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.