Sunday 1st August 2010
Dear Diary
We had an amazing game yesterday against the Aussies. What a great week. We got to Melbourne early so there was lots of time for us to prepare for the Bledisloe Cup Test. The boys were all quite fresh too because we had a week off rugby. It was my first time in Melbourne and I loved it. I have a lot of family over there, so it was good to be able to catch up with them. Kiwis are everywhere now.
Kick off was at 8 o'clock, so it was a really, really long day. I did my usual thing of watching TV and chilling out listening to my R&B and reggae sounds. I really like listening to Midnight Youth; they're popping out some good sounds at the moment.
About 20mins before warm up I looked around and the guys were focused. There was a cool feeling in the changing room. As I pulled on my boots I popped a bit of heat rub onto my legs. That's when I switched into game mode. The game was quick. One of the things I remember was being shocked at how fast we were scoring points.
Although I have to admit when Australia scored a try off the charge down, my mind briefly jumped back to the 2008 game when they walloped us in Sydney. But as Richie reminded us, we were being dominant, get the ball down their end and keep putting the pressure on them. When DC (Dan Carter) scored his charge down try, I knew we were back on track. I couldn't believe it when we scored again 5mins later.
We've also been working on our kick offs quite a lot recently. It's like the third set piece, after scrums and lineouts. It's somewhere we can target to get hold of the ball and to make sure it's hard for the opposition to settle into the game. Overall, I was really happy with the game, especially the back row unit of myself, Richie and Reado (Kieran Read). I feel we are really developing as a unit. We can all carry the ball or do the tight work, whatever is needed of us.
It was quite disappointing that Australia were able to score two tries with 14 men on the field. I think we were guilty of relaxing because we had a good lead and they had a man in the sin bin. It would be better if we were able to maintain our intensity. But we know what it's like to get walloped, so they'll be hurting and we expect them to come back hard. We have to be ready for that. I can't wait.
It's good to be back at home with a chance of lifting those trophies in NZ. Hopefully we'll see you there.
Cheers,
Jerome Kaino
No comments:
Post a Comment