The Early May Bank Holiday weekend welcomed the much anticipated U12's Tour to Devon (a first tour for this group) and participation in The Big Devon Bash, superbly organised by Burleigh Travel. After a season of slightly more downs than ups results wise this tour was much needed and we travelled with a squad of 13 along with two specific goals in mind: have plenty of fun and build morale/team spirit for the step up to U13's rugby in September.

Arriving slightly later than planned due to the inevitable Bank Holiday traffic the boys quickly settled themselves into their surroundings for the weekend, PGL Barton Hall near Torquay while the parents retired to the bar to decompress.
Saturday offered a full day of activities including abseiling, team building/problem solving, aeroball, turns on the giant swing and hours in the outdoor swimming pool, all undertaken in glorious sunshine.

After a relatively early night Sunday brought about an early start and a significant change in the weather, specifically rain and lots of it!
We left Torquay for a short trip to Ivybridge RFC with tour jerseys and game faces on to play in our pool of 5 teams featuring the hosts Ivybridge, Bridgend Athletic, Whitchurch Cardiff and Chinnor.
First up Ivybridge (a team who have been unbeaten for two straight years!), the boys performed admirably and took plenty of credit in defeat to an excellent team. Undeterred the boys went into the next match v Chinnor with plenty of confidence and got stuck in from kick off. Ferocious tackling, relentless rucking and support play along with slick hands and great finishing resulted in a 15-0 win.
With tails now well up we looked forward to Whitchurch who were no mean feat and ground out a 10-10 draw which could easily have gone our way. Bridgend proved a tougher opponent, an incredibly well drilled unit who had the luxury of being able to swap their starting 12 with another 12 substitutes at half time (how's that for a bomb squad!). Losing to the eventual tournament winners was no disgrace and TJ's performed admirably again. Finishing third in our pool our last match was against third in the opposite pool, a second Chinnor team. Determined to see the season off with a win the boys set about their work with gusto, running in four tries to secure a 20-0 win, cue raucous celebration and smiles all round! Job done.
Fun had. Morale boosted with blast proof team spirit. Bring on next season.

P.S - we are looking for more players for next season. If any club members reading this have sons, brothers, nephews, cousins, friends kids etc that are keen to try rugby and haven't yet please encourage them to get in touch with us. They will be welcomed with open arms and well looked after.

U12 Coaching Group