| U13s Cardiff Tour 2005
29th April - 2nd May 2005 |
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Friday There were a few complaints about having to pay to get into Wales but as we pointed out you don’t have to pay to get out again?? Having checked the weather forecast – rain was expected and predicted and everyone packed accordingly – boy were we to be proved wrong! Finding the Travelodge was a challenge – mainly because the town planners in Wales seem to have a partiality to signing direction to places only half way there – after which they seem to think that clairvoyance should take over. However for those blessed with sat nav it was a doddle!! (But a Tom-Tom) We arrived to find the players throwing a rugby ball around in the car park – wow I hope the handling improves in the matches…! Now it was time to unpack, put on civvies and wander across to the conveniently located Harvester 20 yards away from the front door of the ‘Hotel’. Sarah had done us proud finding somewhere that would take us and had food nearby – well done Mrs M. But then the bad news – they weren’t going to be serving breakfast in the mornings, mad dashes to the local Asda café and MacDonald’s looked to be the order of the day at 8am from now on. Give me a beer….. The evening was spent discussing the worlds problems over a Guinness or three and finding out everyone’s middle names – little did we know that Mr Peach’s middle name was Leslie? Or indeed that ‘Frank’ was actually a Francis!! But perhaps the strangest was discovering one of our number’s middle name is (in German to avoid offence…) Schitzenkopf. Morning seemed a long way away – but it wasn’t when we got to bed. Saturday But the game was at 11:30 in Dinas Powys on the common - (locally and affectionately known as Dinky Poo) also for those interested the village where the Under 17s coach Ed Parrott grew up ? (He never actually played for the club because he lost his initiation punch up trials). The problems was – how the hell to find Dinky Poo as we knew there would only be signs half way there and my sat nav clearly thought the place was a spelling mistake and wanted to take me via Sweden. So we resolved to go in convey – and that’s where the first problem came in. (Memo to self: don’t let someone who drives like Jensen Button lead the convoy!) What started out as a line of 11 cars was quickly dispersed over South Wales between Bridgend and Newport – bar one who was last seen heading to Bargoed. But all was resolved as it was discovered Dinky Poo was in fact on the way to Barry (yes Barry!!) which led for interesting remarks when you stopped for directions – along the lines of…"can we get to Barry this way?" answer…."I think he has moved now" ….. or "no but you can get to Amarillo". We turned up in blistering heat to a Common overlooking Cardiff Bay – splendid view only spoilt by the petrochemicals plant in the distance…but the locals were warm and friendly and a quick look around the national colours displayed in the clubhouse led to a few apprehensive looks from the boys – these guys were going to be good, very good. Of course no-one had thought to bring sun cream – after all we are rugby men ! So we settled in to getting a good roasting on and off the field. No other option but t hit the Cider. God bless Blackthorn. Those black shorts had seemed a good idea before we realised we would be playing in 30 degrees C. We hit the field and received a warm reception – and then it all went wrong, not helped by the fact that that their backs were ruddy fast and we took 20 minutes to warm up. We rearrange the team now and again and this slowed the scoring rate down a bit but basically we were out classed. Touring what fun ! This performance was going to need a lot of analysis in the bar later we decided…helped by the analytical tool known as Kronenberg 1664. Anyway now we had to sit back and enjoy the first team game between Dinky Poo and Bargoed (current unbeaten in 52 games – a World record for league games) …. Interesting game that DP looked like making a game of until Bargoed got into their stride then it all went horribly wrong. But we were merrily cooking in the Sun so the Bargoed coach provided welcome shelter…wow was it hot. Then it was off back to the Travelodge – just as Glen turned up having found the club ! (Only kidding he wasn’t THAT lost) Bowling was going to be the evenings entertainment….Caerphilly here we come (the bowling wasn’t in Caerphilly but we all went there! Fecking road signs!) After a quick change at the Hotel it was off to show just how good we weren’t at the 10 pin game. So to avoid the problems we had getting to Dinky Poo we decided the best thing to do was a Le Mans start with drivers all running to their cars and setting off as fast as possible…this seems to work because we all managed to lose Steve Alderson – so effectively that he turned up to the bowling just as we were leaving again….for those interested he is thinking of offering guided tours of Caerphilly nowadays….. We had booked for an hour – so after working out how the scoring computer worked and punching the names in we had 11 minutes to play! …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. (OK. OK so that’s an exaggeration…13 minutes??) Bowling is a strange sport – one you always think "this is fun I must do it again" and you do but in two year intervals or just when rugby tour comes around again. We got a couple of early strikes and then partially watched as Chelsea celebrated winning the Premiership. Bowling techniques varied from the power mongers to the finesse merchants to the physically challenged cerebral palsy strugglers , but to some it clearly looked like they bowling was some form of tantric event ! Well the scores are all shown below…… and you can judge for yourself the ability and range of skills shown. Right enough fun – now burgers, and for some watching the locals and playing in the arcade, or was it playing with the locals and watching the arcade. Then back to the Le Hotel….for the important part of the evening, drinking all the beer in a Harvester Restaurant. Nearly – then bed. Sunday Our game was against Llandaff at 10ish and things were going to have to be different….because yesterday was depressing for a touring squad, but Dinky Poo had reliable told us we didn’t play badly and if we did what we did against them we would beat Llandaff…so fingers crossed A small problem – when we arrive at the grounds we find a very large marquee erected on the pitch we are supposed to be playing, after a wander around it quickly becomes apparent that this thing isn’t going to come down before the game so another pitch is needed and fast…but no fear the Llandaff coaches spring into action and runners are send to the four corners of Llandaff to find a pitch. In minutes one returns to say we can play in the local park, only thing is we won’t have any posts, the local council in its infinite wisdom has taken them down because officially the season is over….we don’t mind and we plod off to the venue, over the road, across a bridge and through the park. There is much excitement and Paul T takes over the warming up and handling exercises….typically we deploy our hidden weapon. Knowing the other team is watching we do our near famous ball handling exercises….this is where we look like we are a group of physically challenged teenagers who can’t catch, can’t remember each others names and can’t run in straight lines…works every time the opposition look across in wonder as we run into each other, drop the ball every second pass and bash heads together as we can’t remember left from right in movement exercises/////at least I think this is our secret weapon! Before we start though we witness the warming up exercises of the ref – away in the corner of the playing fields Ian Cameron, bedecked in white from head to foot (yes I didn’t know you could get white kilts either!) performs his warm up because the ref hasn’t turned up and he has bravely volunteered to referee the match…..we think he was warming up but as Frank said, maybe we should go over it really looks like he is having a fit. Then it’s on to the pitch – the sun is out briefly but the rain clouds look threatening…..kick off. It looks good, our forwards are up for the physical challenge and the backs look organised and adventurous and the Llandaff boys look strong…this is promises to be a good game. It is stalemate for the first 15 minutes backwards and forth up and down the pitch as the game swings one way then the other. Then the break through – we gather the ball from some excellent rucking, the ball comes clean down the line, and Jordy Foster (playing as fullback) comes into the line and intercepts the ball, side-steps the outside centre and over the line we go….the first try of the tour ! This is looking very good… The game swings back into action – remember no post to kick at… and we are quickly gaining the upper-hand – this looks SO much better that the Dinky game. Then a typical Warrick Ferrar try, three men hanging off him he ploughs towards the line from open play and drops over the line that’s two up. The team looks tight and cohesive…. Or as Frank said ‘Wow they aren’t dropping the ball and running into each other’ and the game increasingly looks like a good performance for Maids. Then another forwards push is ably supported by young Wright who at the last minute sees a clear space in the Llandaff line and pounces and we are three up…this is of course after the referee had awards a try we scored on the 22 yard line ! Which was kind of Ian not to make us run the whole pitch to score tries…but we decided that it might look like cheating so we respectfully turned it down!!! The Llandaff coaches thought is was a very interesting referee decision and thought they should suggest it to the WRFU as an option for Welsh Youth Rugby too…I mean those pitches are very long and running all that way is tiring. The game gets a little fractious at this point and a few cross words are expressed from both sides but the ref is on top of it and the game quickly calms down. Back in the open play Ben scores a classic Alderson try (this one will be on the special release video) where he breaks up the wing, several Llandaff players throw themselves at him, he dodges and then he cuts inside at the last minute and over he goes…good stuff. When he is playing for England we can all say, ‘You know I was there when he scored that try against Llandaff on the Cardiff Tour in ’05 – boy could that guys Dad drink!!’ We win…and its back over to the Llandaff Clubhouse…for proper Welsh hospitality, good food for the boys, not sandwiches and pints all around. A few mini speeches and cheers on both sides and proper rugby chat…This is a lovely club with great folks in it and makes you realise what this game is all about at the amateur levels. Now what are we to do…spirits up and keen to celebrate we head back for a quick freshen up and then plan a meal in downtown Cardiff. Being in Cardiff we decided to have a meal at a traditional restaurant so we book a table for 45 at the Mexican ! A few of the Dad’s decide to go for a post game analysis session (I think that is what they called it) and deeply analyse the game over 11 pints and we look forward to their deliberations later. The rest of us pop into the Ice Skating – for a couple of hours while the restaurant prepare for our arrival. Ice Skating – apart from that show-off (middle) Townsend ….. everyone else looks like they had never seen ice skate before – Craig we still understand all that hands on knees stuff mate !! But we were fascinated to know that the rink had a strictly no sheep policy…. As the boys were skating around with the tour mascot and were told it was a local rule that you couldn’t bring livestock on the ice, even if you were related to it. Well you have to follow the local by-laws don’t you. The faces of the tour part are looking decidedly jaded now – its been a long weekend and reading the Sunday papers looks like being a fabulous afternoon’s entertainment….how old are we?? Skating finished it’s a short hop over to the restaurant – wow downtown Cardiff is trendy these days….and the restaurant is fab…. The lads behave impeccably and even manage to get the local thirty-year olds dragged into a jumping down the large steps competition outside the restaurant – much to the amusement of the local residents and drinkers…..great place Cardiff, people are real sports. The Dad’s (we aren’t naming them for legal reasons) return from their post match analysis – and they are ‘tired and emotional’ from the whole exercise….James H we will never forget the decent you made down those steps outside the restaurant….for many they said it was the highlight of the tour….we never know you could do that Monty Python silly walks thing…you were doing that weren’t you? Some people suggested it was like Nureyev at his height. The food is good and the chat lively…..we will all remember this tour for a long time. A small sojourn to the fabulous Millennium Stadium proves fun, there is much talk of arranging a trip to a big match down there one day for the squad…hopefully when England are likely to win one…. Someone points out we had better head back to the travel inn shortly because we have to get back to peeing on cabriolets from the motorway bridge…but we decide to give it a miss tonight and head over to Barry Island for some beach rugby. A short drive –it was fun finding the place, Sarah wasn’t it! And we arrive at what is best described as one of those old Victorian seaside resorts – with gothic pillars, and slot machines. On to the beach for some touch rugby. Steve A says of great fun – because I have been meaning to seriously pull a calf muscle for months now and this looks like the perfect place to do it. We try Steve – just for you mate. As the pictures on the site show – this was a fun evening and everyone enjoys themselves – Greg got to see what it is like to have boobs and just for added fun we buried a coupe of the tour party up to their necks in sand…oh we laughed!! As the sun went down over Barry Island and the light faded so we couldn’t see the ball there was only one thing left to do – let’s all go and jump of the 25 foot seafront wall – after all Ozzie knackering his ankle at the step jumping competition was far too few injuries for a tour side…so we clearly needed to try and break a leg doing this! These lads are crazy. That done it was off to the travel lodge… they still had beer in their taps that we needed to finish off. After a fine meal and a few more beers back at the ranch it was off to bed, well after a quick pee at the motorway bridge. Night night. Monday Right – you know when you wake up with a raging hangover – isn’t the first thought you have always…’I know I will go mountain climbing’ . . . so off we went to the largest indoor climbing walls in the North Hemisphere… can’t for the life of me remember what town it was in but I remember turning right at Mount Doom and driving down the Mordor bypass and we were there. I think Steve decided to go to Caerphilly again – god knows, he loves that place. This climbing stuff is great – everyone is kitted out in short order and we take the pictures in preparation for the Coroner’s reports and its over to the instructors to explain quite how simple this climbing things is. £10 to risk your life falling off a climbing wall is great value for money if you ask me. The lads (and more importantly the supporting lasses) all prove to the adults that, being a teenager makes climbing 200 foot walls with nothing to hold on to but up turned ashtrays and soap dishes a lot easier. ‘Oh my arms hurt’, ‘how the hell do you do that’, ‘what do you mean reach for that hand hold’, ‘if you tighten my groin strap one more time I am going to brake your arms’ were all heard said at some point during the day. Sadly after a few pictures under the walls and some plans for lunch we head back to the local pub for lunch and off home. Well what can you say after such a good fun tour like this…roll on next year ?? This was the first tour for the age group on its own and it was widely regarded by all as the best…..Brean Sands – can anyone remember that now ? Have a fun summer – training begins again in August. Best Wishes The Tourist
Ten Pin Bowling Scores Here are the scores from the afternoon 10 pin bowling competition we held on tour …. Simon 165 |