Lifesavers on duty

ONE is a Coolum Beach surf club nipper dad who was used to making breaks against the best Super 10 rugby sides in the world back in the 1990s.

The other is a man from Maple Leaf Land who these days mends other people's breaks in the emergency ward of Nambour Hospital. The are both new inductees to the red and yellow cap caper.

Peter Slattery, 17 times a Wallaby scrum half and named in the Queensland Reds Team of the Century, and medical student Rob Trachter were last Saturday morning doing their second patrol after passing their bronze.

Although their ages are 20 years apart, they are fit and keen, with Canadian, Rob 27 and Slats, according to his online biography entry, aged 47.

Their patrol captain Paul Hammond is a rugby tragic who half jokes that he was "the best player never to play for Australia".

So what is Slats doing slipping on the red and yellow for the first time in his life after 109 caps for the Reds?

He's been a local since 2001 and his 10-year-old son Zen a Coolum Nipper s for two seasons.

"It's giving back the community. It's my first time into it. Mate, I love it - meeting new people, just the challenge of the ocean," Slats said.

Slats has never been on a paddle board before the bronze squad and his surf swimming is a work in progress.

"That was (the squad) all exciting - the hard part for me is doing the swim, but it's just good when you're petrified, to swim out with a group."

Rob is in his second-last year of medical school, working out of Nambour after relocating from Brisbane. The ice hockey fan was recruited from the Toronto area by the University of Queensland to study and after moving up to Coolum, thought he'd give lifesaving a go.

"I'm not sure if I'll be staying in Australia, it's hard for international graduates to get internships, but if I could I'd love to stay around here."

- PETER GARDINER