Mixed Results on Trip Up North

The Sub-16s secured an impressive win over CRAV, enhancing their growing stature in an as yet unbeaten season, while the Sub-18s went down by a single score to Prazer Jogar, a result that sees their prospects of a Final Four place reduced to a statistical flicker.

The contrasting fortunes of life on the road were illustrated by the loss suffered by the sub-18s, who conceded two very soft early tries and never really got going against a fairly average but hungrier Prazer Jogar team, and the sub-16s, who travelled to the ends of the world (Arcos de Valdedez) and thumped a heftier but more limited opponent, in spite of being without their human battering-ram Tom Vilar, who nevertheless went along in his guise as a humble supporter.

The results leave the sub-18s heading for the door and possibly now just a cup run to salvage something from the season, while the sub-16s are in poll position to win the B league and qualify for the Final Four.

The long coach journeys back home on Sunday evening could not have offered a starker contrast. Birthday-boy Seb Bader led the sub-16s celebrations in a MacDonalds in central Porto, while the chastened sub-18s were denied even that crumb of comfort by a miserable bus-driver, who refused to make the necessary minor detour.