by webmaster
Our first tour as a squad proved to be an emphatic success both on and off the field. After an early start from Welwyn we arrived at our accommodation near Stowmarket well ahead of schedule. This gave everyone plenty of time to settle into their surroundings and our squad to run off some steam. The adults also used the opportunity to play the first (of many!) uncompetitive (yeah right!) volleyball matches of the weekend.
After a light lunch we headed off to Stowmarket RFC to play in a Mini festival with Woodbridge also in attendance. We split the squad into 3 teams and named the sides in line with our tour theme.
First off were The Yeti's and The Sabre Tooth Tigers who were pitched up against the Stowmarket and Woodbridge sides.
In their game, The Yeti's had the best possible start to the day, as Johann raced away to score from the first play! However the remainder of that match was much closer and the opposition shared the spoils with a well taken try. Final Score Stowmarket 5 The Yeti's 5
Meanwhile over on pitch two, The Sabre Tooth Tigers were really showing their teeth and following good work by Hugo and Morgan, two tries from Alfie and Cameron secured the points for our team. Final Score Woodbridge 0 Sabre Tooth Tigers 10
The T Rex's started their campaign with a hard fought draw with Woodbridge. Forwards, Harry A, Josh and James Weston worked very hard to win the ball for our boys but the opponents were determined not to suffer a second successive defeat and held out for a draw. Final Score Woodbridge 0 T Rex's 0
Again on pitch 2, The Sabre Tooth Tigers were very convincing and this time they were more clinical with their finishing as they ran away with a victory against the hosts side. A brace of tries from both Alfie and Eddie secured a runaway victory.
Final Score Stowmarket 5 Sabre Tooth Tigers 20
Round 3 of the games saw Calum score for the Yeti's in their 1 try apiece draw with the determined Woodbridge side whilst The Sabre Toothed Tigers came out on top of the first all Welwyn clash against the T Rex's. Despite some comical refereeing from the Welwyn official, this game was settled by a try from Cameron after Bradley R, Morgan & Finlay B had set up the rolling maul.
Final Scores Woodbridge 5 The Yeti's 5 - The Sabre Tooth Tigers 5 The T Rex's 0
Round 4 of the games saw the T Rex's (Keir in particular) find their scoring boots as they ran in 4 tries against the Yeti side with only one in return. Keir scoring a hat trick and being joined by Jack Briars (T Rex's) and Kyle (The Yeti's) on the score sheet. The all Suffolk clash of Stowmarket and Woodbridge ended in a 2 try success for the hosts.
Final Scores T Rex's 20 The Yeti's 5 - Woodbridge 0 Stowmarket 10
The final round of games saw another victory for the rampant Sabre Tooth Tigers team as they ran in another 4 tries to dispatch The Yeti's. A brace from Alfie, another Eddie finish and a fantastic team try for Harry M as opposed to a solo effort from Johann secured 4 wins out of 4 for the Tigers. Meanwhile the Stowmarket side were brought back down to earth with a bang as a hungry T Rex side raced in 5 unanswered tries. Keir scoring another 4 to take the honour as Welwyn's top try scorer of the day and Nathan added one to the team tally.
Final Scores: The Yeti's 5 The Sabre Tooth Tigers 20 - Stowmarket 0 The T Rex's 25
The afternoon's matches closed with the Friendly Festival final table looking like this:
1st Sabre Tooth Tigers 8 pts
2nd The T Rex's 5 pts
3rd Stowmarket 3 pts
4th The Yeti's 2 pts
5th Woodbridge 2 pts
Congratulations go to Alfie Orchard who was named player of the Tournament by the Suffolk coaches.
Tour Captains, Bradley Rixon & Eddie Bullock then presented our hosts with the Welwyn plaque and thanked them for their fine hospitality. After the tournament we stayed on to watch an exciting senior match with the Woodbridge side edging out the hosts by 3 points.
Then it was back to camp for tea and a camp fire was lit before a long rendition in your worst possible Yorkshire accent of "Do you know Joe" took place! (You just had to be there!!!) Before the children were put to bed around 9 in order to go to sleep before 3 am! Mind you it was just lucky that the parents chose to stay up until the same time!!
Day 2 was activity filled with Archery, Crate Stacking & Quad Biking on the agenda and for those adults awake long enough (you know who you are!) it was great fun to watch. After lunch we had a brief awards ceremony with Charlie and to much amusement, Nathan (who had confused the organisers with his nickname of noodles) being voted Best Tourists of the weekend. A much more subdued Coach journey home was only disturbed by the snoring!!
That just leaves us with a few Thank you's to make (apologies if we miss anyone). Firstly thanks to everyone for turning up and joining in. Without that the Tour just would not work!
Next a big thanks to Conor Byrne and his company, ICE IT who sponsored our impressive tour shirts. Even if we had not won the matches we would have been voted best dressed team.
Thanks to the adventure camp team staff as well as Andy at Stowmarket RFC for hosting and Woodbridge RFC for welcoming us to Suffolk.
Finally a big thank you should go out to Richard Mildren. He has spent endless hours over the past few months organising the tour so that everything went well which we can honestly say it did more than just that!
Where shall we go next year? Over to you................................!
The Under 10 Coaching Team