It's a bit hard to play in a national rugby union tournament without boots.
But that's exactly the situation that the ACT Schoolboys rugby team were left in after a nightmare experience while travelling to a knockout tournament in Queensland.
The best young rugby union stars from the ACT were forced to play their first game on Tuesday in a colourful mix of different jerseys, shorts, socks and boots with all their playing gear lost in transit for 24 hours and counting.
"Our boys can still get on the field, but it's not great preparation," ACT head coach Ben McGee told The Canberra Times.
While the chaotic situation was far from an ideal way to kick off the Australian Schools Rugby Championships being held at Sunshine Coast Stadium until Friday, it has resulted in a beautiful display of sportsmanship from the rugby community.
Future Wallabies gathering from around the country for the tournament have rallied around the ACT Schoolboys to help them still take part.
"It was disappointing what's happened, but Australian schools rugby union have been fantastic trying to support us," McGee said.
"We've gotten shirts from Sunshine Coast Grammar School, shorts and socks from GPS Rugby Club in Queensland, and boots from the Victorian team and NSW team after they play.
"We might not look like an ACT team, but they'll definitely play like one.
"No jersey or pair of shorts has ever won a team at a game, so it's up to them, not what they're wearing. But the boots have been really the hard one."
The ACT Schoolboys team travelled from Canberra Airport early on Monday morning, but as the group boarded the Virgin flight headed to the Sunshine Coast via Sydney, they were informed that the plane's weight was too heavy and were asked to leave several bags behind.
The team's staff didn't have a choice of what bags had to be taken off the plane, but they reluctantly agreed to comply when they were reassured by Virgin staff that the gear would definitely be put on the next flight from Canberra.
It was explained to them that the three-hour layover in Sydney would allow time for baggage to be loaded onto the plane bound for the Sunshine Coast.
However, their luggage is still nowhere to be found.
"When we got up to Queensland, Virgin basically said that the gear wasn't here, they didn't know where it was and they couldn't find it," McGee said.
"Later on we found out that it was still in Canberra, and we've been trying to communicate with Virgin about getting it up here, but we haven't been able to get any contact from them after a number of calls.
"On Monday night we contacted Virgin Cargo and the airline's customer support line and were given a reference number.
"We requested a call back to get an update and we haven't heard back at all.
"They mentioned to us that they usually do the calculation on the plane being made up of both male and female passengers of average weight, but because we had a football team, we were heavier.
"I made it clear while we were still on the tarmac that all the gear they were taking off was pretty vital to our tour."
The 23 teenage players and three staff part of the ACT Schoolboys squad now don't have their own representative shirts, shorts, socks and boots to play in the tournament, with eight players also having their own bags taken off the plane on the tarmac.
McGee has been impressed with how the young team have handled the adversity and said despite the hurdles the squad is expected to do well at the championships.
"We sat down and had a chat about overcoming challenges, how adversity creates a bit of character, and this is just a challenge they have to face," the coach said.
"They've all been fantastic about it, and no one has whinged or complained at all.
"We've otherwise had a really good preparation for this competition, and we felt as though we've got a little bit of an advantage over some of the teams that have just come together in the last couple of days."
The ACT Schoolboys side went on to win their first game 41-17 against NSW Juniors on Tuesday, which earned them a pathway to the championship final, with round two to be held on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the wait for their luggage to show up remains a headache that the team hopes will be resolved soon.
"I would say to Virgin we just need a bit of communication and help," McGee said.
"We're just a group of kids that were trying to come up and play some footy, and the wind has been taken out of their sail a little bit.
"I understand it's a busy environment at airports but to be communicated with would be great.
"If they said that there was a 50-50 chance that the bags would show up, we probably would have been able to make a different decision.
"We could have had families coming up afterwards to pack things for us or something like that."
