"My day is very complicated," explains Uruguay's Sevens captain Ignacio Crosa, before reliving a typical 24 hours in his life and making you realise that, for some of the players competing at the Rugby World Cup Sevens in Dubai in March, merely reaching that pinnacle is an achievement in itself.
The 25-year-old wakes every day at 06:00, packs his bags and makes the journey to university, where he studies all morning.
After a pause for lunch, Crosa turns his attention to another life and another world in which he is a farmer.
The demands are more immediate, the exercise far more physical and the rewards are vital to his and his family's well-being. It is what he does, every day.
Physically tired and mentally expended, he finishes farming in the evening and eats, before the other third of his life kicks in - rugby.
Practice starts at 8:30 in the evening and goes on until 10:30. Some days lunch is broken up by an additional visit to the gym, just to ensure that not a second is wasted.
"It's hard but we can't wait to play in Dubai now. We're anxious to get there and give it our best," said Crosa, who led Uruguay with some distinction at the USA Sevens in San Diego at the weekend.
Out to upset the best
Their opening match brought the tournament's first upset, Los Teros shocking Kenya 14-12, scoring two wonderful tries and then tackling as if their lives depended on the outcome of the 14 minutes. Later in the day the result was made to look even better, Kenya beating New Zealand for the first time in 14 attempts.
Los Teros made Australia work hard for their win on day two and there was another victory to celebrate against World Cup-bound Japan, 26-10, before Sevens veterans Canada denied them silverware in the Shield final.
"For us it's a very good tournament, we normally play just in our local rugby and have very few opportunities to play rugby internationally and this is one of them so when you get the opportunity you have to make it a good one," added Crosa, who like his team mates pays for his own Uruguay t-shirts and gear to ensure that they look as much the part off the field as they do on it.
"Our rugby is amateur and we know that we have that disadvantage but we make a big, big effort training and we enjoy very much playing with these teams - it's very good for us to get onto a pitch with these monsters of rugby."
Argentina awaits
The performance in San Diego should have come as no surprise. Uruguay showed similar grit in booking their place in Dubai, coming back from a 19-0 deficit against rivals Chile to win and spark mass celebrations on their home patch in Punta del Este.
And the result of all their hard work was a favourable World Cup draw. Fiji, South Africa, England and New Zealand were all avoided and instead they can look forward to an all-South American match-up, a back yard tussle against the 'big brother'.
"We always want to beat Argentina, every match we take the pitch thinking that we want to win and that one day it will come!
"They are nearly professional, most of them play Sevens all year long so they have a big advantage over us, but we will try our best of course."
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