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

The Sunshine Coast

After playing rugby on Saturday we drove up to the Sunshine Coast with our host's parents. The sunshine coast is a premier beach spot on the east coast just north of Brisbane. We got up there just as the sun was setting, and had time to check out the beach and some of the surrounding areas. There were some amazing sights.

The Sunshine Coast is known for having some good surfing too, and you know we wouldn't miss out on that. We surfed for a couple hours, got roughed up a little bit, but still had a lot of fun. We're hoping to find time to make another trip up to the Sunshine Coast ASAP!

Saturday is Rugby Day!

On Saturday GPS had home games starting from early in the morning and running all the way until the early evening. It was a great day for GPS as they won the vast majority of their matches.

Blaze played first at 11:15am against Logan which is a pretty large side comprised mostly of islanders. Blaze played about the last five minutes at wing in the Men's 3rd grade game. He wanted me to make sure i let everyone know that he was disappointed with his limited playing time and his position, but he looks forward to getting more time in the coming weeks! GPS won that match 30-3.

My game was against the Sunshine Coast at 12:30pm for the Premier Colts U20. We got to play on the main pitch in front of the grandstands which was a great experience. I went in for the last 15 minutes at outside center and saw a pretty substantial amount of action both offensively and defensively during that time which made me happy. We won our game roughly 32-22 or something like that (I do not remember the exact score). We sang the victory song on the field at the end of the game which was cool as well.

After our games we stuck around to watch our host, Dave Howard, play in the Men's 1st Grade. They won that game against Logan also. During the game I got to hang out with 3 professional rugby players. The players were Nick Frisbee, Saia Faingaa, and Anthony Faigna. They are all professionals who are contracted by the Queensland Reds. We watched all three of them play against the Lions last week and Nick Frisbee even scored a try. The Faingaa brothers are also both members of Australia's national team, the Wallabies. They all play for GPS whenever it does not conflict with their professional schedules, as GPS is their home club where they have always played. It was incredible to watch a game and hang out with these guys.

These are the Faignaa Twins

This is Nick Frisbee

Overall it was a great day of rugby and we learned a lot!

The Outback!

The first question everyone from back home has asked me so far is: "Have you seen a kangaroo yet?" Well, we checked that one off the bucket list. Jake and I went to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, which is filled with a variety of Australian wildlife. 

This sanctuary had a large area of kangaroos, wallabies, and emus. We were able to roam the large field and feed these animals with virtually no supervision. It was a pretty amazing experience. There's nothing quite like taking a selfie with a kangaroo...

We also had the chance to see dingos, platypuses, crocodiles, native birds/parrots, Tasmanian devils, and koalas. This sanctuary is actually the largest koala sanctuary in the world with over 130 koalas. Jake and I were both lucky enough to cuddle with a koala, especially considering the koala is an endangered species, and most Australians never have the chance to see one in the wild. They are probably the laziest animal known to man, but one of the best huggers.

Rugby Week 1

Hey everybody, just so you know this is Jake writing here. Anyways, a number of people have been asking me rugby related questions about the team we are playing for, the league structure, and the style of play. I am hoping this post will help give you an idea of what our rugby experience has been down here so far.

To start off, the club we are playing for is GPS. GPS's facility is located down the street from where we are staying. It is fully equipped with three full match pitches, locker rooms, administration offices, trainers, and a weight room. Also all three fields have lights for practicing at night.

Just about each club in the league has more than enough team members to fill out nine full teams plus extras. The league has structured the competition into Under 20's play (which I am participating in) and Men's play (which Blaze is participating in). They call the Under 20's age bracket the "Colts" and the Men's age bracket the 'Grades."

For Men's play there are 6 levels, Premier, 1st Grade, 2nd Grade, 3rd Grade, 4th Grade, and 5th Grade.  For Under 20's there is Premier Colts, Colts 1, and Colts 2. Pretty much every new player starts on the lowest level team and works there way up and players move up and down based on performance. You can find the schedules and standings for each team and level here.

The rugby portion of our trip started right when we stepped off the plane. After about 27 hours of travel Dave picked us up from the airport, brought us to his house for breakfast, and then we rushed off to the fields. Blaze went to watch Dave and some of the other Men's grades play (which he reported as some real high level rugby) and I slept walked over to the pitch to play with Colts 2 while severely jet lagged. I laced up my boots as we took on a rival club known as Souths. At 20 minutes into the game I stepped on the field at outside center and played the remaining 60 minutes. At about 60 minutes into the game I moved to inside center and I even played the last 10 minutes at flanker. Our team lost, but I still had a blast. We played a backs oriented style of play and I was able to get the ball in some open space for some running room. The game was about even with about 20 minutes left to play, but some defensive structure issues by GPS led to Souths claiming the victory.

GPS trains on Tuesday and Thursday nights at 6pm. On tuesday I trained with the Colts 1 and the Premier Colts and Blaze made a real impressive jump all the way to Men's 3rd grade which is an extremely high level of rugby. My Tuesday night practice was a heavy contact day where we worked on ball security, pilfering, rucking, and tackling. The entire practice was full, all-out live contact. In America practices are much more reserved because coaches are typically worried about injuring players, however, down under there are more than enough players to go around so the coaches do not worry to much about that, resulting in much more contact. Blaze also had a heavy contact practice where they did a drill called "train-tracks." "Train-tracks" is essentially playing a rugby game of pick and go's down a five meter wide channel over and over again until someone scores. We both were tired and extremely sore after training, but we certainly still enjoyed it. We also got the pleasure of learning that we both would be suiting up Saturday as reserves. I will be a reserve back from the Premier Colts and Blaze will be a reserve back from the Men's Grade 3. The Colts are taking on Sunshine Coast at 12:30pm and the Men will be playing Logan at 11:15am.

The style of play here is definitely much quicker, elusive and generally more advanced. The breakdowns are much cleaner and the running lines by the backs are much more sharp. We are continuing to learn more and more each practice and starting to adjust to the style of play much better. Thursday night's training helped us integrate more with our teams as we ran through plays and ran through some team patterns of play. We are excited about the opportunity to play tomorrow and will try to learn as much as possible.

Discovering Brisbane

The last few days Jake and I traveled around the city of Brisbane and checked out all the cool sights. The house we live in is about a 10 minute bus ride away from the center of the city, very easy and feasible to get to. Brisbane seems to be a small, modern, and growing city.

We had the opportunity to go to Southbank, which is basically a park alongside the Brisbane River. There are biking/walking paths, a small boardwalk, a piazza (a small conert-type venue), and cobblestone shops. However, Jake and I spent most of our time at the Street's Beach which is an artificial beach they built right in the city.

We also drove to the top of Mt. Coot-Tha, a relatively small mountain with a great view of the city. 

Fortunately, Dave found time to take us around the University of Queensland as well. UQ is the most prestigious university in the state of Queensland and is very similar to American colleges. They have classrooms, bookstores, and gyms, but no fat-rabid squirrels running around like they do at Penn State. Instead, they have these little guys... everywhere.

Rainy Days in Brisbane

These last couple days have been unusually rainy, which isn't a bad thing. It was also a holiday here, Australia's version of "Labor Day." Jake and I were able to get over our jet lag, fully move into the house, and go food shopping. Turns out, the food is much more expensive in Australia. We did find time to go to a local butcher and buy some meat in bulk. Including some Kangaroo burgers! They also had some Ox and Lamb tongue, but we weren't so into that.

Since it has been raining the past few days, we have taken advantage of the gym at GPS our local club. It's small and isolated but a great atmosphere to get some work done. Plus, its just a short walk from the house.

My first day in Australia

I'm getting to this blog a bit late, but I have been super busy having fun down under! Anyway, I arrived at the airport in Brisbane, Australia yesterday morning (Saturday) at 7 am where our host, Dave Howard, and his father picked us up. The Howards are a wonderful family that loves rugby and invited us into their home with open arms, serving us a full homemade breakfast.

As it turns out, the rugby songs could not be more spot on. Saturday is truly a rugby day. Jake was able to jump in and play for his age group, even through his jet lag after 23 hours of travel! I traveled down with Dave to the Gold Coast of Australia to watch (and unfortunately not play) the men's side games for GPS, the club we are playing for.

I have quickly discovered how much this country is in love with rugby. There is an unbelievable amount of rugby fields around here. It seems like there is a pitch on every corner, filled with people of all ages playing this great sport. We were lucky enough to arrive on one of the greatest rugby weekends in Brisbane, for the Queensland Reds were hosting the British and Irish Lions that night at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane. Australia, being obsessed with rugby, had all the youth and men's games pushed up earlier in the day to allow everyone to attend/watch this game. So in typical rugby fashion, we rushed home as quickly as possible after the game to start drinking the go-to beer in Queensland, XXXX Gold.

I'm sure many of you do not understand why this rugby match means so much. The British and Irish Lions is a highly selective team of players from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales that has been around for over 100 years. This team goes on tour once every 4 years and travels to the Southern Hemisphere to play New Zealand, South Africa, or Australia. Fortunately for me they are playing Australia this year. In preparation for their 3 match series against the Australian Wallabies they played the Queensland Reds, a professional rugby team out of Brisbane that plays in the Super XV (the most elite professional league in the Southern Hemisphere).

Clearly, I was extremely excited to attend this game, and my expectations were matched. It was a sellout crowd at Suncorp Stadium which seats over 50,000 people. There were over 20,000 people from the U.K. that traveled down with the lions to see these matches. Walking towards the stadium in the middle of a massive crowd was very similar to the feeling of going to an NFL or Penn State football game. It is impossible for me to describe the feeling I got when I first walked into the stadium and could see the field. I was in awe.

This was a superbly humbling experience. Coming out of CRC's where I played in front of a large crowd at PPL park and on national television, I thought I had reached the summit of rugby. As it turns out, I am nowhere close. I was absolutely starstruck watching Quade Cooper throw 30 meter spin passes with the continent of Australia cheering him on. Also, I was lucky enough to witness what will most likely be the try of the year... (click the link below)

Luke Morahan - Try of the Year

Overall, it was an amazing first day.

Welcome to my Blog!

Hello Everybody! I've decided to make a little blog during my trip to Australia this summer. I am blogging primarily to enhance my experience, but please feel free to follow my adventures on here! Thanks you, and please keep in touch!