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It is not often you will see a player of the class of Stephen Larkham as the laughing stock amongst the Wallaby squad, but then it is not every day he tries to smuggle contraband into a pre-World Cup boot camp.
Having attempted to smuggle a penknife and headache tablets into the Wallabies boot camp on North Stradbroke Island Larkham was ordered to do twenty minutes of press-ups in front of his highly amused team-mates.
However, he was not the only one caught smuggling contraband into the camp. The instructors carried out a full search on every member of the squad and rumbled hooker Sean Hardman, flanker Rocky Elsom and Larkham's understudy Berrick Barnes.
Barnes, despite being caught, was easily the most creative in his smuggling attempts. He was found with several chocolate bars stashed in the cuff of one of his beanies. Still there was no award for ingenuity and all four players were punished for their crimes.
"Thankfully I wasn't one of those guys but it was quite amusing watching them go through the gear and taking contraband and the guys getting down and doing push-ups for trying to sneak things into the camp," joked towering lock Nathan Sharpe.
"I think the guys were just testing the limits to see what they could get away with and the answer is obviously not much."
So this is what the Wallaby boot camp is all about, a five day military style camp aimed at pushing the players beyond their boundaries, as well as testing their team spirit and resolve.
With less than a month until the World Cup gets underway any thoughts of an easy time were soon thrown out of the window when the boat carrying the players to North Stradbroke was stopped 400 metres short of shore and the players were told to make their own way there.
Despite the presence of water police to monitor any sharks in the area, the players concerns were far from eased as they then endured two testing hikes before finally getting to bed. Although their sleep was not to last for long as in the middle of the night they were woken for another trek and swim.
This time, fully clothed, they swam across a lake with packs in tow. The problem for most of the squad is that they failed to water proof their packs fully leading to a wet time.
"I was just filthy that all my undies were wet and I think most of the boys were the same because our double bagging skills weren't that good," winger Mark Gerrard said.
"But it's just a good change-up. Obviously I don't do this often. Walking up some sand dunes and jumping in the water at one in the morning naked, that is."
When asked about the positives to come from the opening twenty four hours of the five day camp, second row Nathan Sharpe could at least see the funny side of things.
"I've had an hour-and-a-half of sleep. I have been swimming through the night and woke up with frostbite on my toes, so I'm not feeling real positive about anything at the moment," Sharpe said with a wry smile.
"It's definitely out of the ordinary for us. We're not really used to walking through the middle of the night and swimming through lakes in freezing temperatures, so it's not the typical regime for footballers.
"I think the hardest thing is not really knowing what's coming up. We came to this camp not having any idea of what was in store for us and we still don't. So we're pretty much living minute by minute and doing as we're told."
http://sport.iafrica.com/news/344963.htm
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Thats so hardcore haha
