HARRY'S HOUSE - HIGHLANDERS WEEK
Sunday, 18 April 2010 7:22pm
Sam Harris, RugbyWA
Mon 5th Apr: I tell you what it's a much better feeling rocking up to work on Monday after a win. We're not getting ahead of ourselves but it's good to be off the bottom of the ladder. We run through a couple of new plays for the week. The starting fifteen get an early mark, the rest of the squad do some fun skill drills and fitness games. I feel a lot better for the run.
Tues 6th Apr: Day off. Hannah (my wife) goes off to get some physio, she has been complaining about a sore back for a while now and it had got to the point that she needs some professional help. Physio says that Hans needs to see a skeletal specialist because she is all out of whack. The specialist says that since the pregnancy not everything has gone back to where it should and is also surprised that Hannah is still walking around - she's a tough little cookie! This isn't good timing with me having to go to New Zealand tomorrow for 11 days and leaving Han to fend for herself and the girls. We were both confident that she could do it but this just throws a bit of a spanner in the works.
Wed 7th Apr: Morning training makes way for afternoon travel. Because of injury troubles the team was only named at the team meeting in the morning. Brownie is back in the starting team, while Shep, after a frustrating injury run this season, comes back a week earlier than expected. Dane Haylett Petty comes onto the bench. With a lot of guys coming back from injury some really solid players are starting to miss out on the team.
It's tough to say goodbye to my family, Anais is going to start crawling any day now and I feel like I'm leaving Hannah stranded a bit.
Thurs 8th Apr: Flight was good. Stopover in Auckland from 2am to 6am Perth time is a bit tough but we touchdown in beautiful Queenstown about midday. Although I was born in New Zealand and have visited over 20 times I have never been to Queenstown before. What a beautiful spot. The Force is so lucky they get to play the Highlanders here every second year.
We do some yoga and then we are into the lake, it is mandatory that we get in waste deep but some of the boys jump off the wharf. I choose to just stand in the water but regret it when I get back to my room.
I'm rooming with the new kid Nathan (Cheese) Charles. We both have about 13 hrs sleep.
Fri 9th Apr: Captains Run. Order is restored with a 2-0 victory to the backs. Again a bit more detail because we haven't been on the field as much as usual this week. The session runs very well.
Back to the lake after training, I dive in this time! Although it is freezing cold it does wonders for your recovery and it just makes you feel like a new man.
Sat 10th Apr: Game day, we have some slips catches at 10am with a win to the Rednecks. Cheese and I go straight in for swim afterwards, a communication breakdown means that neither of us brings down a towel, we decide to drip dry. I don't recommend using this method if the water you are swimming in is under 10 degrees. Prep is a lot different for an afternoon match rather than one played in the evening. The game comes around pretty quickly and I must say I prefer playing during the afternoon. To me it feels like I waste a whole day waiting for a night game.
The game had a bit of a funny feel about it. The crowd wasn't very vocal, and both teams seemed to be making a lot of uncharacteristic mistakes.
Again we were building pressure without posting points.
The Highlanders looked certain to score when Vanikolo had got around Rabbit but from nowhere comes Dave Pocock with desperate hand to knock the ball loose over the line. Such a big play!
At half time the game could have gone either way, as a matter of fact with 20 to go it was the same. The Highlanders were ahead 22-20 until something just clicked and we blew them off the park winning 41-27. We ended up scoring 6 tries and it was such a good feeling to win comfortably. Having the full complement of our Wallaby back row makes such a difference and Cam Shepherd sure knows how to find the try line. It would be remiss of me not to mention the front row, they have been so good for us all year but this week they dominated the other pack come scrum time.
After the game we were straight on the bus, a couple of the players and staff got up individually and led the team in one of their favourite songs and we all joined in for a good old fashion sing-a-long.
On arrival at our hotel the players were keen jump in the ice cold lake for recovery. Before the boys could get in both coaches did a swan dive, fully dressed head to toe in their team suit, funny stuff.
Queenstown in such a beautiful spot, for a mixture of reasons this playing group has really come together to be even closer in the last couple of weeks. And our stay here has been a memorable one.
