Donato looking to prove himself during Olympic trials

But for former Orange City star Dan Donato, it's a call he's glad he took.

"it was on birthday week when I got a call and it was a random number so I was hesitant to answer," he said.

On the other end of the line was current Australian rugby sevens coach Tim Walsh, asking Donato to be part of a New South Wales team to trial for the Tokyo Olympic Games. Former City players Hunter Ward and Yool Yool were also selected for the NSW team.

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"I was pretty surprised to be picked to be fair," Donato said.

"Tim came down and did a week at every Shute Shield team during the season and said he's looking out for guys and didn't go too much into it so I didn't think much of it.

"At the moment it's just trying to play well and grab the opportunity with both hands and if something comes from it I'll be ecstatic.

"If they rang me and said would I like a contract, I'm not going to say no."

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Following a six-week training camp, Donato played on the weekend against the Australian and NSW Pacific Islands/Fijian sides, something he won't soon forget.

"The Fijian side were good all around the park, throwing miracle balls all over the place," he said.

"They ran all over us in the first half but the second half we were able to come back and beat them.

"The Aussie team, well they're class aren't they. That's why they're the national team, they know their stuff."

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The NSW side lost 4-1 in that particular match, a good result in Donato's mind considering this was their first real game of sevens as a squad.

"It took me a little bit to get into it and Saturday would've been my best day of the two," he said.

"I was doing the restarts so they were good from that point of view and then on Saturday I managed to score two tries, including a runaway try down the side-line which I was pretty happy about. I even out-ran one of the Aussie boys."

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While he will no doubt be hoping for that green and gold call up, if Olympic glory isn't in the cards, Donato will still take a world of experience from the trials.

"It's a good opportunity to be seen," he said.

"We're playing before the Waratahs and Reds game and there will be both coaches from those two teams and there's always people looking and always a chance to impress. It's definitely improved my game with the passing, footwork and beating guys one on one, so it will be something I can take back to the 15s game."

Donato's workload will now increase as he also starts training with Easts for the Shute Shield competition.