ALTON U14s OSPREYLIA TOUR

REPORT TWO OF THREE

The Gwythers arrived on tour on Sunday evening with tales of a great victory for Hampshire – no fines for being late and the squad somehow felt complete. Monday dawned to more blazing Welsh sunshine and we trooped off to nearby Adventures Wales after a hearty breakfast.

The squad enjoyed some quad biking, paintball and high ropes but all were pretty bruised after the “speedball” turned out to be a mad game of British Bulldog with the instructors firing off viciously behind their cover. It was great to see Josh, Ollie and Fonzy overcoming their fear of heights on the ropes with the rest of the squad encouraging and supporting them through a personal trial – a lot of team spirit built up. Back to Trecco for a fun packed evening with adults cooking various meals most of which sounded like curry.

Tuesday kicked off with a beach and sand dune walk after brekkie followed by a great lunch at The Pelican in Ogmore. There were a few misdirections as Tom Bugler followed the sound of running water in order to find the river only to find himself at the sewerage works! He decided to follow his nose rather than his ears after that. The castle ruins provided a dramatic backdrop to the player court with Fonzy as judge, Ed Simmons as prosecutor and Alex Adams as a very erudite defence. Fonzy dismissed most of the defence, as is traditional and many penalties were handed out involving trips to the sea.

One player came a cropper at the stepping stones over the river but no names will be mentioned as I might get prosecuted on our next tour. An Alton RFC ball remains lodged at the highest point of the castle ruins. James Airey went off with Tom Rands to hospital to get his elbow x-rayed while the rest of the group returned to Trecco on the bus to prepare for our second match.

We arrived at Kenfig Hill RFC, passing Pyle RFC only 1.5 miles down the road and noting that Tondu RFC was only 2 miles further on. The concentration of clubs in this area is amazing and little wonder there is pressure on playing numbers at the junior age groups. It was great to hear that an English touring side provided the incentive for more than the usual turn out of local players, so we faced a full side and a bench. As the squad got changed ready for the warm up Dai Bugler got a clubhouse tour from his oppo HonSec Gerald O’Sullivan, justly proud of the recent extension with gym. Another fantastic clubhouse bedecked with the international jerseys of former players – no less than 4 British Lions have come from Kenfig Hill.

The match got underway on another hard track and it wasn’t surprising that one or two players from both sides turned ankles. The game swung one way and then the other with Alton eventually coming out on top despite a committed performance from the home side. Charlie Hibbert had another barnstorming game and took the prize from KHRFC as Alton’s man of the match – sadly he wasn’t there to receive his award as another hospital trip was required to check out strained knee ligaments following a crunching tackle. Despite the hit, he had managed to offload the ball to Alex Adams who then fed Chad Rands for perhaps the try of the game.

The squad settled down to more sausage and chips after the game and the traditional coaches’ exchange of plaudits and plaques. More friends had been made and we hope to see Tony’s KHRFC squad back in Hampshire sometime so we can return the hospitality.

The match ended Kenfig Hill 26 – 36 Alton.

Alton points:-
Tries – Chad Rands, Charlie Hibbert, Joe Gwyther, Doug Lowe, Ed Simmons, Josh Smith
Conversions – Joe Gwyther (3)

Wednesday morning broke to more blazing Welsh sunshine as the lads turned up to brekkie in their superhero costumes ready for a fun-packed day in Cardiff. Remarkably, Dave Gwyther had missed the final coaches’ meeting and we had all managed to forget to tell him that adults were not expected to dress up! Fully bedecked in Zorro costume, Dave stole the show at the breakfast parade and to save himself further embarrassment he kindly donated his cozzie to Alex Adams who’d neglected to bring one and showed up as Captain Pyjamas … obviously he had to answer in court for that heinous crime but at least he was into the spirit of things by the time we boarded the bus for Sofia Gardens. Zorro, sorry Martini Man, correction, I mean Dave, was heard to be muttering to himself all morning long about Christian virtues and communication failures but we were all having too much fun trying to fix the automatic baggage doors on the bus to worry about it.  Tom Rands had returned to the dental practice so it was only fair for the adults to blame him for setting Dave up.

Charlie Hibbert arrived at brekkie as Superman on crutches and a story emerged about Josh Smith the previous night which I’m just too ashamed and appalled to detail here. Some things have to stay on tour so you’ll have to ask him yourself about that.

We met up with our Director of Rugby at the National Sports Centre in Sofia Gardens to join the GB Wheelchair Rugby squad as they were training in preparation for the next Paralympic Games. It was an honour and privilege to be mixing with these elite athletes as they displayed huge endeavour to reach their full sporting potential. We had a photocall with both squads; James “Granite” Airey and Team Manager Ady Blizzard were presented with GBWR t-shirts and everyone enjoyed the experience. GBWR will have 30 more fans at the next games supporting them and all hoping they go at least one better than the fourth place they achieved at the last games.

A short walk over to Westgate Street and the superheros were released onto an unsuspecting Cardiff for a couple of hours’ shopping and calorie hunting. The adults took themselves off to the Old Arcade and met up with Dom Gwyther to see how student life was treating him. Then it was a tour of the Millennium Stadium and a quick supper before the evening’s entertainment of watching the superhero movie “KickAss” – very appropriate given the dress code. Ralph found an adoring female fan club following his three-legged progress, they weren’t to know it was his wallet in his lycra pants!