he’s forwards coach; Alistor, backs coach; Schalk, our fitness and conditioning coach; our trainers, Katrina and Gilderoy; and Vince, our general manager. We will be taking you through our drills and plays and will be assessing your individual performances to determine whether you will make this team or not.”

He spoke with a different accent that seemed unusual but somewhat familiar to Scamp. His accent seems like a mix between Australian and English with a bit of New Zealand in there. He thought. I swear I have heard it before.

“For those of you who are playing rugby for the first time,” Reede continued. “We will help and guide you along so that you know how to play in each element of the game. I will add that this game is very hard work and if you really want to make the team I am expecting you to put in one hundred percent of all that you have got. State and College Rugby demands each and every player to commit, be respectable, show discipline, be supportive of your fellow teammates and know the full chemistry and responsibilities of your positions on the field. You also have to be prepared to work extra hard in your fitness training as your on-field performances will be determined by your body’s strength, cardio levels, and endurance.”

He sounds like an army sergeant. Tramp thought. He sounds very demanding and is preparing to work his soldiers to the bone in preparation for battle.

“So…” Reede continued. “…the total number of players we have recorded here today is 56. After today’s session, we will assess your performances and then select 30 players maximum for this team. Your name will either appear on the team roster or cut list. It might even turn out that you all perform well enough on the field to be on the team; so if, at the end of training, you find out that you have been cut and you feel that you should be in the team because of your efforts and hard work; you must understand that us coaches have some very tough decisions to make sometimes and they are based on how we assess your strengths and weaknesses in all elements of the game. You cannot just be strong in one or a few parts of your game, because State and College Rugby demands high-class performances in everything you do both on and off the field. I want you all to understand that before you begin questioning not being listed on the team roster. However, we will keep our cut list and if one or more of our players get seriously injured throughout the playing season, then we might call upon one or several players from that cut list to replace them. We might also need extra help in water, equipment, and caretaking duties if required; so if you are interested please do not hesitate to step forward. Everyone understand?”

“Yes, coach. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yes, coach.” Some of the players responded. The rest of them nodded in affirmation.

“Alright then,” Reede continued. “We are going to start the session with a few passing drills to warm up with, then go ahead with a half-hour fitness session, and then each and every one of you will be tested on your basic rugby skills, including tackling, lineouts, scrums, rucking, mauling, place-kicking, etcetera. We will then run through some set plays and defensive techniques, and then finish with a full semi-contact team run; or scrimmage. We will then enlist the players who have made the team plus the players who have been cut. So, good luck to you all. Let’s start warming up with four-piece double line passing.”

So the players all broke off and began the tryouts by splitting up into two groups of four players per line between two lines of players for the first passing drill. They ran back and fourth for several minutes, before commencing on the next cross-over passing drill; consisting of four groups of two lines of players running towards each other and passing the ball.

After several minutes they went on to commence their fitness program.

This consisted of running through a ‘corridor’ of cones, or witches hats, with a series of jogging, parallels, high knees, heel flicks, high knee jumps, lunges, hamstring stretching walks, and sumo squats. After 5 minutes the padded contact bags were brought in and the some players held them up while the rest lined up and were tested on their tackling and rucking ability by hitting the contact bags and attempting to drive the bag holders backwards. They were then shown to the lone-standing tackle bags to further test their tackling.

Then the padded contact bags were brought back in and the players holding the bags were formed in a four-dog ‘gauntlet’ to prepare for a breakdown rucking drill. This meant that a player with a bag faced a group of players that were ready to run towards him and hit the bag then go to ground as if tackled and then the supporting offending players drive and clear out the defending bag holders to keep possession of the ball; then in turn the acting half-back, or scrum-half, would recycle the ball from the ruck and pass to the player next to him, and he would then start the next phase of play by running with the ball and hitting the next player with a bag that stood ten metres behind the first bag-holding player, and they would repeat the breakdown routine against this defender and the other two defenders at the back of the ‘gauntlet’. So the whole idea of this drill was to get all players to ruck by driving the defenders back so that they could keep possession of the ball at the breakdown, and in turn recycle the ball out so that they could gain phases of play and gain further running metres up the field. All players performed this continuously for 15 minutes.

It was all very tiring and hard work because Schalk, the fitness coach, pushed them on with only one to two minute stops between drills; and in the middle of the drills, even the heavily fatiguing players were pushed to keep going until the Schalk blew his whistle to signal the end. When he finally did, he spoke up. What he was about to say would provide temporary relief to most of the hard training canines:

“Alright, team! Grab yourselves a quick drink of water and then we will start on the basic rugby skills. This will only be a five minute break, so get those fluids into you now to avoid dehydration. Go!”

So everyone, panting heavily but still standing, jogged over to the water bottle racks and grabbed a quick drink. As they were drinking, Tramp, Scamp and the Ex-JD’s spoke.

“How are you guys feeling?” Tramp asked in between heavy pants and gulping fresh natural liquid.

“This is worse than when…when we train, ‘kay?” Mooch replied panting. “They are…pushing us even further.”

“Are they…are they going to keep working us until we pass out?” Scratchy seemed to complain, but inside he was really making a little joke. “This is even more…intense than street survival.”

“Yeah, and…and I know that it will take time…to get used to this.” Sparky added. “We all just have to…keep going and build up our endurance levels over time.”

“Don’t worry, boys; we will.” Tramp responded. “Just remember to…to take it one step…at a time. Start off slow…and keep to a reasonably safe pace. Don’t overdo it and…and risk nausea or passing out. That is what happens when you…when you try too hard too early. Once you do it more often…, your bodies will get the hang of it…and you will start to endure better than the first time. You will then be able to quicken the pace…on theses drills. So just remember to take it slow.”

Everyone thought about it as Tramp spoke, and they knew that it was vital to keep this in mind if they were going to get extremely fit. So they nodded to Tramp and confirmed his advice to them.

The whistle then blew again and Reede called them over for the next drill, which was going to consist of the basic skills. Those players who volunteered to play in the backs; including Tramp, Scratchy and Sparky; went over with backs coach, Alistor; and those who volunteered to play in the forwards; including Mooch and Scamp; went over with forwards coach, Caleb.

“Alright, forwards, listen up.” Caleb started as soon as the players gathered around him. “As forwards you have big responsibilities on the field. You will need to be strong in the upper body so you need to carry a little more weight than the backs; because you are going to require strength to push and drive when scrumming, rucking and mauling to keep and gain possession of the ball. You also need to be able to lift your fellow players or receive the ball as the liftee when contesting for the ball in the lineout. Your secondary responsibility will be to run those few extra metres with the ball and break the defensive line while the backs are getting into position and setting up their plays; and you must be able to tackle and counter-ruck to gain possession of the ball when defending. You are some of the key defensemen on the field and you will have to tackle and ruck hard to stop your opponents from gaining metres and advancing up the field towards your own try-line. All clear?”

Most of the forwards team nodded, but others didn’t know whether to answer yes or no because they were newcomers to the game and it would take time to clearly understand what goes on and off the rugby pitch. Caleb seemed to notice