With the Tour kit issued (arrived the night before - phew!), 28 excited minis and four less than excited coaches boarded the Bullicks bus to make the journey south. After an entertaining, song filled bus trip (confiscated rugby balls were returned to their owners on arrival!), the tour party arrived at Athy RFC and got changed ready to warm-up for their matches.
The touring party was split into three appropriately named squads; the Bucks, Stags and Harts and placed into three different groups for a series of matches against U10 teams from across all four provinces. Excellent rugby was played by all three squads, with the Bucks having the best run of form with some 26 tries across their 4 matches with no tries conceded. The Stag and Harts also performed exceptionally well with several good wins against very strong opposition. All of the Ballynahinch squads were complimented by other teams and coaches as being “well organised, ferocious in defence and strong in attack”, something the Club takes great pride in!
After the rugby was finished, the pitches became camp grounds and tents were pitched in the vain hope that sleep would be achieved at some point during the evening. Athy RFC had laid on some great food and fantastic team building activities to ensure that the minis staying were tired out. It was at this point we were introduced to the new and novel sport of space hopper football! The photo is self-explanatory. The activities were finished with a ‘provincial’ sing-song around a camp fire, with Clogher Valley and Holywood U11s joining Hinch as the Ulster contingent and there was many a voice lost to cries of SUFTUM.
The chore of trying to get the squads to bed now became as hopeless a task as had been predicted by those coaches who had experience of last years’s camp-out. As Ulster onesies were donned and the improvised after midnight rugby festival started, sleep became a vain hope. Some sleep was had by some members of the touring squad, with responsibility for snoring being fairly blamed (by the coaches!) on the Under 10s rather than themselves.
A second dawn chorus of Ulster, Munster, Leinster and Connacht roused anyone who had actually managed to get to sleep and the tents were packed away and breakfast was served. Once complete, the bus was loaded with the kit, minis and Coaches and the unsurprisingly quiet journey back started. Everyone was safely delivered (slight late due to the requirement to spend any remaining Euros at a motorway service station) to the waiting parents back at Ballymacarn.
An excellent trip was had by all and the Ballynahinch RFC Under 10s represented the Club and themselves to the highest of standards, both on and off the pitch, as the numerous accolades bear out. A huge vote of thanks have to be given to the Coaches - Michael Preston, Michael Mitchell, Chris Hanlon and David Cockfield for taking the trip away and particularly to Coral Environmental and Cherton Enterprise Ltd for sponsoring the tour kit.
Planning is already underway for next year’s trip!