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I always like hearing from the boys directly, so I thought you guys might find this interesting as well
Sidey's Samoan Tour Diary
By RugbyWA Media
If you want to keep up to date with everything happening on the Emirates Western Force’s two-match tour of Samoa, then you’ve come to the right place. Hard working back Rory Sidey will give you his take of the action both on and off the field!
With a massive -19 hour time difference between Samoa and Perth, there is more than just an impressive Samoan Test team, who are in final preparations ahead of their tilt at the Rugby World Cup, that the Emirates Western Force players will have to contend with.
Wednesday 18 August 2011
When we finally touched down at Samoa’s International Airport there were more than a few tired eyes. The gruelling trip had taken 19 hours from door to door and coming through the gates at 6am the same morning as we departed was hard to fathom for some.
There were plenty of in depth conversations going on trying to explain that the time was actually now before most of us had gotten out of bed in Perth to begin this journey. We got to live Wednesday 17th August twice - it was our very own Groundhog Day!
The bus trip from the Airport took us along the northern coast of Upolu and gave the majority of the group their first look at Samoan life. The most noticeable was the fact that there seemed to be more prayer shelters and churches than actual homes.
The humility of the Samoan people was immediately shown as we were greeted warmly not only by the staff at our hotel but also by the smiles, waves and greetings from passers-by as our bus made its way from the airport to hotel.
After a good recovery session in the hotel pool, and a much needed power nap in the middle of the day, we were off to our first training session. It was only a light session due to the long travel hours but it allowed us to keep building on our knowledge and gelling as a team with plenty of few new faces in the squad.
Most importantly though you could see the enthusiasm and excitement around the boys as the time comes closer to playing against the Samoan Test team. It will be a great opportunity to play a very good side and after their win against the Wallabies we certinaly know what they’re capable of.
It is a young team that has travelled to Samoa with the average age of the group just 23. There is always one unfortunate young pup that has to look after the team mascot for the entirety of the trip with severe penalties handed out when it is misplaced.
On this trip, the honour has gone to Paulie (Paul Alo Emile) who by default is the youngest player at 19 years of age. Kyle Godwin is actually younger but as he won’t play in the games as he continues to recover from injury he was ineligible for the duty.
Paulie has been giving a teddy bear with a striking resemblance to himself, and a stuffed black swan that has to be with him at all times. I do have to say that I feel sorry for the youngster, we have only been in Samoa for one day and he has already misplaced the mascots four times.
This is quite often due to the assistance of Alfie Mafi who it seems has made it one of his own tour tasks to try to steal the mascots and hide them whenever he can. However if Paulie isn't careful and he continues to misplace the bear and swan he might find himself walking down the high street of Apia in nothing but a Muumuu and a straw hat.