Two nice stories from two North Midlands Clubs on their recent tours.
Old hales Colts had a fantastic tour on 19/4/24.
Please see a brief write up and some photos for you to share within the rugby community.
A truly star-studded day at Vale of the Lune, Lancaster on Saturday 20th April as Old Halesonians Colts played a very strong Vale team. With the sun shining for the first time this year, the day was set to be glorious and the rugby did not disappoint.
Old Hales arrived by coach dressed to impress as Movie characters such as Barbie, Cinderella, Borat, Maverick and Kevin and Perry to name a few!
We let the Vale side know we had arrived by dancing along to the tour theme song of Grease lightening!
The game kicked off seeing Vale take a strong lead scoring the first 2 tries. A try then scored by Hales showed the opposition we weren’t just there to party.
Mistakes made by both sides lead to further tries for both teams.
At half time a hearty rendition of grease lightening was performed much to the delight of the crowd!
Hales restarted well scoring a try. Vale took advantage of Hales fumbling with the ball, scoring a try. This was followed by a succession of tries. Hales didn’t give up and battled on driving the heavy opposition forwards back.
Vale were too sharp around the breakdown and turned over the ball which lead to another try. The final score was 66-26 to Vale of the Lune.
It was a great game of rugby played in the right spirit. Fun and games followed in the afternoon with a tug of war, and an egg challenge! The fun continued into the evening with a fantastic atmosphere, energy and attitude by all. The host team were really pleased to have us and even happier to see that the custom of rugby touring is alive and well, allowing the fine tradition of sport and friendship to continue.
Kind regards
Natalie Cheadle
STOURBRIDGE U12’S TOUR TO ABERGAVENNY
The weekend had finally come after months of planning, The excitement in the team was electric. A few had arrived early on Friday and set up the communal area including the kitchen, before the steady flow of families started arriving from around 3pm in the afternoon. After everyone’s tents and caravans had been set up, we had a group briefing stating tour rules and boundaries for the children and then the fun began. We lit the BBQ while the children played and the parents chatted, the atmosphere was brilliant even if the weather was slightly damp, the laughter went on to the early hours of the morning. Saturday morning started with cooked breakfast in glorious sunshine, again with the sound of happy children and laughing parents, music to our ears, it was a very happy camp. With a walk planned after breakfast we set off to explore the area. After we returned and had built an appetite for pizza, we set up the pizza station and set the kids free on making their own pizzas. After a little rest (mainly for the grown-ups) we set up our football pitch and started our kids’ v grownups football match, what a blast with the Kids taking the spoils 4 goals to 5. After a little free time, we reassembled for another BBQ and night of laughter. With a 10pm curfew as it was the night before the big day of rugby it was a quit camp and everyone was in bed by 11. Sunday was a light breakfast before we loaded up and headed to Abergavenny RFC. On arrival we got our fixtures and started our preparation. We played three fixtures against three good Welsh teams but unfortunately come second in all three games. The boys played some great rugby with all the games very well matched and all done with huge smiles on there faces. After the festival was over, we gave our thanks to Abergavenny and made our way back to camp. After a quick scrub up and change we all met in the communal area to hold tour court, the kids and grownups all got called into the docs in turn and stood trial, the jury surprisingly found all the accused ‘GUILTY’. Spag boll for dinner and a relaxing last night before we all packed up and headed home the next morning after our last group breakfast. What a great tour with some magical memories made for both kids and parents. The whole weekend jelled the group together even closer than when we arrived. Excellent.
