Sub-16 West County Tour Diary and Images
View images from the tour and read Geordie's Tour Diary here.
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Click here to view images from the tour.
Sub-16 West Country Tour Diary
Thursday 10th April
The tour starts at a snail’s pace, due to a certain player’s wallet being left on the plane and the English border Security insisting he must have his ID to enter the country. We finally made it to the hostel in Bristol famished and wary, even so, some of the boys found the energy to shave their heads in strange ways as preparation for the next day’s game.
Friday 11th April
The morning of the game we were taken by coach to the Roman Baths, in Bath. Here Gonçalo took on the role of tour guide exceptionally well, showing the team around the city. In an effort to show the boys some true English cuisine a meal of fish and chips was chosen as the pre game meal. Possibly not the best choice as some players later threw it up. But the meal was enjoyed (at least once) by all the players.
The game against Bradford on Avon was played in three 20 minute thirds, with the third passage played with mixed teams. The first third was very much one way traffic with Bradford scoring 6 unanswered tries. Feeling the need to defend St. Julian’s honor the boys rallied in the second third with numerous attacking passages, but only managed to score once through Aegir early on. Bradford also crossed once from a lucky bounce of the ball and a good kick chase to tie the second game. But all would agree that St. Julian’s were the stronger team in this second period with numerous opportunities to score and some great attacking plays. In the third passage the teams consisted of St. Julian’s forwards and Bradford on Avon’s back and vice versa. This passage saw numerous tries and a great level of running rugby from both sides. Afterwards there were post match speeches, Bradford on Avon awarded player of the match to Tintin and the team captain Duarte awarded a St. Julian’s rugby ball to Bradford’s captain and best player.
Saturday 12th April
The team headed to Gloucester to watch the premiership derby match Gloucester v Bath. The match was very exciting and showcased some great expansive and technical rugby. Adding to the excitement was 6 yellow cards and 2 red cards as well as a last minute game winning try by Bath and ensuing all in brawl to finish the game. The match made headlines across the globe for the number of cards given including the front page of the sports section in Australian papers. After the game the boys stuffed themselves at a great all you can eat place back in Bristol. Finding ingenious ways to fit huge amounts of soft serve ice cream on to a single cone in gravity defying ways.
Sunday 13th April
After a quick walk around Bristol the team began their journey home, undoubtedly looking forward to some home cooked food, not bathed in oil, and some warm and sunny weather. The highlight of the trip would have to be the older and younger boys bonding over the silliest things each person had done over the weekend. Overall the trip went great and I hope all the boys enjoyed themselves as much as I did.
Geordie McSullea
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