Saturday 10th July 2010
Dear Diary
Even though I woke up at 7.30am, I didn't get out of bed until 8.30am. After I had a wash I wandered down to breakfast. Normally I just have a bowl of cereal, but our nutritionist has changed my diet. So it's big breakfasts from now on because I have to bulk up a little bit.
I find it tough to fill in the long day before the match. So I end up doing lots of bits and pieces. Anthony Boric has just taught me how to do the Rubiks Cube. First I get the white face completed and then I have a set of steps to complete the whole cube. I'm not that quick but I can do it. So I had a good play on that before settling down to read my hunting magazine.
Later I met my cousin and we were able to have a good catch up over a coffee. I knew I had to get a bit more fuel in, so I headed back to the hotel and got some more food. But then I was bored so I actually went for a walk around the streets of Auckland. It was a lovely, sunny day and I ended up in a park, sitting down and gathering my thoughts together for the job ahead.
After lunch I sat in the team room and watched some hunting video clips on youtube. Eventually the team walk-through arrived. It was good to be able to walk and talk through our lineout and scrum moves and then go through a few set pieces at good pace. I had my pre-match meal of chicken, mash potatoes, eggs and some pasta bake. I'm supposed to eat small portions, heaps of times throughout the day. It's a bit of a struggle because I never feel that hungry on match day.
I packed my bag for the night and that took about an hour. While everything is in my bag, it's not particularly tidy. Sometimes I have to have a rummage through to check that I have everything. Since I was ready early, I watched 'Gone Fishing' and then the 'ITM Fishing Show'.
Finally we jumped on the bus and headed off to Eden Park. After I hung up my jersey and got all my stuff ready to go, I grabbed a programme and walked out onto the field. I soaked up the atmosphere, checked out the field and ate my can of creamed rice. I always put my boots on last and that's when I feel it's time to go, it's when I really focus hard on what my first job of the match will be. By then we usually know if we will be kicking or receiving the ball from the South Africans.
I remember the crowd being really awesome, much louder than usual. I can only imagine what it's going to sound like when it's full. I'm sure it will almost be as good as the new Dunedin stadium with the roof on. It was slightly odd that I could hear our conditioning coach Gilly (Nic Gill) shouting and cheering us on. It must have been because he was standing on the side of the field where there was no crowd. Normally I can't hear a thing off the field.
Our whole forward pack did their job really well; it just felt awesome to dominate. The big key is if we can do it again this week, we'll take a lot more satisfaction out of it. To do it once is good, but to back it up would be awesome.
Cheers,
Tom Donnelly
No comments:
Post a Comment