CAPTAIN’S DIARY – EDITION 3
Wednesday, 13 August 2008 1:04pm
with Emirates Western Force UK Tour Captain David Pocock
The grind of a long tour has begun but the team is off to a good start after wins against Newcastle and the Saracens Academy.
After the 10-point win over the Falcons we turned our attention to Saracens and departed Newcastle on a 6 hour bus ride down to Hatfield.
Long bus trips aren’t my fortay I must admit, but the highlight of the trip was a pit stop in Charlton where we had one of the best feeds on tour so far.
Now that we’re in a new town, everyone has been allocated new roommates to freshen things up.
This time I’m paired up with our young fullback Dion Berryman, although I can’t tell you much about him yet as he spends most of his time out of the room hanging with the young blokes.
The boys have been trying to keep up with the Aussies at the Olympic Games but I’d have to say the coverage over here in the UK is atrocious!
We’ve seen plenty of the English rowing team on our televisions but very little of anything else and no coverage of the Australian athletes whatsoever!
The boys have been finding some interesting ways to keep themselves entertained during the down times on tour, but no one is more committed to his match preparation than our newest team member Caleb Brown.
Caleb has earned himself the new name of ‘Prehab Brown’, thanks to his religious use of trig balls (pressure point devices for muscle release).
It’s well known that Caleb has had his issues with muscle injuries throughout his career but I can assure Western Force supporters that he is leaving nothing to chance with his physical conditioning and preparation.
He’s constantly got the trig balls jammed into his muscles, either releasing his hamstrings or glutes. He’s even been talking about designing a new garment called ‘trig pants’, which will basically consist of track pants with trig balls sewn into them so he can do all the work sitting down watching tv!
Caleb is a funny bloke and has certainly fit in well with the rest of the squad.
He made his first run on appearance for the Force last night against the Saracens Academy and played very well, along with Haig Sare who had a blinder at outside centre.
My roomie Dion and lock Brent Murphy also stood up in their first games in the blue jersey.
One thing we’ve had to contend with here in England is the different interpretation of the rules by the English referees.
It’s been frustrating at times with some of the rulings around the breakdown but a good learning experience for the team in adapting to different conditions.
Today we’re off to North London to visit the Emirates Stadium. The fun continues!
