Freier Stoked By French Furnace
Sydney Morning Herald
Friday October 5, 2007
SOME good came out of the groin injury that sidelined Adam Freier ahead of the Wallabies' match against France in Marseilles in 2005.
Not that Freier would have appreciated it back then, after being felled by the injury upon arriving in France for the Wallabies' end-of season tour. He would have rued the missed opportunity of earning another Test cap and challenging Jeremy Paul for the starting hooker position.The injury also opened the door for the Wallabies' current starting rake, Stephen Moore, who was called in to join the squad in France. After impressing in a mid-week clash against the French Barbarians, Moore earned a place on the bench for the November Test that Australia lost 26-16.However, the experience of sitting in the open air grandstands of the Stade Velodrome among a capacity 60,000-strong crowd of frenzied Marseillais cheering on Les Bleus with their traditionally thunderous roar was one Freier will never forget.It was also an experience that could help him on Saturday, when the Wallabies return to the home ground of the Olympique de Marseille football club.The Wallabies won't be playing France this time - England are their World Cup quarter-final opponents - but the atmosphere will be just as intense.Stade Velodrome's four concrete stands will be void of the mass of blue that welcomed the Wallabies in 2005. This time they will be awash with a sea of Wallabies gold and a blanketing of red-and-white English supporters.And Freier believes knowing what to expect at Stade Velodrome will be a big help. It's a venue as intimidating for its furnace-like environment as more renown places, such as Twickenham, Millennium Stadium, Ellis Park, Loftus Versfeld or Eden Park."I haven't played there [Stade Velodrome], but I've seen how good it is. I'm pretty lucky that I have experienced it from the crowd. I know how noisy it is, how intense it is," Freier said."It is like a fortress. It's unbelievable how you can see everyone in the crowd."Freier said one thing he learnt from that eye-opening night in 2005 was the need for a team to remain calm as the noise and chaos erupts around them."In those types of situations, you have to look for information rather than relying on it," Freier said. "Greegs [halfback George Gregan] is very good at managing that. He is really good at making sure all the channels of communication are there. This is where he will come into his own. These are the games he loves."Freier cited Australia's group game against World Cup bolters Fiji as an example. While the Wallabies won 55-12, the voice of Gregan - leading the side for the 59th time to equal Will Carling's record of Test captaincies - lifted the team at half-time."He never loses his cool. It wasn't everything ranting and raving. It wasn't even what he said. It was just how calm his voice was," Freier said of Gregan's speech. "Everyone hones in on him - not as a leader, but as a general on the field."Freier also realises that calmness comes from the right preparation before a game, especially a knockout match like Saturday's quarter-final.The hooker achieves that by clearing rugby from his mind when he is not training, having treatment or attending tactical meetings. "I'll try and steer clear of rugby if I can help it. I have a saying: 'Too much rugby rots the brain'. So it's really important to have balance," he said.He said the pressure the players were under could also test relationships within the squad."It can get pretty intense, but it's a pretty good team of blokes," he said. "No one has actually been tipped over the edge yet, which is good. But everyone knows how to turn off the on-and-off button."
© 2007 Sydney Morning Herald