U16 Rugby Tour

When I first heard the rugby tour was going to be in Wales, I was doubtful of how good it would be. I don’t remember much from the pre-tour training, but one memory that stuck with me was the rucking drill, at this time it was a nasty fitness drill for me.

Eventually, the day of the tour came, and we hopped on a coach for 6 hours with only one stop for some food. Due to some extra knowledge from Thomas Darke who had arrived earlier than the rest of us, we were all excited to see the hotel we would be staying in for the next few days. Having deposited my luggage in the hotel room I sauntered off to review the key facilities, namely the gymnasium. I was joined by a few others and from there we proceeded to the pool and saunarium. A nutritious and delicious dinner was post-ceded by a brief discourse from Mr. Maguire which got us excited about the first day of training. The Hexi-Muller turns out to be one of the most tiring fitness drills and Mr. Maguire told us that we would be doing 12 of them each session, but we ended up only doing 6 to my great relief. The Hexi-Muller would become a staple throughout the rest of our season. We were lucky enough to train at the Osprey’s training ground and were blessed with sunshine. On the first evening, self-proclaimed barber Marco gave a couple of buzz cuts to Nick and Lorenzo. The following day after training, we went to a beach and played a ball game called kiwi involving four squares and a ball. Afterwards, we headed to a nearby town where we had pizza and went to Tesco to stock up on snacks. Later that evening, Mr. Maguire allowed us to stay up to watch TV, which became a daily occurrence. We went to Cardiff for some paintballing the day after and split into forwards vs backs. Obviously, the forwards prevailed. One of the most memorable moments from paintballing was produced by Thomas Wong, walking straight through several point-blank shots, feeling no pain: what an absolute tank. When we got back to the hotel, we all walked to a nearby restaurant and had a delicious dinner. By the end of the tour, the rucking drill was barely tiring for me, meaning my fitness had improved, which I accredited to the Hexi’s. On the last day, after training, we jumped on the bus to head back. Throughout all our coach journeys we had music on the ‘jukebox’ but the best part of the tour, however, in my opinion, was the singing on the coach on the way back, with ‘Closer’ by the Chainsmokers being the favourite song. Overall this was without doubt a memory that I’m sure will last us all a lifetime. As Mr. Maguire said, when we are fifty, we will look back and remember our schoolboy rugby days. I believe the team bonding from this tour played a big part in our successful season. And finally, thank you to everyone who helped make the tour possible, especially to Mr. Maguire. ❚