Belfast High vs Hugh McRoberts

Beautiful backdrop, perfect weather a good sized crowd and a comptitive match made this a great day for rugby.

The Strikers showed much improved form in the match today. The forwards were comprehensively more physical with better committment in the loose play and managed possession better in contact. Flanker Connor Martyniuk terrorized the Belfast halfbacks with his tackles and relentless pressure on the Belfast halfbacks. The Strikers' improved start was rewarded with an early penalty from which Mo Rahmaty slotted in the three points. Belfast responded with a change in tactics opting to move the ball very rapidly out to their backs, creating overlaps and attacking on the wings with tremendous pace and skilled passing. Their kicks into the corners paid off for Belfast with successive tries. The second half brought more of the same from Belfast who capitalized from our mistakes and missed tackles. In spite of this McRoberts came back with tries from Kapi Vataiki and Adam Webster. The end result: Belfast 34 to McRoberts 17; another loss but an altogether much improved effort.

Adam Webster was again awarded the man of the match award by our hosts but other notably good performances came from Kamal Sidhu, Andy Lam and Connor Martyniuk.

County Antrim

March 18th: Arrived in Belfast shortly after our visit to Bru Na Boinne. This is a wonderful, modern, cosmopolitan center which has shed its troubled past. As usual, our hosts at Belfast High are superbly organized and very gracious. Boys are looking a bit tired so a good night's rest is definitely in order.

March 19th: Thought we like rugby? This school has 4 sets of uprights. That's 4 rugby pitches. Every other sport is, well, just another sport. Rugby is paramount. (Pure bliss). After a good morning training session we made our way up the Antrim coast to Giant's Causeway. The Causeway is a formation of basalt rock columns created over 60 million years ago as a result of volcanic eruptions and the subsequent cooling. The end result is breathtaking, mysterious and powerful. Today the Giant's Causeway is a World heritage site. The images don't do this place justice.

A pleasant surprize, we were joined today by Mr. Duncan Bees who came out to see his son Graeme on tour. How nice is that?

Bru Na Boinne

March 19th, visited Bru Na Boinne (Newgrange). The boys did a tour of the Neolithic burial mounds which pre-date the Ancient pyramids of Egypt by 500 years. The entry faces 90 degrees due east parlleling the subsequent layout of Christian cathedrals. During the winter solstice a ray of sunlight enters the front of the mound producing a tapering ray of light that illuminates the center chamber for a total of 17 minutes. The engineering expertise required in such a design is astounding given the fact it was completed over 5000 years ago. The lottery subscription for the mere 100 places available to enter Bru Na Boinne on December 21st numbers typically over 32,000.

NEWSFLASH: British Airways goes on strike

The good news is we won't be affected. BA cabin crews will start the first of two organized strike actions. The schedule is as follows:

- a 3 day action starting March 20th

- an additional 4 day action starting March 27th

We leave for home March 26th. Apparently good timing... Obviously, we will keep you all posted if there are any further developments.

Happy Saint Patrick's day

Dublin is a great town; a non-stop party from one end to the other. And, as far as the Irish are concerned, Saint Patrick's day is just an official excuse for... another big party.

March 16th was our first full day in town and one could see the preparations for the upcoming parade and celebrations everywhere. The boys spent a few hours exploring the sights and sounds of Grafton and O'Connell, St. Stephen's Green and Temple Bar district. By the time they returned to the coach, more than a few of them were sporting the conspicuous green leprechaun hats, scarves and tattooes (the washable kind!)

Wednesday morning our game against High School kicked off at 10:30 a.m.. This would allow us to have the afternoon for another trip into town to watch the Leinster School's cup final.

Our game was a very good lesson in expansive and enterprising rugby by our Irish hosts. Whereas the Welsh favoured a bashing, physical style, the High School was typical of the Irish fast paced high energy game. The ball spent relatively little time in rucks and mauls and once out was moved with tremendous speed through very skilled hands. It was a long day for our centers.

Some adjustments were made in the second half and McRoberts opted to keep the ball tight in the forward pack, picking and driving from the breakdowns and this paid off with an excellent try from Adam Webster. Arnold Lam was a model of hard work at scrum-half today, marshalling his troops but also doing a lot of tackling applying pressure on the opposing halfback. The end tally was 27-7. Deservedly, both Adam and Arnold were awarded "man of the match" honnours by the other team.

Post Game: Hosts brought all of us to a local restaurant for a hot lunch featuring traditional Irish stew (A faithful and savoury Saint Paddy's day standby) Afterwards, we went to the RDS stadium to watch the Leinster Schools Cup final between Clongowes Wood and St. Michael's College. Attendance: 31 McRoberts guys and 19,000 other Dubliners. Let's put this in perspective; 19000 spectactors for a highschool rugby game. This is unlike anything we have in Canada let alone B.C. And nothing quite compares to the kind of atmosphere generated at such an event. Ireland is a rugby-mad nation and the schools, where it is played at the highest skill levels, take it very seriously. In fact the game is so important and so popular that it is televised on national television. The two most widely watched sporting events in all of Ireland in the last week have been, the Cheltenham festival and the Leinster School's final.

Tomorrow we'll be heading off to New Grange and then Belfast for our next stop.

It's all good craic...

It's not just any High school...

cead mile failte...

Following our visit to Conwy castle we caught the fast ferry from Holyhead to Dublin. The crossing was much like the weather in Wales...suprisingly good. No big waves or storm and so nobody got sick. When we come back to England next week we may not be so lucky; we'll be on the bigger, slower boat and, as we've seen before, the weather can be unpredicatble. So the boys may yet experience that "right of passage". We'll keep our fingers crossed while they keep their gravol handy.
Arrived in Dublin and got to The Highschool ahead of schedule, a first. Boys were greeted by the next group of hosts and were soon off for an evening's rest. Tomorrow will see a proper training session in the morning followed by a day at leisure in the city.

A trip back in time; Conwy Castle

Two things: We realize that earlier we said we would be visiting Caernarfon castle but unfortunately traffic on the motorways meant we had to make a contingency plan for our castle visit or miss the ferry to Ireland. As luck had it, we were close enough to a number of Northern Welsh castles that it was a fairly easy and timely substitute. It would be Conwy.

Secondly, it's spelled just like that, Conwy, with one vowel less than you'd expect. (The Welsh like their consonants...)

Built in the early 13th century, Conwy castle is a model of medieval architecture featuring all those cool things we learn about in SS8 like merlons, crenelations, port cullis, barbicanes, arrow loops and so on.

Good bye Ponty, on to Dublin...

Our day started early with many handshakes, hugs from host families and friendlygoodbyes. The boys have made many new friends and this as, usual, is the best part of any to ur. It's the people that make the experience memorable and the Welsh with their warmth and hospitality are exemplary. We look forward to returning. Next stop is Dublin. The trip goes now goes northward up the M4 and we connect to the M50, then the M6 the M54 and the A5 into Bangor, then Caernarfon castle before catching the fast ferry to Ireland.

March 13th

Our first day proper in Wales started with a game...

We were hoping for a training day to acclimatize but we had to work our schedule around the 6 nations match that was going on.

The game started off very competitively with both teams contesting well for possession at the breakdowns. Before the end of the first half though, it was clear that the boys were struggling with their lack of acclimatizing and the rucks and tackles became less effective as did the lineouts resulting in two quick tries for Ponty. More of the same in the second half but McRoberts finished with an excellent try to end the game with Kapi Vataiki, doing what he does best; making space where therenis none. Kapi fed a hard charging Adam Webster who touched it down between the uprighhts fornthe try. Final score: Ponty 31 McRoberts 7

Ponty coaches very impressed with Adam Webster who was an absolute work horse, making tackles, keeping the Ponty defense on their toes and leading and providing model leadership in his first stint as Striker captain. Andy Lam also impressed with his a
excellent tackling.

March 14th

Excursion day. Started with a visit to the Big Pit mining museum and then some time in Cardiff.