Connacht skipper John Muldoon will be keeping fans updated on the Irish tour Down Under this summer. Here’s the first of his letters from New Zealand ……
We didn’t have any time to dwell on the outcome of the Baabaa’s match on Friday night as we had to get ourselves into travel mode for the long journey to New Zealand.
With an early wake up call 4.30am there were some tired heads on the bus.
Three flights later we arrived in Auckland at midnight on Sunday. Needless to say, there were some very grouchy and odour-fuelled bodies.
As usual Fogs (John Fogarty) was the worst but as we know from his time in Connacht, it doesn’t require three long flights halfway round the world for him to make an impact in this regard.
My room mate is Niall Ronan from Munster. I've known Niall for a long time as we played Irish u18 together, which now seems like a very long time ago.
We trained twice Monday which I must admit was tough going. The legs and mind were still suffering a lot from jetlag.
While in the gym I met an Irish man, his family were from Connemara, with a good west Galway name Joyce.
The rest of Monday was a write-off. The biggest battle was trying not to sleep after dinner. I managed to stay awake until bedtime and I woke up Tuesday morning feeling like a new person after a great night’s sleep.
Niall had to go for a walk around 3.30am as he didn’t fight the urge to sleep at 9’o’clock and he spent a while ceiling-watching during the night.
The Tuesday morning of a match week is always strange as you are really trying to avoid Deccie (Declan Kidney) like the plague. If Deccie
comes talkin to ya that means bad news.
I'm not quick over the ground by any means but I made sure to stay well away. Thankfully when the team was named in our meeting both Sean and myself managed to get starting places!!
Obviously it's going be a special occasion and it's also very nice to have a fellow Connacht player there stuck in it too.
At this stage Saturday can't come quick enough. But our travel isn't done yet as we fly on Thursday to New Plymouth.
It’s been fairly hectic since we arrived here and we haven’t had much time to see the place or get up to much.
But Gavin, Sean and myself are to meet up with a familiar face from home in Troy Nathan and his lovely girlfriend Eimear.
No pressure Troy but you never stop talking about how good it is so you better have a good day planned!!! We've a lot to see in a couple of hours!
I’ll let you know later whether or not Troy has a future as a travel guide …… |
