5 February 2006
Northampton Saints centre Andy Vilk gives his diary from Wellington where he is with the England Sevens team.

“It has been quite an up and down week here in Wellington.  It took some time to get over the journey, which was over 30 hours, and the jetlag, and every single player was gutted to lose to France on Saturday.  We had been training really well all week and gelled quickly as a squad, but just made a couple of errors on the pitch against a strong French team which meant we were knocked out of the Cup competition in the quarter finals. 

The disappointment will linger with the players all week and we are glad we have a chance to put things right next weekend in LA.  We won the Plate Final against the Argentineans but it still didn’t make up for the disappointment of losing.  It was important to win the Plate as we need all the points on offer to ensure we stay as close as possible to Fiji who are top of the series table.   However, none of the boys felt like celebrating and I found it hard to smile for the cameras at the presentation.   It was a very quiet night after the tournament ended and I think everyone is just keen to get to LA and put this tournament behind us.

The more enjoyable times of the week were spending time with the players and getting to know the new boys – Danny Care, Dave Seymour and David Strettle.  I am rooming with Nils Mordt of London Irish who I get on really well with so we have a lot of banter.  I know New Zealand quite well as I spent my gap year working in the North Island, so I enjoy coming back here, even if the jet lag is pretty bad!

It is a fairly unique place to play as the crowd are so vocal.  I really enjoy playing in front of so many people (30,000) and the crowd are fairly hostile towards England. However, even if they aren’t cheering for you, they are still creating a fantastic atmosphere which makes it good fun to play in.  I earned my first cap here last year and at 24, I am now considered one of the older members of the squad which feels strange!  Last year I was the new boy but a large number of the senior, experienced players like Pat Sanderson and Pete Richards have progressed to the senior England side, which means the likes of me and Mathew Tait are called upon for advice occasionally!  We all learn from each other which is good.

Today was our day off from training as it was the day after the tournament. We had a pool recovery session this morning and walked back from the gym through town. Ollie Phillips from Newcastle is a bit of a joker and decided to walk back to the hotel through town without his t shirt on.  For some reason he had shaved his chest and wanted to show it off to the residents of Wellington!

I did a bit of shopping before spending the rest of the day relaxing and sleeping.  We have a final training session in the morning before flying to LA tomorrow afternoon.  The weather has been quite hot so it is really important that we drink loads of water to stay hydrated. With the long flight to LA tomorrow I tried to drink more water today than normal to compensate for being dehydrated on the plane.

I am looking forward to going to LA and putting the wrong right. Playing well and winning next weekend is so important to the squad.  For me personally I really want to do well as it is the last chance to impress before the selection for the Commonwealth Games.  To be selected would be huge and its at the back of everyone’s minds all the time.

Keep up to date with Andy and the rest of the squad’s progress in LA at www.rfu.com/sevens