On to London

First bit of sightseeing in London, the big guns out front of the Imperial War Museum. Very cool.

Not exactly sure what all the fuss was about; lots of people were milling about this old house. Somebody named Bill used to live there??? ;->

No rugby tour would be complete without an added cultural component such as this, a Striker tradition; a stop in Stratford upon Avon for the requisite visit to Greggs. (It's an English thing, Partridge would understand...)

The last fixture

The final game on tour always seems to be the toughest; not necessarily because the opposition is so much better but because the boys have come to a point where physically they are taxed the most. The fatigue of long travel, early mornings, changes in sleep and diet patterns as well as the odd sniffle and stuffy head takes its greatest toll at this point. Yet invariably it is also the point at which the team displays the best that they have taken from this formative experience through their bonding, their positive attitudes and in the effort they put out on the playing field. Though we lost this game it was our most competitive effort. The shock-loading of high level rugby that started March 12th has now started to pay dividends for this young Striker side. Improvements have come across the board from the set pieces to completing passes under pressure to kicking, to winning the contact area through improved tackling, rucking and repetitive phases of possession. Needless to say we are very proud of this group of athletes who have started to come together as a rugby team.

A trip down memory lane

If you're old enough to remember the Beatles, well, you're old... Having said that, one is never too old to enjoy their music and learning about their history. Our second day back in England started with a Beatles tour. The trip into Liverpool involved a "ferry cross the Mersey" (Anyone know the song; Jerry and the pacemakers?)

After a brief wait and some dockside entertainment provided by Mr. H, Paddy Pascal and a few dozen crazed pigeons we met our very knowledgeable guide Jackie. From that point we were treated to a fascinating history lesson on the lives of all the Beatles and learned about the events that brought the band members together as well as the places and events that shaped their music and careers. As we went through the old streets stopping at various locations, the music played, the lyrics now came to us. Magic.

On the Wirral

After meeting our hosts at St. Anselm's College, the boys were off for a good night's sleep. The following morning, we ran a final tour training session and then we were off to the city of Chester. Chester is a lovely city characterized by its old Roman walls and "the Rows" which are shopping galleries and boutiques lining either side of the streets. The stores operate out of storybook tudor style buildings which make for a great postcard.

On to England for the final fixture

The trip back into England brought us back through North Wales. Our first stop from the ferry was this rather lonely train station rendered famous by its excessively long name (58 letters) Uhmm... What were the Welsh thinking?
Anyway the phonetics, if you can read them, are above. The translation:
"The church of Mary in the hollow of the white hazel near the fierce whirlpool and the church of Tysilio by the red cave"

Fascinating...

Ouch...

Well, it just wouldn't be tour without at least one trip to the hospital. In this case one of our young players ended up with this little badge of honour following a particularly hard tackle in the game vs. Belfast. At first we were concerned the injury would require an extended stay in Belfast and surgery, not the best situation given our timetable. Fortunately we were informed that this could be dealt with at home.

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.