The team room is a rugby team’s sacred place on tour, an inner sanctum for players and staff only.
A glimpse inside is rare. It is where a team percolates and builds in strength.
Today, we take a momentary peek inside as we continue our Reds Tour Diary in the build-up to Monday’s clash against the Saitama Panasonic Wild Knights in Kumagaya.
Day Six: Tuesday, October 29
You can't begin to spill blood, scramble desperately in defence together and fight for the bloke beside you if you're strangers.
Building a good team is far more than passing, running and tackle tech. Ample time is spend deepening the connections between players and the relationships with their coaches. Some players might never have met before this season but you'd now rely on that sweat-soaked jersey beside you in the 80th minute of a tight game.
In the team room, there's a daily meeting to sort logistics, discuss match strategy, build those team bonds and much more.
Jeffery Toomaga-Allen, the seasoned former All Black who has invested so willingly into strengthening the bonds of this team, got to his feet to speak at a team meeting on tour.
Who does he play for? Who fuels his motor to keep striving after more than a decade of top rugby around the world?
His wife and two kids.
He puts the words together eloquently. He explains how it was his wife Margaret who believed in him when it mattered most as an unknown in New Zealand. She had the stop watch in the rain urging him to fitness goals when the weather was dire. He wouldn't have reached his heights or been still playing today but for her.
Sharing something of yourself makes a team stronger.
Day Seven, Wednesday, October 30
Touring life can be disorientating.
Changes in time zone, extended darkness in the mornings and hotel beds can play havoc with different sleeping patterns.
Assistant coach Brad Davis is meticulous about his detail.
When he stirred early to his alarm in his small Kumagaya hotel room, with its single window, he knew it was time to start the working day.
He got dressed, open his room door and headed for the lift.
Only trouble was the corridor was silent.
It seems he only dreamt his alarm went off so he certainly got an early start…it was 2:30am.
It reminds us of a classic tale when a trip was staged to Japan in 1996 for pre-planning and interviews ahead of the Ballymore 10s.
Channel Seven sportscaster Peter Meares woke in the middle of the night in his hotel after a welcome evening in Kobe.
After using the bathroom, the disorientated Meares failed to take the left turn to his bed and instead took a right and found himself standing in the hotel corridor.
It might have been easy enough to regroup except he was nude and his roomie just wouldn’t wake to a desperate hammering on the door.
He dressed himself in the only fabric available…a doily, small, that sat under a lamp on the hallway table.
He headed to the lift and reception.
Picture this…our intrepid news man trying to explain to a 20-something Japanese girl, who didn’t speak a word of English, why he was totally nude at 3am and needing to re-enter his room.
Talk about “Lost in Translation.”
