Tackled and trampled - but still smiling after training with the Linwood Bulls

Sports journo and footballer Sam Coughlan has been punched while trying out boxing, pummelled at rugby league training and avoided embarrassing himself at a Christchurch United football practice. This week he reports on his visit to Linfield Park to train with Metro rugby champions Linwood Bulls.

I thought my previous experience training with the Hornby Panthers would prepare me for another oval-ball code. 

I was wrong.

• Pummelled by the Panthers
• 'Some pretty hefty punches'
• And now the beautiful game

Even though it was a slightly lighter training session for the Bulls,  I was still left battered, bruised and exhausted, but somehow feeling good.

We split into groups of nine or 10, with a mix of premier and colts players plus one very average reporter, and rotate around a series of skill stations.

Station one was a simple three-on-two passing drill designed to put a player into a gap, with little defending. 

I can run, catch and pass so I didn’t have much difficulty until we hit station two – securing a newly-formed ruck.

Here, one player ran the ball into three defenders holding tackle bags, while two teammates ran in support.

I began with holding the tackle bags, trying to provide an obstacle for the support players, and got an immediate taste of the sheer power of these guys – forced back like I’m not even there and stumbling to the ground.

I didn’t plant my feet properly, but honestly, it wouldn’t have made a difference.

To add injury to insult, one burly colts players who was cleaning me out stepped hard on my foot – metal studs and all. I can already tell it’s going to hurt tomorrow.

Next, it’s station three which every player dreads. Fitness.

I squared off against premier halfback Ben O’Donovan, trying to wrestle each other onto our backs from a kneeling position. Unsurprisingly, I was flipped more than once.

We do that in between sets of army crawls, a mini-bronco, and ‘down-ups’ – running to a point, then turning and lying flat on the ground before getting up again and running back to the start to repeat the dose.

It was relentless with no breaks and by the end, I was clinging to my base fitness just to keep going.

Unfortunately, two stations still remained.

At station four we focus on lower tackling heights, alternating between an attacker jogging into a kneeling defender, or defender tackling a stationary attacker.

Finally, at station five it was back to contact work – one player takes the ball into contact with his team-mates cleaning out and securing possession.

Over the 90-minute session, there was a lot to absorb – tackle technique, body position, ball security – all complicated by the fact my only previous rugby experience was a single season at primary school, aged nine.

Still, I caught a glimpse team’s unity and the brotherhood that fuels the Linwood Bulls.

We wrap up the session with a few claps and a raucous chant of “Bulls, baby!” 

It was a fitting end to a brutal but memorable experience.

• Next week, Coughlan is hoping for less pain when he hits the netball court to train with Technical A