Well, where to start….a monumental weekend of ‘International Rugby and High Jinks’ for Evesham U11. New experiences in all directions as a first time out of the country for some, first time on a ferry for most and the sights and smells of Temple Bar at night opened an eye or two across the ages.

Day 1

‘Uneventful’ is the word you want to describe a long journey with 17 kids on a bus, and Friday was just that as we whistled past Birmingham before anyone could blink and were front of the queue at Holyhead. Tour t-shirts already on, our early arrival allowed Tour Game 1: ‘Soldiers’ to be explained – pick a toy soldier from the bag, keep it with you at all times, produce within 10 seconds on request by the Tour Jester (Tim) and immediately imitate your soldiers pose – unlucky Olly Wych – sniper, face down on the ground – hope it does not rain or ‘soldiers’ be called anywhere with hand driers and cubicles.

The Irish sea was like a mirror so it is not clear why some of the dads were swaying a little as we pulled alongside in Dublin. Cramp, probably, those tall stools did not look at all comfortable.

After Ed got over the initial shock that a backpackers hostel offers nothing in the way of heavily braided porters to assist with one’s luggage, it was a brisk walk across the Liffey to Luigi Malone’s in Temple Bar for dinner in smart new ERFC polo shirts before hitting the bunks for a big day ahead.

Day 2

Kit on, boiled eggs for breakfast and onto the bus for the short ride to Clontarf. A very warm welcome from Brian O’Driscoll’s childhood club, turns out their senior side are current Irish champions too. 70 lads on the U11 books, so this should be interesting.

Game 1: From the start, the lads played really well. Clonatarf are a large club with plenty of players and are well used to scoring. It shows the strength and emerging breadth of the Evesham defence that they did not in this game, it was only big ‘sham shoulders that kept them out. Most encouraging to see everyone defending the line.

Contested 5 man scrums, contested line outs and glorious weather made for a great experience for the lads who applied themselves as if we played these rules each week. First half ended Clontarf 0 : Evesham 2 (both Gilderson in jet boots).

Second half was more of the same, but facing the other way, defence rock solid again and Gazelle-derson charging about like his pants had caught fire which brought one more try. At one point George Tinson put in a big hit and Mighty Mullen was running at them with a face tougher than a folk singers shoe.

I will say it again, Evesham were defensively very impressive, big congrats to all the lads both the backs for keeping each others hair in order and the forwards for doing the men’s work on the ground, Indy caught the eye for getting the ball away if Max was busy.

Game 2:

Time for the second Clontarf team to give us a go, both sides pretty even and the half ended 0:0. Second half Evesham edged ahead by 2 tries (Gilderson again) before Clontarf snook in a well deserved try at the end of a very long second half.

Ciaran, Cake and Geordy did a good job for us in the front row, Hamish and Olly Neal solid as locks and Max was always first to the breakdown as a good 9 should. Slippery and Bretty provided forward motion and give nothing away in reverse. James and Jack Russell provided pace up the sides and Slate in his natural position at full back. Joel was tackling everything, clearly boiled eggs agree with him.

On reflection, I think with some encouragement, Will Gilderson might get the hang of this game.

Man of the Match – Joel Duberley for relentless tackling, with every body part, at least twice each.
Tour Game 2: Dead Ant, immediately be a dead ant on your back with arms and legs in the air, sounds simple but last man gets a forfeit.

Clontarf made us most welcome, a wonderful spread laid on by the Rugby Mums, thank you from all at Evesham RFC.

Afternoon Amusement: Tour of Croke Park and Celtic Sports Experience including hurling, gaelic football and handball (if you are not sure what handball is, take a bald tennis ball to an NCP and you are about there – it is squash on a budget).

The lads enjoyed a tour of Croke Park, the home of hurling and gaelic football. A gaelic game in progress too gave a taste of things to come then onto a local gaelic games club for instruction and practical experience. The lads then played a game of gaelic football - a mix of football, rugby and volley ball, hurling – a mix of hockey, golf, cricket and cage fighting and then handball – see above. Then a burger at Captain America’s and bed as tomorrow is an even bigger day.

Day 3

Up at 6am, ferry off the wall at 8am, very windy out so time for ‘proper breakfasts’ all round…not the last time we will see of some of those as it turns out.

As a measure of how tiring the weekend had been to this point it wasn’t until 15 minutes after we departed the historic port of Dublin and made open water that JB finally realised that the Cap’ain was not in fact reversing out, I thought he was making it tricky for himself, JB was sitting at a table with his back to the pointy end. Hmmm, this could be a long day.

Bit of a lumpy crossing in the wind, empty sick bags became prized possessions, you could not tell where Slate’s green tour t-shirt stopped and he began and Slippery ‘hurled’ (pun intended) his Full English over the side. The stability of Holyhead a very welcome sight for some.

A coach dash through the rain put us at Ruthin RFC, North Wales for the final game of the tour and we were welcomed by ‘Evesham Rugby Mums on Tour’, led (astray) by Mrs Wycherley, turns out they had been partying in the area all weekend, looking at their eyes I would have said longer. Not a pom-pom in sight from our cheerleaders though, I mean…really.

Game 3

Lots of grass and proper posts on a FULL SIZE PITCH, 12 a side and Welsh rules including lineouts (we should probably coach that at some point).

The lads played the best rugby the coaches have seen them play. Moving the ball, supporting each other, tackling really well – occasionally a team of individuals stepped up to a true team performance today – not many clubs will be able to live with this.

First half tries for Gilderson (3, 2 converted) – whilst try scorer gets the name in lights, there was a move in there that typifies the style of rugby we aspire to play – a good break by Slippery, onto Cake for another significant run past traffic and popped to Will G to finish. Beautiful rugby and a joy to watch. Another try from a Wycherley run and Olly Neal over on a crash ball from a penalty made it 29:0 at half time.

Second half was the same standard as the first with a Gilderson try (which he converted) off a ground scoop from Bretty to Indy and popped to Will G and a second try for Olly Neal, again playing 10 pin with Welsh children as the pins. Ruthin got a try of their own in the second half closing the game 41:5 by my maths.

Will G put in a glorious tap tackle at full stretch to save a try, Olly Wycherley all but knocked himself out making a stop and the forwards owned the break down.

Ruthin fed us all very well (chilli) and were most hospitable post match, turns out we are one of a series of clubs visiting at the moment, popular venue with gorgeous views over the welsh hills when the clouds lift.

Man of the Match: Olly Neal, Crash Ball King, 2 tries from penalties close to the Ruthin line. Big teddy bear of a lad is Olly, a true gentleman, but throw him a ball and airport catch fencing would not stop him.

Man of the Tour: We could not let the weekend pass without recognising the contribution and performance of Will Gilderson. Pace, spotting a gap, feeding the ball, converting the tries, all excellent – is there anything the lad cannot do? Dance, apparently, we witnessed him doing the can-can as part of the kids entertainers performance on the ferry in payback for some misdemeanour or other. Lionel Blair he aint.

So 2 ‘internationals’ and 2 wins, not a bad record for a sleepy little market town. I believe we won the U11 international arm wrestling after the food in Ruthin too whilst 20 was showing the piano who is boss.

Rare opportunity to see the ‘Wright Brothers’ playing together, Ciaran on RFU approved loan from U12 ‘s for the tour. You tell Geordy and Ciaran apart in identical scrum caps, I couldn’t. Well done to Sarah too, only mum on tour, honorary dad for the weekend and mixed it up with the best of them.

The coach ride home was more subdued, exhausted kids and tired parents but everyone happy. 33 warm bodies at the end of day 3 in the same nylon t-shirt and a full port-a-loo shaken in 3 axes around the rural lanes of Wales was the only hint our driver Ian needed to get us home, and fast.

Special thanks to Ed for doing the lion’s share of the tour organisation, the players for putting in a shift in all 3 games and their excellent behaviour throughout, the coaches for taking care of the muddy bits, the rugby mums for making the journey to Wales to support us and the dads (and Sarah, who is one of us now) for selflessly accompanying their little rugby stars to Dublin with no thought for their own comfort or convenience.

It was a GREAT tour, thank you all.

Lost Property: Nike black hoodie and black earbuds.