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Colourful Wallabies winger Nick Cummins is making an audacious bid for Olympic selection
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Cummins last featured in Australia’s sevens program at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi
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The 28-year-old craves a comeback and shot at gold-medal glory.
Nick Cummins channelled his inner Bear Grylls in the off-season but now the former Wallabies winger is ready to make his mark with the Australian Sevens squad in a late push to Rio.
“I was on a snow scooter across Lapland that stretches from Northern Norway to Russia,” he said.
“You gotta drill through the ice and wheel out dinner.
“It’s minus 33 degrees, you’re dressed up like a pet lizard and you’re doing your best for a couple of weeks in tough conditions.”
Cummins said he enjoyed taking himself entirely away from Rugby, in between a Japanese Top League season and his return to the Sevens fold.
“I think just having a breath and focusing on what the plan is (was good),” he said.
“The plan (now) is Rio and the plan is be your best, challenge yourself and come home with the chocolates.”
One of the key challenges for a 15s player transitioning to Sevens is building fitness, and while Cummins said he had been creative in keeping his fitness up while away, there was no substitute for formal training.
“You can only wrestle so many reindeer,” he said.
“I had a couple of runs at the airport on the red dirt. When they’re (planes) coming in you know about it because they come in pretty quick, so you’ve got to dart off to the side before they clean you up.”