The 2016 Buildcorp NRC kicked off last weekend, and to help build the following and profile of the competition, the Rugby Union Players’ Association (RUPA) has engaged a blogger from each of the eight teams to write for the RUPA website on multiple occasions throughout the season.
This week we’ve already heard from NSW Country Eagles centre David Horwitz and next up to write for the site is Melbourne Rising lock Steve Cummins.
24-year-old Cummins is turning out for the Rising for the second straight year in 2016, having moved to Melbourne ahead of the 2015 Super Rugby season to join the Rebels. This followed a stint in South Africa’s Currie Cup, while Cummins has also Captained Australia at Schoolboys level and played for his country at the U20 World Rugby Championships.
Ahead of the Rising’s first home round game of the season against Queensland Country this Sunday at Harlequin Rugby Club, Cummins sheds light on the experience of travelling West to play after last week’s match in Perth, his personal game preparation routine, and how his side has gelled as a unit despite a short preparation time for the Buildcorp NRC.
Steve Cummins: In His Own Words
Although we played in Perth last week, it’s no excuse for our loss against Spirit. As far as domestic NRC road trips go, heading to Perth is definitely our longest and obviously with the time zone, it does take a little bit of getting used to.
In saying that, the reality is that the time zone is only a two-hour difference and when we played on the weekend, we kicked off at 11am Perth so it felt like it was 1pm to us; it had no bearing on the result, with the Spirit too strong on the day in the end. In a sense, I actually don’t mind the travel at all and I don’t think it’s such a bad trip.
Being on tour together is always interesting, because whether it’s Super Rugby or the NRC the management usually decide to mix up our roommates. Last week, I roomed with young backrower Rob Leota; he’s an up and coming star and I really do think he’s going to be something special.
The thought process among the roommates in Round One was behind pairing a slightly more experienced guy with a younger player. Rob was a good roommate, and he’s an experienced traveller; he was away a couple times this year with the Australian U20s and he didn’t need my help with anything at all!
I don’t think who you room with necessarily affects your preparation too much. When you find out who you’re rooming with, you’ll generally have a quick conversation to see what you both like and dislike, and how you can work around that. Some guys like to sleep early, some guys like to sleep late, some guys like a lot of sleep on game day while others like to be up and about doing things. I’ve never had any issues with a roommate, and I think it’s just about being conscious of doing what you’re used to doing but also bearing in mind that they might have a certain style or preparation.
For me personally, when it comes to game day I’m pretty relaxed. I like getting up as early as possible, heading out and going for a walk to get the legs ticking over and clear my mind a little bit. I like to spend time with other guys in the team so we’ll grab a coffee in the morning, or sit downstairs and just chat; usually about anything and everything apart from footy!
As the game starts to get a bit closer, I start focusing on getting some food in my stomach, and start to amp things up as I get closer to the match. If I am at home I will usually have pancakes on the day of the match, but in general I’m not too worried about how I fuel up on game day. A lot of guys like to make sure that they get lots of carbs the night before; Ben Meehan, for example, is big on a pizza/past night and went out for that in Perth last weekend.
Playing for the Melbourne Rising in the NRC is a great experience, because we have a real mix of full-time Rebels players and non-contracted players in the team. We’ve gelled really well in such a short space of time, and (Head Coach) Zane Hilton should take a lot of credit for helping us get to know one another.
I have so much respect for the non-contracted players, and they add so much to the team. For them to be giving up both their time and also a financial component by missing work to travel is outstanding, and the best thing is that we have some really talented guys who add to our team on the field amongst the non-contracted players.
Taiso Silafai-Leaana played with us last year and is back again, and he is not out of place at all in this environment, while I’ve played with young Ah-Mu Tuimalealifano at Harlequin this year; he was another Aussie U20’s rep, and he’s added a lot to the group.
Hooker Jordy Uelese, who’s just been signed by the Rebels for next season, has just come through the junior system and the NRC gives him the chance to take that next step before he joins us full time for pre-season. These young guys culturally fit in really well and all bring their own personality and skillset on the field, so there’s definitely no divide between the full time guys and those guys coming into the squad.
It’s definitely good to know that we’re playing at home this week though, and at the mighty Harlequin Rugby Club too! For myself, ‘Quins is almost like a home away from home as that’s where I play my Club Rugby and I’ve spent quite a few weekends there over the past couple of years. We also played an NRC game there last year, have played a couple of Rebels trial games there and have done some NRC training there, so we’re all familiar with it.
Queensland Country are our opponents this week, and like us they’re looking for the first win which I’m sure means we’ll be in for another tough game. I expect that they’ll give us a red hot go; we played them on the Gold Coast in Round One at the beginning of last year and snuck away with a tight win in the end, but we’re aware they present a massive challenge this week.
We’re all really looking forward to ripping in, and hopefully we’ll have a strong and loud home crowd to help give us the advantage we need!
2016 Buildcorp NRC, Round Two (all times local):
- Sydney Rays vs. Perth Spirit, 6:30pm Friday September 2nd, North Sydney Ova
- Brisbane City vs. Western Sydney Rams, Saturday September 3rd, Ballymore, Brisbane (live on FOX Sports)
- Melbourne Rising vs. QLD Country, Sunday September 4th, Harlequin Rugby Club, Melbourne
- UC Vikings vs. NSW Country Eagles, Sunday September 4th, Viking Park, Canberra (live on FOX Sports)
