On Tour with the 2011 Kiwis

On Tour with the 2011 Kiwis

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 15

After breakfast, players were strapped in preparation for the final field session before Sunday’s Billy Kelly Cup Test against the Kangaroos. All players had a video session before the kickers and catchers (fullback, wingers, centres, halves and hookers) headed to Ausgrid Stadium with assistant coach Tony Iro . They had a session on the field first before the rest of the squad arrived for an intensive last team run starting just before 11.00. Players did some extras afterwards, including Benji Marshall who had a goal kicking session. After ice baths, lunch followed outside at the hotel while there was the customary pre-match media conference for Marshall and coach Stephen Kearney . Rest was on the programme for the players in the afternoon ahead of a special Test dinner when both the Kiwis and the Junior Kiwis joined together ahead of their internationals against the Kangaroos and the Junior Kangaroos. In the room at the same time were a total of 40 of New Zealand rugby league’s current elite talent at both the senior and under-20 levels. If the special occasion brought together New Zealand ’s present and future, it also had a strong flavour of the past. The guest speaker was long-time Kiwi back rower David Kidwell (Kiwi No 679), who played 24 Tests from 1999-2008 and is now in his second year as Junior Kiwi coach. At the top table with him were fellow former Kiwis Stephen Kearney (Kiwi No 640), Tony Kemp (606), Tony Iro (607) and Ruben Wiki (655) while two other ex-Kiwis from the Junior Kiwis’ staff were also present – Mark Horo (603) and David Lomax (652). Playing in Newcastle had significance for both Kearney and Kidwell. Now coaching the two national teams, they each played their last Tests there, Kearney his 45th in the 2004 international against Australia and Kidwell his 24th Test in the Kiwis’ pool game against England during the 2008 Rugby League World Cup. Kidwell handed the Test jerseys out to the Kiwi players. In turn, the senior players presented their Junior Kiwi counterparts with their jerseys (fullback Kevin Locke, for instance, giving Junior Kiwi fullback Omar Slaimankhel his jersey and so on). The most experienced player in the Kiwi squad Simon Mannering made special presentations to the players who had come into a Kiwi camp for the first time (Kalifa Faifai Loa, Bill Tupou, Elijah Taylor, Russell Packer and Kevin Proctor).

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 16

The squad players not involved in the Test had a weights session at 9.00am while the Test players had breakfast at their leisure. At 10.30 all players were on the bus for a team activity, an optional ocean swim. Hydration testing followed at 11.00 followed by lunch from 11.30. Most players tried to rest up while others caught up with family and friends who visited the hotel after travelling from New Zealand or other parts of Australia . After gathering in the team room at 1.35pm, the players and staff were on the bus five minutes later headed for the ground. The dressing room had been set up earlier in the morning with individual photos in each player’s cubicle and various posters put up around the room to provide a Kiwi feel. Most of the players went out onto the ground to take in some of the action as the Junior Kiwis went on to beat the Junior Kangaroos 28-16 in the curtain-raiser. The countdown was on for the warm-up. Players got kitted up, strapped and went about their individual preparation, most of them with headphones on listening to varied choices of music. At 3.30 they headed out for a 30-minute warm-up. After returning to the dressing room it was time – time for the national anthems, the Kiwis performing the haka and the battle, one which turned into a huge disappointment for the Kiwis. In front of a record crowd celebrating Darren Lockyer’s final match on Australian soil, the Kiwis never settled and slumped to a 6-42 defeat. At the post-match media conference Stephen Kearney and Benji Marshall labelled the performance unacceptable. Players did media interviews in the dressing room while others did telephone interviews with media outlets in New Zealand . Back at the hotel, Kearney addressed the team before players and staff joined family and friends for dinner. As it would be four days before the Kiwis left for the Four Nations in England , some Sydney-based players left the camp to drive back home.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 17

Moving day again. With most of the team’s gear being freighted by van back to Sydney, the players and staff still in Newcastle departed by bus at 11.00am. The new base for the few players and staff left in camp was the Swiss Grand Hotel at Bondi Beach . Some players flew out later in the day for Brisbane , Melbourne or Auckland while the remaining seven and some staff stayed in Sydney for time off before flying to England . News came through later in the day that prop Russell Packer, who made his debut the previous day, faced a one-match suspension after being charged with a striking offence following a tackle on Australian captain Darren Lockyer.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18

An extras session was run by assistant coach Tony Iro for players who were staying at Bondi Beach . The other players had training programmes to follow while they were at home before reassembling with the team on Thursday. After their session the Bondi-based players had the rest of the day to themselves. A decision was reached not to contest the charge handed down to Packer, meaning he would miss the opening match of the Four Nations against Australia in Warrington on October 28. Three of the staff including team manager Tony Kemp flew out of Sydney on a 9.40pm Malaysia Airlines flight, taking more than 1000kg of team gear with them. They faced a seven-hour stopover in Kuala Lumpur en route before arriving in England .

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 19

The Bondi-based players trained again with Iro before having the rest of the day off. Players who had flown home to Melbourne , Brisbane and Auckland returned to Sydney later in the day to rejoin the rest of the team at the Swiss Grand Hotel.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20

The Kiwis’ advance party arrived in England on schedule on MH004, their flight landing at 4.15pm on Wednesday local time (4.15am Thursday NZ time). Kemp stayed in London to run checks over facilities for the Kiwis’ stay there for their second Four Nations match against Wales while staffers Laurie Hale and Richard Becht immediately drove to Liverpool , following a van carrying the team’s baggage. They reached their destination at 10.00pm, some 34 hours after leaving Sydney . In a sign of things to come, the outside temperature dropped as low as three degrees at one stage during the four-hour journey to Liverpool while observations showed petrol prices were the equivalent of almost $NZ3.00 a litre and food on the run was anything but cheap. Back in Sydney , Iro had the players up for more training on a day when the remaining 29 people in the travel party – 22 players and seven staff – would leave on separate Malaysia Airlines flights. The first group left at 3.00pm comprising three staff and 13 players (Simon Mannering, Kevin Locke, Russell Packer, Ben Matulino, Lewis Brown, Elijah Taylor, Bill Tupou, Kalifa Faifai Loa, Alex Glenn, Gerard Beale, Adam Blair, Sika Manu and Kevin Proctor). The second group departed on MH004 at 9.40pm, coach Stephen Kearney and three staff accompanied by Benji Marshall, Jason Nightingale, Kieran Foran, Fuifui Moimoi, Sam McKendry, Jeremy Smith, Issac Luke, Nathan Fien and Jared Waerea-Hargreaves. In Liverpool, Hale and Becht met local authorities for lunch at Anfield followed by a private guided tour of the stadium before being shown the team’s training facilities – Wyncote Sports Ground at Liverpool University (field), Lifestyle Everton Park (pool) and John Moore University (weights).

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21

The Kiwis’ 2011 tour party began to take shape again, the first group of players arriving at the Hilton in Liverpool in time for lunch with the rest arriving late on Friday night. Also joining the squad was the 23rd player Thomas Leuluai from the Wigan Warriors, the team’s most experienced players with 27 Tests. The Kiwis’ base until October 30 is right across the road from the Albert Dock development, Liverpool ’s most visited attraction which includes The Beatles Story among its features.

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