Scotch College

Our three tour with Vic Under 16 rugby team

The Victorian Schoolboys' Rugby Union sent an under sixteen touring team to the United Kingdom in November - December, 2000. Three boys from Scotch were selected as part of the thirty strong squad. They were Angus Marshall, Charles Bowler and Michael Green.

The boys spent several months in preparation, training most Sunday mornings at Scotch in the lead up to the tour. The Team Manager of the tour was Scotch's Under 15s Coach Mr Chris Taylor, who during the year also managed the Australia A Schoolboys' Team in New Zealand. He was also presented with the Australian Sports Medal just prior to the tour leaving, for his services to Rugby Union for the past twenty years.

The boys arrived into the heart of the worst rain England had experienced since records had been taken in that country. Flooding was wide-spread and grounds were extremely heavy. After touring Oxford and Bath the team was billeted by the Ysgol Glantaff School, in Wales. They visited the Millennium Stadium and Cardiff Castle before travelling back into England to Worcester.

The Kings School was the next group to host and the visit was arranged by Mr Malcolm Gill a former UK exchange teacher at Scotch. A coach trip to Shakespeare country, and Stratford-on-Avon gave the boys a taste of British history. The following day, after a tight, but muddy game against Kings School, the team travelled to Ireland in their coach, boarding the Holyhead Ferry and finally arriving in Dublin.

Ireland was a great experience and the lads were able to travel from the South up to Belfast in the North, visiting Trinity College, Bushmills Distillery, the Guinness Brewery, Giants Causeway and the Lansdowne Road Rugby Ground.

The host school in Belfast was the Belfast Royal Academy. Two games were played against their school, with Victoria narrowly losing both. The rain and mud made quick ball difficult, and control in the loose, almost impossible. A ferry from Belfast Port took us to England, where we travelled up to Scotland by coach, staying in Edinburgh. The boys were able to see the famous Edinburgh Castle and the Murrayfield Ground.

After a win in Scotland, the party travelled down through the beautiful Lakes District for a game against the Wirral Grammar School near Liverpool, resulting in a narrow loss to us. The boys were able to visit the Beatles Museum and then travel on to the Roman City of Chester. Our final billet for the trip was based in North London; Campion School. The team had the opportunity to visit Cambridge the day before our match and we were able to see the magnificent Kings College Chapel. The following day we played the final game against Campion, which resulted in a very narrow loss. The pitch was so rain soaked, that boys' boots were up to the sock line in mud. It was difficult to distinguish members of either team by the end of the match.

The final few days of the tour were spent in London, staying at a hotel in Kensington. The team visited the famous rugby pitch at Twickenham, the Horse Guards, Buckingham Palace, The Tower Of London, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, Whitehall and Trafalgar Square. In the evening they saw a West End play 'Buddy'.

This capped off a fantastic trip and opportunity to experience top level rugby and hone their individual playing skills.

Mr Chris Taylor, Team Manager