His question took Daniel by surprise.
‘What do you mean?’ he said. ‘I was here first.’
‘That’s just because they read out your name first,’ Jake said. ‘You should have waited to talk about it.’
‘I was here second!’ Adam said. He sprawled across the double bed, next to Daniel’s bag.
‘Hey, that’s my bed!’ Daniel snapped.
Jake and Adam laughed. Sione put his bag next to one of the bottom bunks and lay on it, his hands behind his head, waiting for the storm to blow over.
Daniel thought about his desire to be team captain and searched his mind for a clever compromise. ‘How about no one gets the bed? There are enough bunks.’
Jake nodded and threw his bag on the top bunk on the other side of the room, and Adam threw his on its bottom level. Daniel turned to look at Sione, then looked at the empty bunk bed above him. Well, at least I’ve got a top bunk, he thought to himself.
The boys unpacked their belongings and placed them on the double bed. ‘This can be our display table,’ Daniel said. Soon, every thing that the boys would be needing semi-regularly over the weekend was neatly laid out upon it instead of being tucked away in their luggage. Their four Valley jerseys were given pride of place, folded neatly along the top of the bed.
The boys then started checking out each other’s football gear – the brands, colours and appearance of each boot, sock and mouthguard. Daniel found his headgear and placed it neatly on his jersey to finish his unpacking.
‘You wear headgear?’ Adam asked.
‘Yeah, Dad wants me to wear it ’cause I took a big knock a couple of years ago,’ Daniel replied. ‘Anyway, it makes me stand out on the field.’