Matt Shaw’s Hull KR Tenerife diary: Balloons, Beach balls, A close shave with Tom Amone…

Hull KR’s players were given a lie-in on day two. A 6.15am start gave them an extra quarter of an hour in bed.

The squad is in good spirits as they make their way down to the beach for another session being fronted by Tommy Coyle.

The first morning session was based on toughness, this session is based on smartness.

There are two exercises: first, every player has two balloons on their arms, with a blue team and a red team. The aim of the game is to pop all the opponents’ balloons and come up with a game plan to do it.

It’s a fun exercise, with some players going gung-ho and others staying back. In the end, though, there weren’t many balloons left whatsoever!

The second exercise was one from 2024, which had a comical ending. Before the players went to the beach, seven rugby balls had been buried in the sand. The players had to find them.

Digging for treasure on the beach

Now, kitman Alan ‘Bonesy’ Fellows was left spitting feathers last time around, because half of the balls weren’t found! You can imagine his face when Coyle said he wanted to do this exercise again.

You can also imagine some of the facial expressions of locals on their early morning walk when they saw a group of 30 people in budgie smugglers digging on the beach in the pitch black!

For a while, Bonesy was sweating. Two balls were found quickly, then it took a while to find the rest. He nervously clung to his bag, hoping his balls would eventually be found. For a while, he was having deja vu! Thankfully, though, all the balls were eventually located.

The session was wrapped up by a walk into the sea. New recruits had to walk in backwards and blindfolded, with their team-mates guiding them as they went into the freezing water arm in arm. Every year, you see some grown men look very uncomfortable, this was no different.

It wasn’t a case of dipping toes in either, all the players walked in until the water was at shoulder height, with Coyle proceeding to splash them all too. To make matters worse, they then had to do up and down planks with the water crashing into them once they returned to the beach!

That was that, and we headed back to the hotel for breakfast. I strolled back in with assistant coach David Hodgson, and we had a good chat about some Rovers alumni, including the iconic Stanley Gene.

Whitehead impresses as Matt endures a close shave with Tom Amone

The players were back at it at 10.45am for a field session. The squad was split into two teams and they played an opposed game.

The standout quality was the pace at which Rovers played. It was quick, something the coaches will have wanted to build fitness and ultimately to reinforce exactly how Hull KR play in a real game.

Both Tom Amone and Tom Whitehead had some good touches, and it’s worth noting that both Willie Peters and captain Elliot Minchella have spoken highly about the young forward since his move from Warrington Wolves.

Players then split into groups for skill sessions and weights. Back to Amone, that guy is quick for a prop! I got a little too close while filming one explosive run… I’m glad I don’t play rugby league, that’s all I’ll say.

That was that for day two. The squad had some downtime in the afternoon, with many heading out to restaurants or coffee shops in and around Costa Adeje. They’ll need it, because tomorrow is the Ironman challenge.