Player Diary - Lachie Turner
Tuesday, 4th August 2009
South Africa
It was a relief to finally get on the plane to South Africa last Friday after two pretty tough weeks of training following Bledisloe #1.
Gaps between Test matches are rarely easy and the two training camps we’ve had since the Auckland game would easily rate as two of the hardest Robbie Deans had put the squad through.
The long on-field morning training sessions and afternoon weight sessions brought back memories of gruelling pre-season torture camps.
The work load was added to by strategy meetings, recovery and physiotherapy treatments and media commitments, which all served to guarantee that the squad was both physically and mentally pushed to its limit.
Yet as stretched as everyone felt, there wasn’t one complaint to be had. There is a belief in the squad that we are so close to achieving the performance goals we have set.
Silverware is a by-product of performance, which is what we primarily measure, but everyone likes winning trophies – because their attainment is never an easy task.
We all appreciate that, by pushing us beyond what we are used to, Robbie is ingraining in us habits that will serve us well – both as a team and individually – in the future. That knowledge meant that the challenge of being pushed to our limits in training was met with a smile rather than anxiety.
The real satisfaction for any professional athlete though, comes in the challenge that only match day competition can bring. There are few challenges greater in rugby – or any sport for that matter - than facing the Springboks at home in South Africa.
It seems that everything grows in size once you reach South Africa. It is well documented that the Springboks are traditionally a very big side in stature. The kilos that make up their side are no surprise to anyone who has ever dined out here.
There is no such thing as a small meal in South Africa. The restaurant idea of small steaks is 600 grams. The entrees are often meals in themselves. It’s no wonder some of the forwards love touring South Africa so much.
The stadiums too seem bigger. Al Baxter, an architect and a source of information matched only by Google, assures me that it is just our eyes playing tricks. Newlands in Cape Town is no bigger than our own ANZ or Suncorp Stadium, although it certainly feels that way when you step out onto the field.
This phenomenon though is due to two main reasons. Firstly the stands in South Africa are far steeper than anything we have back home – they seem to stretch up into the sky, one section on top of the other, forever. Because of that, South Africa is one place where the phrase ‘nose bleed section’ isn’t just a gripe to describe how bad one’s seats are.
The second major difference between Newlands and any stadium back home is a cheap section where it is standing room only.
This portion of the ground is conveniently located right where the visiting team warms up and the locals give off an amazing atmosphere. The noise is deafening which isn’t such a bad thing as most of the few insults the players can make out easily surpass any threat of a Hollywood villain. Believe me, there are times over here when it is an advantage not being able to understand Afrikaans!
When you add the size and the structure of the venue together with the knowledge and passion of the fans, and the physical intensity that provokes in the Boks, the end result is a Test match atmosphere that is almost unrivalled.
It’s a cauldron that, on Saturday night [1am, Sunday morning, AEST] promises to push the Qantas Wallabies to the limits. This makes it kind of handy that we’ve been developing that particular habit through Robbie’s gruelling training sessions!
Enjoy the coverage on telly, and thanks for the support!
Lach
Monday, 20th July 2009
Bledisloe #1
Few Test preparations can match the intensity and hype of a Bledisloe Cup week for a Wallaby.
Last week was no different.
The build up to last Saturday night’s opening All Black Test of the year in Auckland was comfortably the biggest – in terms of hype – that I have experienced during my relatively short time as a Wallaby.
Everywhere we went, the sense of anticipation about the game was palpable; whether we were dealing with the news media, hotel staff of general punters in the street.
Everyone you spoke to had an opinion. Everyone, before we left Sydney anyway, wanted to wish us all the best.
But, as players, we weren’t the only ones feeling the pressure.
Once we got across to Auckland on the Wednesday night before the match, I was surprised how nervous the locals seemed to be. Every interaction we had with the public in New Zealand seemed to betray the country’s collective sense of anxiety; the uncertainty was obvious.
While that was gratifying in one sense, in that it was great recognition from their knowledgable rugby public of the progress they had seen the Wallabies make as a team; it also heightened the likelihood that we would be facing a fired up All Black side at Eden Park.
If their own supporters were nervous, how were their players likely to be feeling? Even more tellingly, what was their likely response?
The day before the game, Dean Mumm and I had an experience that, for a short while anyway, lightened the pre-game intensity.
We’d both fled the hotel for a coffee and a walk and came across a punter who seemed to think he knew us.
At first, we thought he was just another pumped up fan, so we played along. After about five hundred meters, however, it became clear that this guy was under the impression that we were somebody else.
It then took us five minutes to convince him that we were not his friends that he had been shopping with all morning, and that we had not finally found a way to ditch our girlfriends so that we could hang out with him.
I must admit, it was a bit weird. How could anyone be so mistaken?
It did provide a bit of pre-game relief though, in terms of putting the match build up into a proper perspective.
As a result of that experience, I found myself no longer fearing the fans in the street but instead welcoming their opinions.
It didn’t stop there either.
TV ads and newspapers which I previously had been trying to ignore became sources of inspiration. I wanted the atmosphere to last forever.
The game itself was one of the most frustrating experiences of my life.
After starting so well, we didn’t follow up, allowing the All Blacks to come back into it.
Being the quality side they are, the All Blacks took up our invitation.
While the whys and wherefores of how their 22-16 win unfolded have been debated in detail since the game, and will continue to be mulled over until we play them again in Sydney next month; suffice to say it was a frustrated group of Wallabies who trooped back into the dressing room following the final whistle.
Once again, we had left them off the hook, although there was a real sense that this time, we had been as much the architects of our own demise, as had been the All Blacks.
And I mean no disrespect to the All Blacks in saying that.
They took their scoring opportunities, as they always do. We created more in the game, and defended well, but didn’t finish off.
That was the difference on the night, and is a failing that we are determined to rectify before our next match in the Tri-Nations, which will be against South Africa at Cape Town on Saturday week.
Sitting in the changing rooms following a loss is always tough.
The silence can be quite eerie.
There is always a lot of unspoken pain after having given so much and not got the desired result.
Very rarely does anyone ever find the right words to make the pain go away, although Robbie [Deans] certainly tried to raise our morale, telling us that we were closing the gap on the All Blacks.
While I think we all realise that, we also realise that the only way we will really be able to confirm that – both to ourselves and everybody watching – is by beating the All Blacks.
Getting close is not good enough.
For many of us, the hardest time post-game was not in the changing room, but on the team bus.
It has become tradition to play the John Williamson song ‘True Blue’ on our way back to the hotel.
Following every game this year, ‘True Blue’ has been blasted out with the whole team singing along - some better than others of course, with special mention going to Drew Mitchell who is usually the most in tune voice!
Hearing the music instead of the cheerful croaking voices of the team was a telling insight into just how deflated the whole group was.
No one mentioned it, but I got the feeling that all of the other guys were doing the same thing I was at that time: making a silent pact with themselves to do everything they could to ensure that we never let that happen again!
Lachie Turner
