Final GPS Rugby Match

In our final GPS rugby match in Australia we played Norths. I (Blaze) started for 3^rd grades at wing, and scored 3 tries in our 71 to 14 win. I was also awarded 1 point on the 3 point scale. It was a great game to finish my Australian season on.

Jake started at wing for the premier colts against Norths, which they won 22 – 19. Again, he nearly scored a try that was taken away mistakenly by the referee.

Nevertheless, we loved playing for GPS during our stay here. It is a great club that was extremely welcoming to us.

Straddy Island!

Last weekend we caught a ferry out to North Stradbroke Island, which is a very isolated island right off the coast of Brisbane. Everybody in Australia refers to this island as “Straddy.” Straddy has a very small population. There isn’t even a bridge connecting it to the mainland, the only way to get there is by boat. So, the island is filled with wildlife. In our short time there we saw a massive sea turtle, a ton of dolphins, and a few whales. One whale put on a show for us. It jumped out of the water, smacked it tail, and sprouted out of its blowhole for about 10 minutes right off the beach. The island is also native to many wild kangaroos; we didn’t see one in person but saw a few paw prints on the beach.

There was also a great hike through a gorge, a picturesque hike with views matching the beauty of images in a tourist brochure. We found some time to surf as well. The beaches were enormous and empty; it seemed as if we were surfing in a very secretive surf spot.

This was a terrific short trip for us to take. We stayed at a quiet hostel right on the beach, and it was a wonderful place to get away from the rest of the world.

Wednesday Night Soccer Champions!

As you know, Blaze and I have been joining Tom and Dave in their Wednesday Night Soccer League. Well, last week we won our semifinal game. Out of the six team league we squeaked into the semi-finals as the 4th seed. We took down the 1st seeded team (who Dave and Tom said they have never beaten before). We were down very quickly 3-0 and then 4-1, however, a strong performance by Blaze (1 goal), myself (2 goals), and the rest of the boys resulted in a strong comeback victory for the Raiders (us)!

We ran into a bit of trouble after the game because the other team told the referee that Blaze and I were "ringers" and haven't played the whole season. Luckily, it did not end up mattering and we were able to keep our place in the championship.

This week, the championship, we won our game 6-3. Blaze had three goals and I had three goals. Tom Howard had an extremely strong game in net. He was a brick wall in there. Dave Howard, Andrew Fielding, and McGinnis all had strong games as well helping them win their first premiership in soccer in all their seasons participating in this league (which I am guessing is about 6).

Since we were champions we all won free beer mugs. I was fortunate enough to be awarded the man of the match and got a free shot glass and also a free drink! I chose the mango banana juice of course! Anyway,  Wednesday night soccer has been real fun and we thank the guys for letting us join them!

Away Game Against Wests

Last weekend we had an away game against Wests. Blaze started in the 3rd Grade game on the wing and scored two tries. GPS won the game 39-7. He also got awarded a 1 on the 3,2,1 man of the match scale.

I also started on the wing for the Premier Colts. We won our game 41-0 and I got some good running opportunities on the outside. Overall a great day of rugby for GPS as every team one besides 2nd grade!

Sydney Part 2

After our night in Coogee Beach, we spent our next two nights closer to the city in beautiful Elizabeth Bay with another friend of Morris rugby. We spent our next couple days in Sydney sightseeing in a typical tourist fashion. Jake and I took a 2 hour cruise around the world famous Sydney harbor, which had spectacular views of the Sydney Opera House, the coast line, various marinas, and some very extravagant coastal houses. We also had the chance to walk across the Sydney Harbor bridge, which was amazing as well. After that, we went and met David Knox at the prestigious Riverview High School to watch the New South Wales' All Star Team beat Western Australia's All Star Team at the high school level.

This is the view from the aprartment we stayed in on Elizabeth Bay

Awful picture of us on the ferry

Opera House and Bridge

 View of the City

 Later that night, we checked out the rugby league match between the Sydney Roosters and the Manly Sea Eagles at Allianz Stadium. We were able to watch the match with Jeremy Atkins, who helped coach Delbarton in 2009, the first year of Delbarton rugby. This was an especially intriguing game to watch because we had the chance to see superstar Sonny Bill Williams play for the Roosters. The Roosters ended up winning the match 18-12.

End of Financial Year Celebration

Last Friday marked the end of the financial year in Australia. In celebration the company we are working for, the Right Angle Group, took us out from about 1pm on to celebrate the end of the financial year. We ate some good good food and went out to "the valley" (a pretty busy area with a lot of nightlife outside the city) and enjoyed a good night with the guys we are working with.

This is where we ate - Brisbane's Chinatown

These pictures are from Cloud Land - The place we went to after - pretty cool place

Coogee Beach, Sydney

After our games on Saturday we took a 3 day trip down to Sydney. We planned to get to Sydney in time to watch the Lions vs. Wallabies game at a pub, but our flight was inconviently delayed and we were on the plane for the entirety of the match. Despite this, we managed to still have fun in Sydney on Saturday night. David Knox, a friend of Morris Rugby and former Wallaby, helped us out tremendously and set us up in a hostel on Coogee Beach which is a popular beach suburb just south of Sydney. Downtown Coogee is filled with beach town bars, so we went out and celebrated with the other Aussies on their victory over the British and Irish Lions.

Coogee beach is also known for its beautiful cliffs on the shoreline. The hostel we stayed at is right next to these cliffs, so it made for a great walk and we spent most of our day here.

Saturday's Matches vs. East Tigers

We spent another Saturday playing rugby for the GPS Gallopers!

Jake started at wing for Premier Colts in their game against East where he managed to get sin-binned for repeated infringements. Despite this, Jake played very well, he even had a try incorrectly taken away by the referee. In the end, GPS came up just short losing 15 -12.

I (Blaze) started at flyhalf for the 4th grades team as we played Sunnybank and won 33-17. I then came off the bench for the 2nd grades team to play wing against the East Tigers. I saw a lot of action here and even set up a try to end the game, which we won 23-7. On top of that, I had the chance to play with Tom, our host and old coach. Also, GPS does an individual scoring system where the coaches award 3 different players either 3 points (the best), 2 points, or 1 point at the end of every league game. At the end of the year, GPS totals the points for the entire season and gives out awards based on these points. I was lucky enough to be awarded 1 point for my game against 4th grades.

After we were done playing, we had the opportunity to watch the Premier grades play. At the moment, the Super 15 rugby tournament is on hold for the British and Irish Lions tour. As a result, many of the Super 15 players play for their respected clubs at the premier level. In the game we watched between GPS and East there were many professional rugby players (and ex-Wallabies) on the pitch including Radike Samo and Nick Frisby. In the end, these players made the difference for GPS as Samo and Frisby scored late tries to win the match 38 -32.

Check out a video of Radike Samo playing for the Wallabies here.

On Wednesday at Suncorp Stadium game two of a three game series for the State of Origin was played. The State of Origin is a Rugby League competition where all of the professionals leave their respective pro teams to play for the state they are from. They either play for New South Wales (where Sydney is located) or Queensland (where Brisbane is located). This is pretty much the Super Bowl for Australia. It is a huge game. Queensland traditionally wins the series, however, they fell short in game .

They played really well and the Queensland Maroons won the game 26-6. An article about the game can be found here. We watched the game at a bar right outside the stadium. The atmosphere was amazing and the entire city was out going crazy for Queensland's victory.

We went out after as well and it was pretty awesome. The entire city was celebrating

There was also a pretty intense fight that broke out in the game. You can watch it here.

GPS vs. British Army

Every four years upwards of 30,000 U.K. rugby fans travel to the Southern Hemisphere with the British and Irish Lions to show their support. Many of these fans travel with their local rugby clubs to play in a few games while they are on tour. Jake and I were lucky enough to play with GPS in one of these games against the British Army. Tom Howard (our coach who coached us at Delbarton) also played in the game with us.

Jake started the game at wing, and I started the game at flyhalf. The game went well at first as we had the lead going into halftime, but the British Army won the match in the end. At one point I played 10, Tom played 12, and Jake played 13, which made for quite the backline. Like most rugby tours, each team gave awards to each other after the game, and I was awarded a tie for being the man of the match from the British Army!

Australian Rules Football - Brisbane Lions vs. Geelong Cats

Last Sunday we went to see our first Australian Rules Football game live. It is a pretty cool sport. If you are interested check out some video of it on youtube here.

The game was played at the Gabba. The stadium looks like a colosseum. It was pretty awesome.

The Brisbane Lions won the game 103 to 98. The Lions trailed by 52 points late in the third quarter and came back to win. It was the 8th biggest comeback in AFL history - and the sport has been around for over 150 years! We were really lucky to attend such an incredible game. The stadium went crazy after the win and everyone joined in the victory song. Here is an article about the game if you are interested.

British Lions vs. Australia Wallabies Game 1

Last Saturday we were lucky enough to come up with tickets to watch the British Lions take on the Wallabies.

It was an incredible game, the first of three games the two teams will play against each other. The Lions won the game 23-21. The Wallabies had a chance to win it on a game winning penalty goal, however, Kurtley Beale lost his footing while he was attempting the kick and fell. A player who was on the bench for the Wallabies, Saia Faingaa, is a GPS player who we had hung out with a week before at the GPS fields. Unfortunately he did not get in that game, however, we are sure he will get more playing time in the future! Our seats were pretty good and it was an incredible atmosphere. Just under 56,000 people were in the sold out stadium - the highest number of people to ever fit inside Suncorp Stadium.

After the game we took a picture with the statue of Wally Lewis - the great Rugby League player.

The road that runs by the stadium, Caxton Street, was closed down for the night. After the game everyone fled to the bars and the Lions fans - all 30,000 of them - were celebrating. 

We went to a couple of cool places in town as well, and ended our night at a club called Friday's. At Friday's we ran into a number of different Super Fifteen players. I talked with Queensland Reds' Lock David McDuling for a bit as well as some other Reds' players. We also hung out with Nigel Genia who plays for the Western Force. His brother, Will Genia, was the scrumhalf for the Wallabies that night. We also ran into Quade Cooper as well, which was certainly a highlight. 

Overall it was an incredible night - definitely one of the greatest memories of our trip so far!

GPS Pre-Test Luncheon

I guess we've had too much fun and have not kept up with the blog posts. Don't worry! We will catch everybody up on our time in Brisbane.

As most of you know, the first match of the British and Irish Lions Series against the Wallabies was last Saturday. The GPS rugby club, hosted a luncheon as a fundraiser the day before the match (Friday) that was filled with entertainment. There was an auction, a comedian, and a panel of guest speakers that have played for the British and Irish Lions. There was one speaker from each representing country: Andy Nichols (Scotland), Lewis Moody (England), Rob Henderson (Ireland), and Shane Williams (Wales) .

Shane Williams

It was amazing to hear the stories from these players. Each of them explained how they would prepare for for the Lions tour and shared some funny off the field stories. The Australian comediean (Vince Sorrenti) was very funny as well, unsurprisingly making some jokes about America. Afterwards, we had the chance to go out with the GPS rugby boys in Brisbane, which is obviously a great time as well.

One Big Happy Family!

Top Row (From Left to Right): Dave Howard, Chris Conway, Katherine Conway, Jake Feury
Back Row (From Left to Right): Blaze Feury, Margo Howard, Jake Howard, Kelly Tam, Tom Howard


I think it is finally time that I let you guys in on who we are actually living with, because they are some pretty awesome people.

To start off, the house is owned by Jake and Margo Howard, however they do not live there anymore as they rent it out to their children. They now live at the Sunshine Coast, and it is their house that we stayed in last weekend. Jake Howard played for the Austrialian National Rugby Team (the Wallabies). Jake played prop for the Wallabies and even was able to play the British Lions when they came on tour. He also was the Wallabies forwards coah in 1991 when they won the World Cup. Beyond that, the was on the Australian National Rowing Team as well.

Margo Howard is a very experienced and successful rugby coach as well and at all different levels and all over the world. She comes from a great rugby family as well. Margo Howard's father, Cyril Towers, made 57 appearances for the Wallabies. He also captained the team three times in 1937.

Jake and Margo have 4 children, Pat, Katherine, Tom and Dave (Tom and Dave are twins).

Pat was also a very successful rugby player. He started his professional career when he was picked up by the Queensland Reds (that is the team we watched play last week) and later moved to the Brumbies (who just beat the British Lions 14-12 the other night). He played for the Wallabies from 1993-1997 at inside center and fly half. He also was a player-coach over in England for Leicester as well. We saw Pat back in the states about a year ago when he was visiting the NYC area and we met up with him on our very first day in Australia when he was getting his kids ready for a game at GPS. He is now second in command in the Austrialian Cricket Administration.

Katherine is also a rugby coach for one of the school teams over here that she teaches at. She was nice enough to bring us to the Sanctuary last week where we saw the Koalas and Kangaroos!

Tom Howard coached us for a full season at Delbarton in 2010 when I was a sophomore and Blaze was a senior. He was incredibly valuable to the program as Delbarton had one of the most successful seasons ever that year. He is a top notch athlete who has played Premier Grade for GPS at flyhalf and also participates in Australian Rules Football. His girlfriend, Kelly, also lives here and makes some of the best soup I have ever had.

Dave Howard made an appearance at a Delbarton Rugby practice as well in 2010. We also met up with him and his girlfriend, Katherine, in NYC for the NY Sevens once. Dave is also a Premier Grade Prop for GPS.

Dave's girlfriend Katherine, who also lives at the house, plays rugby for the University of Queensland. She has taught us quite a bit about Rugby League, Australian Rules Football, and Rugby during our time here.

Katherine's brother Chris also lives here. Chris is an extremely talented surfer and he took us our surfing when we were on the Sunshine Coast.

Lastly, currently right now we have another guest other than ourselves at the house, David Campese. David was capped for Australia 101 times and held the world record for most tries in test matches (64) until 2006. He and the Wallabies won the World Cup in 1991 and he was voted player of the tournament. He is known for inventing the "goose step" which has become a world-wide phenomenon and is now known as the "Campese Step." He has played professional rugby for a number of years all over the world and was inducted into the Australian Rugby Hall of Fame in 2007. He is definitely one of the best players who ever played. He also is a great cook, as he made us a wonderful chicken stroganoff dinner last night. We also played indoor soccer with him at a weekly indoor league right after dinner as well! We lost six to four, but put out a great effort! Chris, Tom, David, Blaze, and I all played (Tom and David both had goals and I added two, but more importantly I definitely had the coolest celebrations including the dead fish)! But anyways, it has been incredible to hangout with Campo.

As you can see we are very lucky to have this wonderful group of people welcome us into their home and their life for these 6 weeks. They are doing it out of the goodness of their heart and make us feel so welcome and comfortable during our time here. We cannot thank them enough and hope they come visit us in America sometime! But for now, we will continue to enjoy our time here and Australia and try to learn as much as possible during the rest of our stay!

First Week of Work

Jake and I started our internship at the Right Angle Group this week. The Right Angle Group primarily deals with Commericial property or construction finance. Basically, they help their clients obtain loans from the bank efficiently and in an affordable manner.

Working for the Right Angle Group has been a very pleasant experience thus far. We have typical internship tasks such as data entry, delivering mail, and getting coffee. However, the employees at the office are also teaching us about the work they are currently doing. Interestingly, there are only guys in this office, so it makes for a very laid back and boisterous atmosphere. Plus, the office is located in a brand new skyscraper in downtown Brisbane, which makes for a tremendous view.

 

 

 

 

Practice #3

Tuesday night's practice was quite different for both Blaze and myself. My team did the same brutal tackling, poaching, and rucking drills that we did in our first practice. It was live, full contact the entire time. Pretty rough drill. Then we followed it by doing sprints with running backwards and hitting the ground and getting back up in between for about 35 minutes! It was a rough night for my team. Our end of practice conditioninng went so long that our host, Dave, and Blaze drove home without me because they didn't feel like waiting for my team to finish (that is how long we went)! I ended up catching a ride home with one of the other boys. When I returned to the house I asked Blaze how his practice was and he responded, "I did not break a sweat during practice, but I scored two tries in touch!" Meanwhile, I was standing there drenched in sweat and mud with a black eye feeling tired as could be! Anyways, practice was still good and we both had fun. We will keep you updated with how our rugby experience is going.

Brisbane Broncos - Rugby League

On Monday night Blaze, Austin (Another American visiting from Denver who also is playing for GPS), and I went to watch a live rugby league match at Suncorp Stadium. The Brisbane Broncos beat the West Tigers from West Sydney 32-2. West Sydney had my favorite league player, Benji Marshall, playing for them which was definitely exciting. Despite Benji playing for the Tigers, I was still rooting for Brisbane! Check out Benji Marshall's highlights of his incredible step here and just some of his beautiful play here if you are interested.

Benji Marshall #6