Chance of a Lifetime Page 4

  Jake picked it up and tried to slide it over his head but it didn’t fit. The boys laughed as he pranced around with it on his way-too-big head.

  ‘Lucky it’s green,’ Adam commented. ‘Valley colours.’

  Daniel shrugged. ‘My school’s colours are green and white. Who do you guys play for? What school?’

  ‘I go to St Christopher’s,’ Adam said proudly.

  ‘I’m at Queens,’ Jake said.

  ‘Who do you play for again?’ Daniel asked Sione.

  Sione sat up and took the headphones out of his ears. ‘Huh?’

  Daniel turned back to the others. ‘He doesn’t go to a rugby school. He plays for a club – the Tigers?’

  ‘Yeah.’ Sione nodded and pointed at his pile of training gear on the double bed. Everything was orange and black.

  ‘Cool,’ Adam said.

  Jake gestured to the wall behind Sione. ‘What’s that?’ he asked.

  ‘Nothing,’ Sione said quickly.

  A folded piece of paper was stuck to the wall. Jake walked over to Sione’s bed to take a closer look. ‘It’s the email Izzy sent to all of us.’

  ‘You kept it?’ Adam said, laughing.

  Daniel smirked. ‘We all got that. I didn’t even keep a copy.’

  ‘I know, right?’ The other two laughed.

  Sione shrugged, his cheeks flushed. ‘I like it,’ he said, softly but defiantly.

  The boys stood outside listening to the plan for the rest of their stay. They had free time before dinner, followed by team-building exercises in the hall. Daniel grunted. That didn’t seem interesting at all.

  ‘After that,’ Tom announced, ‘Izzy is going to show you some rugby video clips and discuss them with you.’

  ‘Woo!’ Daniel howled. That was more his style!

  Tom threw him a warning look. ‘Tomorrow is training all day, starting after breakfast. I’ll tell you more about that later but there’s all sorts of things planned. We’ll have a practice game or two on Monday before we head to the airport.’

  ‘When do we have to go to bed tonight?’ asked one of the boys.

  ‘Lights out at nine-thirty sharp.’

  ‘What?’ Daniel exclaimed, horrified. ‘That’s way early!’

  ‘Trust me – with all the work we have to do tomorrow, you’ll need the rest,’ Izzy said from behind the crowd. Everyone turned to face him. ‘I can’t have you guys falling asleep on the field, can I?’ he added, laughing heartily.

  Daniel hung his head. This camp was starting to sound more like a punishment than a reward.

  ‘Remember that we aren’t here to have a party,’ Jeremy added. ‘You are all being taught the importance of teamwork and commitment – qualities you need if you are to be a rugby champion.’

  Daniel frowned, confused. The messages he was getting on this trip about rugby were nothing like his dad’s advice.

  At dinner, Daniel sat with Adam and Jake and they talked the whole time about their schools, teams and the amazing tries they’d scored. Afterwards, Tom, Mary and Izzy took the boys through a series of team-building games. For some of the activities, Daniel was paired up with Sione, who, in his opinion, was the worst teammate ever. When Daniel was blindfolded and being led around an obstacle course, Sione kept bumping him into things. When they had to answer trivia questions, Sione always got them wrong. When they had to solve problems, Sione just got confused.

  Each activity scored the partnerships points, and after finishing last in the rankings for the night, Daniel had had enough. ‘This isn’t rugby,’ he complained loudly.

  Izzy sighed. ‘No, it isn’t,’ he said. ‘But if you can’t work together off the field, how will you cooperate when you’re on it?’

  Daniel glared at Sione. It was a good thing he’d be far away on the wing and out of trouble.

  Sione was roused early the next morning by the sound of kookaburras singing outside his cabin. He tucked his hands behind his head and watched the room gradually brighten as the sun’s rays slipped inside. He lay there for what felt like hours, listening to the mattress above him creak with Daniel’s every move and Jake’s snores.

  Sione wasn’t sure why everyone always wanted the top bunk; he preferred the bottom. It was like a private room, with a roof and a wall. He turned to the wall and looked at the email from Izzy. He didn’t know why he’d hung onto it; all he knew was it made him feel special and want to play well.

  Perhaps it was also a source of comfort. Sione was feeling more and more out of place on the camp. Last night, many of the boys – including Jake, Adam and Daniel – had dressed up in nice clothes for dinner. They’d done their hair and sprayed deodorant. It was like they all knew they should do it, while Sione just walked into the dining room in his tracksuit. No one said anything, but Sione knew what they were all thinking. All they ate was plain old spaghetti bolognaise, but the others had treated it like a meal in a fancy restaurant. Is this a chance to learn and play great rugby, or a popularity contest? Sione had wondered.

  And the less said about the team games and training videos the better. Daniel had spent the night complaining about how inferior a partner Sione was. Sione had been hurt and confused by it all. Daniel had been the one who seemed to sabotage all their attempts to succeed, but by vocalising that Sione was to blame, everyone had joined in with Daniel and pointed fingers at him. He had only wanted to have some fun, but as soon as it was clear they weren’t going to win the events, Daniel just gave up.

  During the video session, Izzy had shown some famous tries from the last couple of World Cups. After each clip, Izzy asked the boys how the try was scored. Daniel would call out the answer every time, yelling things like, ‘The cut-out pass threw the defence off guard’ or ‘The brute strength of the forwards pushed him over’. Each time Izzy would say that he was partly correct, but that it was teamwork that had really resulted in the tries.

  ‘The whole team has to work together to be on the same page,’ Izzy had said, ‘and each member can’t be worried about taking the limelight for themselves.’

  Sione had loved this lesson while Daniel kept snorting his disagreement, even after Izzy had pointed out how the things that players without the ball were doing affected the player running with it.

  Sione was getting cross just thinking about it. He got out of bed and jumped in the shower. By the time Sione had left the bathroom, washed and dressed, it was still an hour before breakfast and the other three boys were still asleep. Quietly, Sione grabbed his hoodie off the double bed and left the room to go for a walk.

  The crisp morning air was refreshing and Sione smiled at the way the bright sunshine made the leaves in the trees sparkle. The kookaburras’ laughing had been replaced by other birdsongs now, and Sione shielded his eyes from the sun with his hood and set out for the rugby field.

  Before every Tigers game, Sione liked to walk a couple of laps of the field, thinking about the game and how it might go. With the first training session only a couple of hours away, Sione wasn’t sure he’d get the opportunity, so now seemed like a good time to get to know the posts, line markings and pitch before he would be expected to perform upon it.

  He walked between two cabins and through some bushes before emerging onto a field. It was a simple rectangle of grass with the familiar white posts at each end of it. Bordered all around by trees and cabins, the space seemed enclosed – private and special.

  But Sione wasn’t alone. At the far end of the pitch, he spied a familiar figure sprinting back and forth between the tryline and the 22-yard line. It was Izzy, in a green-and-gold training top and white boots, huffing and puffing. Sione watched from a distance as Izzy gulped down some water before switching to a jumping and skipping drill, moving up and down the touchline. He watched in silence for a long time, half-thinking the right thing to do would be to give his coach some privacy, the other half wanting to learn how champions train.

  Sione was proud that he had Izzy Folau as a mentor – someone who led by example, r
ather than with hollow words or power.

  When Izzy had finished, he stretched on the grass and finished the rest of his water. ‘Oh, hey, Sione,’ he said with a wave, finally noticing his single spectator.

  ‘Hey,’ Sione replied. ‘Sorry.’

  ‘There’s no need to apologise. You can join me tomorrow morning, if you like.’

  Sione’s jaw dropped. ‘Um, okay,’ he said.

  Izzy walked over. ‘I want to keep up with my training, and mornings are really the only time I have on tour. How have you found the camp so far?’

  ‘Okay,’ Sione replied. He hoped he didn’t sound ungrateful.

  ‘I’m sure it will be great fun, but I know how hard it is to start somewhere new,’ Izzy said, wiping his forehead with a towel. ‘Did you know rugby union is my third sport?’

  Sione nodded.

  ‘Each time I’ve faced a new challenge it has been really hard, but I’ve had great times and learnt so much. I think you will, too.’

  Sione smiled. ‘That’s why my aunty likes you so much,’ he said.

  Izzy laughed. ‘Next time you speak to her, tell your aunty that I’m very flattered.’

  After a hearty breakfast, the boys hit the rugby field for the first time as a group. Most boys came with the expectation they would be doing skills training or position work, but the first session was purely based on fitness. Izzy took the boys through a full warm-up routine, a set of runs and finished off with a beep test. At the very mention of the beep test, most of the other players groaned, Daniel moaning the loudest of all. Sione, too shy to say he didn’t know what a beep test was, listened intently to Izzy’s explanation. He learnt that this test was made up of a series of back-and-forth sprints that are timed with beeps. Runners were given less and less time to complete each run the further they progressed. If a boy didn’t make his mark before the beep sounded, he was knocked out of the test and given a score.

  With each turn, Sione pictured Izzy earlier that morning, pushing himself to do his best, even though no one was watching. Sione was so deep in thought he was oblivious to the other boys dropping out around him, to Daniel’s complaints when he was knocked out, and to the fact that, eventually, the group of runners had dwindled down to just him and TJ.

  Cheers rang out after every completed lap, rousing Sione from his thoughts. He couldn’t believe it. Boys were clapping for him, encouraging him to keep going.

  Then TJ was gone and it was just him left. How he made each mark before the beeps, Sione didn’t know. Each sprint was now incredibly fast and his heart was beating rapidly. Worse than that, though, was the heavy feeling in his thighs and calves. Just one more, he thought. No regrets.

  Beep … beep …

  ‘Just one more!’

  Cheers rained down when the current speed was announced. Sione collapsed on the ground, hands patting him from every direction.

  ‘Try and stand up, Sione,’ he heard Izzy say, as if from the other end of a tunnel. ‘You’ll recover quicker. Hands on your head.’

  Sione did as he was told. He was shocked at his ability and proud of his drive. There would be no regrets for him today. Adam handed him a bottle of water and it tasted like liquid gold.

  There was a break for morning tea and a little free time before everyone was expected back on the field for some drills. The others continued to congratulate Sione, though he tried to keep a low profile. As great as the beep test had been, he knew that the next session, when he would actually have to show some playing skills, was the real test.

  The boys were split into backs and forwards. As there were a few too many players, Izzy planned to interchange them regularly. Due to his morning’s efforts, Sione was picked to be left wing first. The drill was set up – a simple one so Izzy could see the team in motion. The forwards had to form a scrum around a scrum machine as the backs stretched out along the field behind them.

  Daniel found the ball and smiled so wide Sione could see it from the other side of the field. Had he practised this recently? Daniel threw the ball to Harrison, the scrum-half, and gave him a high five.

  Sione watched as Harrison fed the ball into the semi-scrum. He enjoyed these moments of solitude on the field, all the way out near the far touchline on his own. He set himself, watching and waiting …

  And then the ball came free. The backs quickly advanced in a line, ensuring that they didn’t move in front of the players to their right. The ball flew along the row of backs. Soon it would be in Sione’s hands.

  Tom, Mary, Jeremy and Izzy were applauding the ball’s progress from somewhere behind him. It was now with the boy at outside centre. Sione was next.

  The ball was passed to Sione, but with much more force than he was expecting. It came at him like a spinning dart. It went through his hands and punched him in the chest with its point.

  Sione exhaled and stumbled to the ground. ‘Ugh!’

  The ball bounced over the touchline and into a bush. The other nineteen boys groaned, and Sione’s stomach plummeted.

  The day before had been extremely tiring but lots of fun. They had done so much work on the field that Daniel had fallen asleep before lights out, and it had been a great feeling to wake up on Monday morning, knowing that his deep rest had been well deserved.

  The Sunday highlights for Daniel would definitely have been the amazing roast dinner and movie night, but the display of his bunk mate on the training pitch was something he couldn’t get out of his head.

  Sione had been popular in the morning when all they had been doing was running. But when the rugby balls came out, Daniel saw it was a different story. Sione had totally fallen apart. He couldn’t catch anything, and most repetitions and drills stopped short whenever he went near the play.

  Daniel wasn’t sure why Sione had been so nervous. After training was finally over, Sione had disappeared to the shower but Daniel had stayed out and practised his goal kicking, just as he did after every session. Izzy congratulated him on his extra effort, which filled him with pride.

  When he had eventually returned to their cabin, Sione had been even quieter than usual. Daniel supposed he had learnt that schoolboy rugby was better.

  Now it was Monday and, for Daniel, the day had an aura of excitement about it. Not only were they heading to the airport after lunch, but Izzy had scheduled practice matches for the morning session. Daniel was really looking forward to it so he could properly show off his captaincy skills.

  After breakfast, the boys gathered around Izzy at the halfway line. Sione stood back from the main group as he listened.

  Daniel wanted him to stand with them, the way a teammate should. You’ve got to learn to take this game by the horns, Sione, Daniel wanted to say. Don’t be afraid or you’ll never get better.

  Sione’s eyes met Daniel’s for a split second before he looked down again.

  ‘So this is how it’s going to work,’ Izzy began. ‘It’s ten to a side, with twenty-minute halves. After one game we will have a break, mix you up and go again. With less players, some of you will have to play altered positions – the scrum will be smaller, the back line shorter – but you’ll have more space and time to do all your magic tricks.’ Izzy winked at Daniel, who attached his chin strap to show he was ready. ‘Show me everything you’ve got, and remember to have some fun!’

  The boys were then split into two even teams, with Sione and Daniel on opposite sides. Daniel gathered all his teammates around him. ‘Good luck, guys,’ he said. ‘I’m the only kicker here, so I’ll do all that. We don’t really know each other yet, so we may make mistakes, but don’t worry. Listen to my instructions if you aren’t sure what we should do.’

  Jake and Adam rolled their eyes but said nothing.

  In a moment, they were standing along the halfway line as Daniel prepared to kick off. Izzy blew the whistle, and Daniel kicked the ball with pinpoint accuracy towards Sione. He was standing in the right corner of the field, and as the ball screamed towards him, his legs seemed to wobble like jelly a
nd his arms awkwardly shot up to try and catch the ball.

  ‘Catch it!’ his teammates cried.

  The ball sank and, instead of taking it on the full, Sione decided to let it bounce first. But it didn’t come to him. The ball hit the grass and shot off at a right angle, over the touchline. There would now be a line-out, just metres from Daniel’s tryline.

  Players came over to pat Daniel on the back, congratulating him on the kick. With giant Jake on their side, the line-out was theirs for the taking. No one went to congratulate Sione this time.

  Jake won the line-out, jumping high with Adam’s support, and after a beautiful, long set-up pass from Daniel, TJ scored a try under the posts. Daniel kicked the conversion easily, bringing the score to 7–0 within a couple of minutes.

  ‘Don’t worry, B Team,’ Izzy called, ‘this is just a practice match and the scores don’t count. I want to hear more talk, though, okay?’

  There was more talk from the other team after that, but from what Daniel could hear, it was all directed at Sione and it didn’t sound positive.

  As the game continued, Daniel noticed that most of the defensive pressure was aimed at him and he loved that. Yes, it made things more difficult to have multiple, big forwards bearing down on you at every moment, but it meant that they were afraid of him, that he was playing well. As Daniel’s dad often said, it was the ultimate compliment to have a team worried about you.

  At the end of the forty minutes, Izzy began by reminding everyone that the score was irrelevant and he hadn’t taken notice. But Daniel had. His team had won 31–5, with Daniel kicking five out of five attempts and setting up three tries. Tim, the goal kicker on the other side, had missed his only attempt. Daniel was more than pleased with his performance.

  With fewer players, there hadn’t been as much tackling, rucking and mauling as one would normally expect in a game but everyone was still feeling banged up and ready for a rest. The only thing that kept them wanting to play the second game was the desire to impress.