No mercy for 7s players

Samoa Sevens’ squad for Hong Kong, were pushed to the limit yesterday during training at Maninoa Beach, Siumu.

Galumalemana Rudolph Moors spared no one, or gave any player any special treatment.

It was an hour and a half training session where boys were turned into men, and men were turned into warriors.

And with Galumalemana calling the shots, the team were left half-dead with aching muscles and gasping for breathe, as their strength and endurance was put to the ultimate test ahead of the Hong Kong Sevens at the end of the month.

And the hot sun and sand didn’t help either.

Galumalemana made it clear earlier in the week that he planned to push the players to the limit. He wasn’t lying.

The players underwent intense strength training, starting off with players carrying two 20kg sand bags above their heads, jogging a 100m set course for no more than seven minutes.

The players managed to survive that, well just, really.

A two minute break was then given, for the payers to down water and stretch back up again.

And then the big sand bags came out. The players had to jog half the course carrying a 30 to 40kg sand bag above their heads, and then jogging the rest, for another seven minutes.

The players began to fatigue, especially Uale Mai, Simaika Mika, Mikaele Pesamino, Alapasa Cordtz and Lolo Lui.

The look on their faces looked as if they were crying for help.

Alatasi Tupou sarcastically made his thoughts known to Galumalemana, as every time he crossed his path carrying a sand bag, he would moan, “I love you coach.”

Galumalemana would just smile, as the worst was still to come.

With only 20 minutes into training, the players looked dead. But Galumalemana pushed them further.

He repeated the first session watching as players began to drop like flies.

Their original pace was gone. All that was left was pure determination to continue on.

They did just that, especially with Manu Samoa legend Brian Lima joining the training sessions.

Other sessions saw the players carrying sand bags to set markers, back and forth to test stamina, dragging 40kg sand bags, as well as jerking logs.

Mika struggled to cope as he continued to throw himself into the water to catch his breath.

Tourists walked by saying to Galumalemana, “So now I know how you guys beat England. They don’t do anything like this back home.”

Galumalemana returned the compliment with a small grin. And then his mind was quickly switched back to training. He meant business.

The players began to beg for mercy, Galumalemana shouted, “No mercy”.

When the Observer Sports finally had a chance to speak with Galumalemana, he said the training has served its purpose.

“What the training what about, what testing how far the players would go.

“It’s like see how far they would go to win. In this training, they endured pain, tiredness, aching, saw hands and saw bodies.

“Now in a real game, these players need to be used to this, it will make a big difference.

“So what we did was set up a training that would test their strength and stamina.

“I am impressed with the players. They did very well.

“I feel the team is ready for Hong Kong now,” Galumalemana said.

“I would also like to thank the Samoa Rugby Union for allowing us to train here at Maninoa. It is great for training.”

The team heads for Hong Kong next weekend.