Last weekend saw the Colts team head off to tour the fair city of Dublin, Ireland. Friday saw the start of the journey with nearly everyone arriving at Stansted on time and tour polo shirts given out (courtesy of TWC). With time to kill (or so we thought) in the departure area, the tour party discussed tactics for the weekend over a drink or went for a nutritious meal. First minor error, not to check the gate closing time properly! So round two of the drinks downed very quickly (good weekend practice for some), and a mad dash for those with food to get to the gate.

No hiccups through security, Seb’s replacement hip not causing a delay this time. Before long the squad was airborne and heading to Dublin where we were met by Brendan and a short journey later we were at the hotel, Seb making it very clear that he would fall out quickly with anyone trashing (forgive the pun Christian) their room. The hotel was a wee bit (forgive the pun Christian) of a step up from usual tour accommodation.

Soon it was to be ‘tour rules’ meeting, hosted by our one and only Seb. Certain rules can only stay with the boys, but some can be allowed into the public realm. First up: banned words. These included “Ireland, Dublin and Rugby”. No pointing allowed through the tour, and even now some are still using their elbows when back in England!!

Another of note was Gheckoman (more on this later). After the meal it was time to wander into the town. A very welcoming pub was found and it was time to relax and enjoy the company of the tour party and the locals. Several tour games were in operation, and soon players were getting the hang of these along with most of the locals! An early night for all was had….not.

Saturday morning’s breakfast time arrived and some players looked worse for wear than others (Kieran!), but the coaches were fine. The morning saw an excellent training session held by the Trinity College coach Tony Smeeth, with all of the players giving 100% in this session.

We followed this with a tour of the Aviva Stadium, the home of Irish rugby. This gave the players a chance to get some photo’s and maybe a momento to take take home?

A meet up with Lee and Sonja (in Dublin for the weekend) and to watch some local rugby being played adjacent the stadium and then it was onto the Gaelic Games Experience where the tour party took part in some Gaelic Football and Hurling. Gheckoman came into play during the session, where everyone had to have 3 parts of the body touching a vertical surface. Funniest part was the 4 participants not part of our tour party running around trying to figure out what we were all doing!!

It was then back to the hotel for a night of watching a poor England
performance against the French and some socialising in the bar. Another early night before the game tomorrow….no again not an early night! (Must pay more attention to my notes)

Sunday rather like Saturday morning, but 2 players late for breakfast and the pre-match meeting. You know who you are…..Ben and Matt. They would suffer for this later as part of the tour rules. The weather was wet throughout the journey and was set in for the game against Portarlington. We had 16 players, and 2 of these were carrying long term injuries. They had a squad of 24. But as the saying goes “we are where we are”. Warm up done and kick off time!

The first 2 minutes were a blur, especially for Sherard and their scrum half as a clash of heads saw both off the pitch with cuts. Sherard did return after treatment, but their number 9 had to sit out the rest of the game. The game was tactical with Portarlington using their bigger pack to gain momentum and Wold using pace to gain ground. Jobe on the wing made two great hits early, to set the tone for the tackling. There were some fine runs through Jonny and Cairns, and with quick ball Ben was letting the backs loose. Our hosts then missed a penalty wide and we gained field position through Matt’s run and support from Alex and Morgan. Just as we thought we had the overlap, we started to drift (bad habit again) resulting in space being lost. Some quick tap and goes from Darius ensured we stayed on the front foot, with Callum always looking to join the line from his unaccustomed role at full back.

Portarlington then took the lead after they were awarded a penalty in front of the posts. 3-0 down and again we looked to use the pace we had, as Christian made good ground. With Phill always at the breakdown quickly, he was turning over ball at will but just as we hoped to get on the scoreboard the first half whistle went. The second half started with some great hands on the right between Ben, Kieran and Ollie resulting in the latter going over for our first try. Ben’s superb conversion from out wide into the wind and rain saw us lead 3-7. Then what proved to be a controversial try, as a pass was intercepted and they scored in the corner. All assumed he was onside but we were all proved wrong after looking at the video recording to show he was 5 yards offside. But that is the way the game goes. The players had their heads up and knew they could get back in the game. Following some good play from Hugo at the ruck, the play spread across the pitch. Jobe made good ground with a striking run and Christian drove on with good support from Morgan, Alex and Sherard but it was Darius who picked up and powered over the line to score. Ben was unlucky with the conversion, but we were back in the lead.

The opposition came back strongly and made good ground and when Ollie slid in to the clear a loose ball he was sin binned as his foot was up. Portarlington took good advantage of the extra man, and after several good phases of possession they powered over to score again. They soon increased the lead as they used their forward strength to create space and score a well worked try. They now led 18-12, with about 10 minutes left as Jacob entered the field for the first time since January. He was soon in the thick of it as he got nailed in the tackle, but got up and put in two fine tackles himself. Jobe made two powerful runs down his flank into their 22, and Kieran doing likewise on the right. As Callum joined the line we were getting closer to their try line, but after the clock had turned red, a penalty awarded against us and we thought it was all over. But our hosts decided to run the penalty and after gaining ground into our half, they crossed giving us a penalty. Well in to extra time and after several good phases of link up play between the backs, Ollie slipped the tackler and went under the posts to score. Ben calmly slotted over to see us win by one point. A cracking game as the ref put it!

After players changed into the ‘after game’ cartoon characters fancy dress, Pinocchio (or was it Seb?) exchanged gifts with the Portarlington captain. It was then on to the usual drinking games and sing songs with both sets of players. Some of the players making good contacts with the opposite players for social media use.

As the Portarlington Facebook page stated, “Great day out in the club today. Really entertaining match which Southwold won by a point followed by great craic in the clubhouse! Both sets of players, coaches and supporters were a credit to their clubs. That's how you do pre-season!”

A break in the drinking as we journeyed back for evening meal, preparing for the Kangaroo Court. Sorry no details of this can be published, but no doubt some of them will tell you bits n pieces? Then as the older lads ventured into the Dublin night to sample local nightlife, the rest remained at the hotel for some last minute socialising. Some didn’t make Monday morning breakfast but considering they were eating pizza at 5, they probably weren’t hungry! A few looking a little tired? and the coach journey to the airport was quiet!

At Stansted the players said the ‘goodbyes’, as the older players now venture on to their chosen paths.

I’m sure the players enjoyed the tour, I can speak only for me and I thoroughly enjoyed their company along with the not so “responsible” adults. Well done Seb, I know the time and effort put in is appreciated by all.

Roll on the re-union tour Seb!!