Wallabies captain Rocky Elsom caught up with Kate Waterhouse during camp last week as the 28-year-old and his teammates prepared for last night's opening game in the Tri Nations rugby series against the Springboks. Rocky sees the series as crucial preparation for Australia's World Cup campaign across the ditch in September.
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What do you do during camp in the lead-up to a game?
It's a lot of preparation. Half the time is preparing strategies and the other half is actually training. Everyone thinks you train a lot in a Test week but if you didn't have a game on, you'd train a lot harder because it wouldn't matter if you got tired.
What motivates you?
I think what is always there is that you just really want to win and it's very uncomfortable when you don't. It's something that you care about and if you didn't, then it's time to hang your boots up.
Do you feel a lot of pressure as captain?
I think if you were to gauge how well you were going at any job, it's all in the results. People can hear things and read things in the paper but at the end of the day, the only thing that matters is how well your team goes while you're leading it.
Is there a bit of low morale in camp after you lose a game?
Yes, you can feel the energy changes in the hotel and you can feel the difference in training because you don't always have to run into each other really hard at training. But after a loss, people just tackle you that little bit harder, they run a little bit harder.
Do you have a girlfriend?
Yes. We have been going out for a while but I don't really like to talk about that.
Are WAGs allowed at the hotel during camp?
Yeah, I think there have been a few changes over the years about the way the partners, girlfriends and kids are allowed to be around because for a while there, everyone on the team was married with kids and kids don't really understand when dad has got to go to work. Now it's a little bit more relaxed and [WAGs] can stay but you never really see them around except for the nights after the games. I think they just keep an extremely low profile.
You used to play rugby league. Why did you go back to union?
I got a good opportunity to go back to join the Waratahs and I wanted to because I was low in the pecking order at the Bulldogs.
Are there different perceptions of the two codes off the field?
Yeah, Mat Rogers said in an interview that when he switched to rugby union, blokes would play chess after training. I don't know if he made that up but I think that the big difference, for me, with rugby is there is a lot more strategy with rugby, whereas I feel like rugby league is a lot more physically-based.
WE WENT TO Woollahra Hotel.
WE DRANK Lemon, lime and bitters.
ROCKY WORE Herringbone suit and ROC sunglasses.
