Australian sevens star Cam Clark has returned from an "unreal Olympic experience" – which included bumping into Rafael Nadal and Usain Bolt at the Rio dining hall – and will begin his road to 15s success with the Sydney Rays in the NRC on Friday night.
Clark touched down last Wednesday with the Australian team who underperformed in Rio, finishing eighth after losing twice to France and once to South Africa, but has quickly turned his attention to reigniting his 15s career.
The 23-year-old signed a contract with the Waratahs a fortnight ago to stay on until the end of the 2018 season and will begin his quest to impress coach Daryl Gibson with a stint at North Sydney Oval for the Rays.
Clark is expected to feature at fullback or in the back three and will be monitored given his recent workload and the time it will take to adjust to the 15-a-side game. It's a position Clark feels comfortable in as he lined up there for the Australian schoolboys side in 2011 as well as for club team Norths, despite not having played for them in three years.
Much has been made of 15s players – particularly Quade Cooper and Nick Cummins – making the switch to sevens, but coming back also has its obstacles.
Clark wants to bulk up – he weighs 84kg – and will need time to adjust to the style of play. Is he nervous?
"I'm not really but I'm sure I will be before I run on the field if I get a chance," he said. "It [fullback] is definitely where I feel most comfortable. It's the patterns and calls I have to learn quite quickly and around my timing and backline and positional play. The skills crossover. I've always wanted to have a crack at the 15-man game and looking at the Olympics I saw it as a good way to finish my sevens time for the moment.
"And there will be some bigger boys running around and bigger collisions so I might need a bit of extra padding to help get through that."
Fellow Australian sevens player Con Foley will join Clark at the Rays, who will be looking to chalk up back-to-back wins after putting on a clinical performance against the Western Sydney Rams, running out 20-point winners.
"We looked at each other at training and said, 'how good is this'," Clark said. "It's something different, which is always exciting."
There is no hiding the disappointment in Clark's voice when the Olympic campaign is brought up.
After the history-making gold medal won by Australia's women, their male counterparts were far from their best despite showing signs during the year they could leave Rio with a medal.
"Everyone's disappointed with the result," Clark said. "It's one of those high-pressure tournaments you really need everything to fall into place and it just didn't quite click for us; a couple of early injuries, losing Lewis Holland in a key playmaking role really hurt us.
"I don't know if I can put it down to any specific thing, it wasn't our tournament. It's a long four-year wait before anyone gets a crack at it which is the disappointing thing."
But Clark said going to the Games was an experience he won't forget in a hurry.
"I walked past Rafa [Nadal] in the dining hall, Caroline Wozniacki, Usain Bolt trying to avoid thousands of people trying to get photos of him and all the big basketballers. It was unreal."
Clark and his Rays teammates will wear pale blue socks on Friday to help raise awareness for prostate cancer with the NRC, ARU and Astellas Pharma Australia teaming up with the Prostate Cancer Foundation Australia to launch #Pass4Prostate.
