by Israel Folau
‘Here we go again,’ Daniel said. ‘This is almost like watching Jake at dinnertime!’
‘Up! Up! Up!’ Izzy called as the boys jogged along the touchline in single file. Whenever he gave the signal, the boys had to jump mid-stride, lifting one knee as high as they could while keeping the other leg down, then switching. They did other exercises too as they ran, each one designed to warm them up while increasing their flexibility for the line-out drills to come.
‘Well done, everyone,’ Izzy said when it was all over. Come and get a drink before I tell you all how we’ll start.’
Daniel didn’t just drink his water, he threw it over his face and down his neck. It felt good to be getting back into more serious training, but it would have felt even better to do it with an air-conditioner blowing at his back.
They began with simple jumping exercises. Daniel hadn’t been too keen on doing this at the outset, as he wasn’t a line-out forward, but he came around when Izzy explained that all players need to be able to jump – to catch a high ball or to help them kick higher.
‘We have a measurer here to see how high we can get. I borrowed it from the local AFL club we met the other day,’ Izzy said. ‘Simply come underneath it, jump and push up this little bar.’ Izzy pointed to a metal stick that slid up and down on a kind of metal ruler that was standing on the grass. ‘The bar stays where you pushed it up to after you fall down again. Tom and Jeremy will be standing on these milk crates, checking your measurements before sending the bar down again.’
Daniel grinned. He loved competitions.
The boys jogged through to have their jumping tested three times and their heights were written down on a clipboard.
‘Unbelievable!’ Izzy said after Jake’s final jump. ‘That was really great. Well done.’
‘But he’s so tall, he has an unfair advantage,’ Daniel said.
Izzy beckoned him over. ‘Come on, then, show us what you’ve got one final time,’ he said. ‘It’s about where the bar ends more than where it starts.’
Daniel stood next to the ruler, bent his knees and sprung up as high as he could reach.
‘Two metres exactly,’ Tom noted.
‘Well done,’ Izzy said, giving him a clap.
Daniel shrugged. He knew jumping wasn’t ever going to be one of his best skills but, secretly, for that moment, he wished it was.
‘Now, let’s put our jumping to some use,’ Izzy announced. ‘We are going to start with some simple line-out simulations. Then we’ll involve the backs more by practising moving the ball down the back line, after the line-out is won.’
Daniel clapped his hands together. ‘All right! Let’s do it!’
The team jogged over to the touchline and Izzy arranged the boys so that the forwards stood in two straight lines facing out of bounds, as if in a line-out. The regular forwards were positioned as the attackers. A mixture of reserves and some of the taller backs were in the other line, simulating the defenders.
‘Let’s pretend the ball has just gone into touch,’ Izzy said. ‘You’ve run over here and got set. I know the backs aren’t involved in this one, but stand in your line as if it’s in a game. That’s it, Harrison, get them in order.’
Daniel stood a step back and a few metres to the left of Harrison, the scrum-half. It was always hard for him to pretend it was a match when there was no opposing fly-half staring him down, but he tried his best.
‘Great,’ Izzy said. ‘Eric, you will throw the ball in over your head as straight as possible. Aim it at Jake – let’s see what he can do.’
Eric nodded and sent a spiral pass at Jake. However, being out of practice, his throw was way off target, flying instead towards Steven, who was standing alongside Jake as his defender. But Jake wasn’t fazed. Using Adam’s body to get a leg up, he sprang high and reached outwards to his left, plucking the ball from the air, millimetres above Steven’s grasping fingers.
The other boys gasped, and Izzy and Jeremy clapped.
‘I always knew Jake was part crocodile,’ Daniel quipped, causing the whole team to break out in a fit of giggles.
They did a few more jumps and throw-ins before Izzy involved the backs. After catching the ball in the line-out, the forwards had to get it out to the backs, who would then run upfield, passing the ball along their line. They did this really well. Daniel knew their team was working together perfectly.
Towards the end of the session, Izzy asked the forwards to continue practising line-out formations and strategies on their own, while he took the backs for some running drills to get their legs turning over.
They began with a one-hundred-metre run, which was then followed by two-, three-and four-hundred-metre efforts. But by the time they’d finished off the four hundred metres – and were facing another round of runs, this time in descending order – Daniel was well and truly over it. Like jumping, running was not the strongest part of his game. It wasn’t that he was slow or unfit, but some of the running stars on the team – Sione and TJ especially – left him in their dust. Daniel gritted his teeth and pushed on, trying to stay in the middle of the pack for most of the runs.
Finally, Izzy called it a day, letting the boys play a game of touch before a cool-down jog and the drive back to their camp site. Daniel excused himself from the game, deciding to practise his goal kicking instead. He lined up his kicking tee in front of the goalposts furthest away from the touchline and slotted in one goal after another.
Daniel sighed, relieved to feel comfortable on the rugby pitch once again. He spent so much of his spare time practising his kicks that, when it came time to do it in a game or at training, it was as comfortable as slipping on a glove in winter.
After Daniel’s tenth goal sailed between the posts, Sione jogged over to him. ‘Nice kick,’ he said, patting Daniel on the back.
‘Thanks. You aced it in the long-distance before,’ Daniel replied. ‘Don’t you ever run out of energy?’
‘I think I have now,’ Sione laughed. ‘I’m starving. We’re going back for showers and dinner. You coming?’
Daniel nodded and retrieved his ball and tee. He took off his headgear and smiled. He felt happy and calm.
‘Looking forward to tomorrow’s game?’ Sione asked as they walked back to the bus. ‘It’s against proper players this time. It’s a team made up from clubs around this whole area. Izzy just told us to expect them to be tough competition.’ Sione looked at Daniel and added, ‘That should make you happy, right?’
Daniel thought back to just a couple of days before when he had been so upset that their opposition weren’t going to be fully match-fit. He was embarrassed by what he had said and felt then.
‘Doesn’t matter, really,’ he said with a shrug. ‘Whether they’re a good team or not, I’m just going to run out there and enjoy it.’
Sione smiled at this. ‘Yeah, me too.’
‘Go the Crocs! Go the Crocs!’
Sione couldn’t help but smile as Tom and Mary’s chant rang out from the interchange bench. Overnight they had had the idea of adopting the local crocodile as Valley’s mascot.
As they waited for the ball to be thrown into the line-out, Tom and Mary shook green pompoms and made snapping motions with their arms.
The ball was delivered and Jake rose above the others to pick it out of the air. He landed and was tackled almost immediately, though he did manage to get the ball to Harrison, who then passed it on to Daniel.
‘Yay, Crocs!’ the Parkers cheered.
Knowing he had to get the ball out of his area as quickly as possible before being tackled by the oncoming traffic, Daniel passed it down the line. It was hurtled along, eventually ending up in Sione’s hands.
Out there on the wing could be a lonely place. On Sione’s right were his team, watching and waiting. On his left was pure silence – just the grass and, beyond that, the bush. In front of him was his opposite winger, running towards him.
Sione slowed, studying the defender, waiting for his move. When it cam
e, Sione was ready. He caught sight of the twitch before the boy flew outstretched at his waist. Sione dodged him, swinging his body back and away. Then he was off, steaming towards the end zone. His friends were shouting, Tom and Mary were cheering, and Sione was puffing as he ran, not daring to look behind him in case it slowed him down.
As he made it to the tryline, he felt something brush his jersey. He dove onto the grass for his try.
‘Woohoo! Go the Crocs!’ sang the team’s new cheer squad.
Sione grinned. In a way, it reminded him of his nickname back home. There he was known as another water creature – the eel – because of his ability to slide between defenders.
His teammates rushed up to Sione, congratulating him and clapping. Sione clapped back, letting the others know that the line-out win and quick movement down the back line were essential contributors to the try he had just scored.
Play restarted, and Tom and Mary took up their pompoms once again. Before long, the ball was back in Sione’s hands. He took on his opposing number and slipped through a tiny crack between him and the centre. He sprinted thirty metres downfield before getting tackled from behind.
From then on Daniel and the others seemed to look for him on the field. Sione wasn’t used to having so much attention on him. It was invigorating. In the past he had felt like the odd one out, a player just filling a spot. Today it was as if his teammates had just discovered what he could do. Sometimes he got through, sometimes he didn’t, but in the second half the opportunity came to score his second try.
This time the opposing winger was ready for him and grabbed his jersey, but Sione cut back inside the field and ran up parallel to the goalposts before seeing an opportunity in the defensive line. He made a dash for the gap he saw and, between flailing hands and a missed tackle, made it through to score a try between the posts.
‘Goooooo, Crocs!’ the Parkers cheered.
Izzy joined in, chanting just as loud.
Sione felt amazing as he was patted on the back once more. But as he walked back to watch Daniel’s conversion attempt, he noticed the bowed heads of the other team. They trudged around, panting, their hands on their hips.
Sione felt sorry for them. He knew that rugby was more enjoyable when you were winning and playing well. He didn’t like being part of the reason for the other team’s disappointment.
After the match, as was their tradition, Daniel led Valley in giving three cheers to their opposition and then the referee.
‘Awesome stuff, Sione,’ Daniel said to him when they were done.
Sione blushed. ‘Thanks, but …’
‘But what?’
‘I scored two tries, which was great, but –’
‘There are no buts,’ Daniel said. ‘You played amazing today.’
‘But, well, maybe they shouldn’t count,’ Sione replied, half to himself. ‘I mean, I’m not sure I’ll be able to do it again. I hope everyone doesn’t expect me to do that in every game. And I kind of feel sorry for the other side. Maybe they aren’t that good and I just made their winger look really bad. I don’t want him dropped or anything.’
Daniel laughed. ‘What is all this worrying?’ he asked. ‘They were a good team. You can’t tell me you don’t feel exhausted. Every point we scored was earned. You just played great. You deserve it!’
‘Really?’ Sione looked at him, seemingly unconvinced.
Daniel nodded. ‘Definitely. You’re usually the one helping me see the positives after a game, not the other way around. What’s wrong?’
Sione wasn’t sure. He saw Jason watching from behind the fence and excused himself to run over and say hi.
‘Hey, you were something else today,’ Jason said. ‘I wish I could play like you.’
Sione felt his cheeks turn red. ‘Thanks. Did you have fun?’
‘Are you kidding me?’ Jason said. ‘I’ve never even watched a rugby game before, but it was awesome.’
Sione smiled, his fears of causing the other team’s disappointment fading away. They spoke some more about rugby, then turned to fishing, before the Valley bus blared its horn. Sione looked around. He was the only one left on the field!
‘Oops, I have to go,’ he said apologetically. ‘I think everyone’s already on the bus.’
Jason nodded. ‘See you round, then.’
Sione turned to leave and then remembered that the team was flying back to the city that night. Sione said goodbye again and asked Jason to say the same to Kev for him.
‘Probably will tonight,’ said Jason. ‘I’ll tell him you said bye. Oh, and guess what? He bought a rugby ball with his birthday money yesterday.’
Sione grinned. ‘That’s awesome! I’ll tell Izzy – he’ll be stoked.’
‘He loves it. Hasn’t even taken it out of its wrapper yet in case it gets dirty.’
Sione knew exactly what that feeling was like. He couldn’t believe that his friendship may have actually helped someone else feel the same way about rugby.
The horn blared again.
‘Gotta go,’ Sione said, running to his teammates. ‘See ya!’
Jason waved goodbye. ‘Good luck at the Championships!’
‘This is it,’ Izzy said to the team after they’d finished their dinner. ‘We’ve trained hard, played a lot of games and found our feet together.’
Daniel swallowed. He was so excited to be in this moment. Israel Folau was addressing him and his team before leading them to the Junior State Rugby Championships. He almost pinched himself to see if it was a dream.
‘Now it’s on to Sydney,’ Izzy said, ‘where the Championships will officially begin on Friday.’ This brought a rousing cheer from the boys. ‘We’ve learnt a lot on the field and off it, and whether Valley is crowned champion or not, I want you to know that I am proud of you all.’
To return the favour in the only way he knew how, Daniel led the team in three cheers for Izzy.
‘Want to sit together on the plane again?’ Sione asked as they pushed their dining chairs in.
‘Of course,’ Daniel said. ‘You don’t snore, do you?’
‘No.’ Sione chuckled. ‘You know that the only one who snores in our bedroom is Jake.’
‘What did you say?’ Jake said.
Daniel and Sione spun around to see Jake looking at them. ‘Nothing,’ Daniel laughed.
‘I don’t snore … do I?’
‘Uh, only a little bit,’ Sione admitted. ‘Sometimes.’
Adam raised his eyebrows. ‘Are you kidding me? He snores so loud you won’t hear the jet engines when we take off!’
The four of them laughed and walked back to their cabin together. Daniel sighed. They had spent almost two weeks together in the same room in three different towns.
‘You know what, guys?’ he said, opening the door to their cabin. ‘Let’s all promise to remain friends after the Championships are over. We all live pretty close to each other, we should be able to hang out at least sometimes.’
‘Definitely,’ Adam said firmly. ‘I can’t believe we’d never met before this trip.’
‘I can’t wait to show you guys my house,’ Daniel said. ‘I could invite you around for dinner one night.’
‘Let’s swap phone numbers,’ Jake added, ‘and email addresses and Skype accounts – the lot!’
Daniel noticed Sione look away at the mention of this. ‘Sure!’ he said. ‘If you have one.’
Sione smiled at that and rummaged around in his backpack for his notepad. He curled the top sheet around and offered the other three a pen to write down their contact details. ‘Do it three times,’ he said, ‘and I’ll tear a copy off for everyone.’
When they all finished writing, Sione tore the page into four, giving the other three one of the copies and keeping one for himself.
‘Hey, what’s this?’ Adam said, looking at the pad now lying on Sione’s bed in front of them. The top page had been returned to its usual place. ‘Dear Mum …’ he began to read out loud.
Sione snatched
the pad and slid it back into his backpack. ‘It’s nothing,’ he said quickly.
Daniel knew what it was but kept quiet. Sione had been writing a letter to his mum. He wondered if Sione had been thinking about asking her to come and watch him play at the Championships.
A few days earlier, back in Queensland, Daniel had confided to Sione that his parents were divorced and his mum now lived in Perth. Sione had told him his big secret, too. His mum had left his family without warning one day and he hadn’t seen her since.
It was sad enough, but what made the discovery of the letter seem even more futile to Daniel was the fact that he knew Sione had no idea where his mum lived. He had no way to send her the letter even if he finished it.
Daniel took out his phone. On the plane to the Northern Territory, he had written an email to his mum, asking her to come to the Championships. He checked his inbox for the millionth time that day but there was nothing.
The others began packing their bags at full speed while Daniel sat on his bed, deep in thought. He watched Jake, Adam and Sione cram things into their bags. Why does Valley feel more like my family than my actual family does? he wondered.
Daniel checked his phone one more time. He shrugged. Perhaps she has been really busy, he decided, and then stood up to pack his bag.
There was a knock at the door. ‘How’s everything going in here?’ Izzy asked, popping his head inside.
‘Good,’ the four boys answered in unison.
‘Great! Make sure you’re back up at the dining room in fifteen minutes with your things. We have a long bus trip to the airport and it’s already getting dark.’
‘Championships, here we come!’ Daniel shouted.
Izzy chuckled. ‘I’m so glad you’re all excited.’
‘Why wouldn’t we be?’ Jake said.
‘Sometimes people are so worried about failing that they can’t look forward to the attempt,’ Izzy replied. ‘It’s nice to see you boys still enjoy the game.’