Tour Report

The under 14s departed from Grange Park on Friday evening, to stay at The Village Hotel in Walsall.

The hotel was welcoming and comfy and this group of hotels is ideal for rugby tours, being good value if booked ahead and amenable to
flexibility.

First match against Bromsgrove on Saturday.  A traditional club with a long tradition of mini and junior rugby that is generally pretty
successful.

The match was hard fought and despite excellent performances from the team, Wetherby lost 34 to 5. The Wetherby try scorer was Gordon Bowe, a superb individual break from the back of an attacking scrum.

Saturday afternoon saw the ecstasy of Wales' hard fought win, followed by the calamity of England's performance, then off to the swimming
pool for the kids, followed by a trip to the all you can eat buffet and finally Ten Pin Bowling, before bed.

Sunday saw Old Halesonians welcome us and Kidderminster for a triangular tournament.

Wetherby under 14s started off slowly, but gathered pace.  Kiddy scored two tries and Wetherby had the first try disallowed, since the
ball was touched down on the wrong line, due to the state of the pitch, Nick Whitehead having made a superb break and apparently
scoring unopposed, only for the ref to point out that it was a parallel line just short of the true try line.  Very frustrating.  The final insult saw a break from Huw Davies, feeding to Nick Whitehead for the final move of the day.  A kick through allowed him an apparent easy touchdown, for him to be taken out off the ball.  A certain penalty try not awarded and the game was disappointingly lost, but the score could/should have been different.

This spurred the under 14s on to a brilliant performance in the second match, against the much fancied Old Hales, who had earlier put Kiddy
to the sword.

Two tries were scored by Wetherby, another incredible break from Gordon Bowe saw an 80 yard dash from the back of the scrum.  The
second could not have been different.  Multiple driving plays from the forwards finally presented the ball to Alex 'The Bullet' Tullett, who
gratefully collected and made a head numbing drive for the line and an exceptional touch down.  The final score was a cracking conversion
from Chris Kay and the win was secured.  When asked for man of the match after the 14 v 12 victory, coach Simon Parrish was unable to
single out any single individual, but rather celebrating a true team performance and collective grit securing victory.

An award ceremony saw the Wetherby shield proudly received by Old Hales, to be mounted on the wall for posterity.  Huw Davies collected
their club tie on behalf of Wetherby and many beers were consumed by the dads.  A great and successful tour.

Mervyn Davies

Tour photos (thanks to Keith Robinson for the pictures)

If you cannot see the photos, click here for the album in a new window.

To navigate the album (best viewed if you right click on the main image and choose "go to full screen" then click on main image to move forwards)

• choose the match you want to view using the menu to the left of the main image

• click on the main image to move on to the next picture

• or just wave your mouse around the thumbnails to move back and forth to the thumbnail you require then click on it to open it up. 

• If you click on the main image with your right mouse button, you will have the option to open up the album on the whole of your screen.