2011 Tour Diary - Click Here to see the original (With Photographs)
Caldicot U14s Tour: Cornwall 25th – 27th March 2011
Day 1: Friday 25th March
After the long haul down from Monmouthshire to Cornwall (3 hours if you’re lucky) everyone arrived at the Perran Sands Holiday Village, Perranporth.
Nice site, pretty good caravans and not far from the beach so first thing is to have a bit of a training session down there. No need for fitness training though because the climb back up from the bottom of the cliff would test the best athletes. Then there’s a session in the pool for the boys, well actually they all just went swimming.
An evening in the “camp” club beckons for the adults, and the boys hit the amusement arcade for some team bonding! Lewis “lovebites” Jones meets a female vampire. However, Darren insisted on an early night due to an early kick off the following morning so everyone was in bed by 11:30 at the earliest – I’m not sure who was the last one to leave the club though!
Day 2: Saturday 26th March
An early start L meet up at 8:30ish for our bus ride to the first game against Redruth RFC. If you’ve seen Harry Potter, the ride was a lot like that one – double decker and a very similar driver!
Take it away Ernie, It’s going to be a bumpy ride!!!
Well we make it to Redruth RFC (down a very narrow street for a double decker bus), obviously a decent club with a stand and everything! Bacon sarnies and tea all round and we make our way up to the second pitch to prepare for the game. Mr. Simon Allsop is unexpectedly called up to refereeing duty and had to borrow some kit from one of the Redruth dads – including his trainers leaving him to run around all morning in his socks!
Match 1: Redruth U14s vs Caldicot U14s
The first team of the tour to take to the field was as follows:
1. Ben McKeon-Williams 9. Evan Hall
2. Jack Herbert 10. Karl Bradshaw
3. Steven Allsop 11. Will Francis
4. Lewis Jones 12. James Hussey
5. Iwan White 13. Liam Spencer
6. Adam Davies 14. Barney Nightingale
7. Brandon Mustoe 15. Callum Lewis
8. Jack Kedward
16. Mitchell Boswell 17. Tom Bennet 18. Jordan Fuller
19. Nick Weaving 20. Dodgey 21. Ewan Davies
Caldicot kicked off and started the tour off with a bang when Jack Kedward got the first try of the trip. Caldicot won the ball from a Redruth scrum and Barney, James and Will took the ball on. When it went loose Redruth kicked ahead but only to Barney who almost made it over. The Caldicot pressure brought a couple of penalties with first a tap and go from Steve then one from Jack bringing the try. James converted for a good start to the game and the tour.
It looked like Redruth had struck right back when they won a scrum from a maul and sent the ball through the hands of their backs but in his attempt to put the ball down under the posts rather than touching down straight away the Redruth player strayed over the dead ball line – no try! A few minutes of deadlock followed with Caldicot putting on most of the pressure including a massive hand off from James leaving his opposite number crumpled in a heap on the floor. The pressure told and Caldicot’s second came when Brandon’s persistence at a line out gave possession to Evan then to Karl, James and Will. Will set up a ruck and Iwan, Jack and Brandon took the ball on with Brandon getting the score and James getting another conversion, 14 – 0.
Caldicot now had the measure of Redruth and from here on it never looked like they would really threaten. James obviously wanted to practise his place kicking when he slotted over a penalty to stretch the lead to 17 at half time.
Ewan, Jordan, Mitch and Nick took to the field at halftime with Lewis, Ben, Liam and Jack taking a break – it will be a long tour and we are a squad not just a team!
Caldicot scored with only seconds of the second half underway when Mitch caught the Redruth kick off with his first touch (good substitution coach!) and gave the ball to James who scored and converted.
Then came try of the tour. Pressure from Brandon and Jack K. had forced a Redruth fumble and a Caldicot scrum. Redruth put in a good shove pushing the Caldicot 8 back but they still won the ball. Evan gave a short pass to Karl and Barney came in on a great angle and, with Karl’s pass timed perfectly, no Redruth defender got near him. James missed the extra two points but it didn’t really matter, at 29 – 0 Caldicot were cruising. Tom started his tour when Karl went off injured with James moving to the vacant fly half position.
More injuries followed in close succession, Brandon getting a kick in the head and Evan having to leave the field with a twisted knee. Will who had gone off moments earlier for Dodgey went back on to full back and Callum moved up to scrum half. Barney then produced another candidate for try of the tour. Redruth were enjoying a brief spell of pressure and their forwards had won a 5m scrum from a maul. They pushed all the way to the line but our chief poacher, Brandon, amazingly stole their thunder (and the ball). Brandon gave the ball to Barney on the Caldicot try line and all he had to do was to sprint the length of the field to score!!!
Maybe this inspired Redruth in some way because they scored next and showed that, had the disallowed try been scored, things could have been different. The touchdown in the corner meant a tricky kick and needless to say, when the best that could be offered as a tee was a coffee cup, it was missed, Caldicot 34 – Redruth 5.
Ben returned with Jordan moving back from prop to his more familiar second row position, Iwan now taking a rest. Caldicot were now having fun, the changes in personnel didn’t seem to make any difference to the team and this must have given all of the boys some confidence. James was obviously in a confident mood when he tried a drop goal just inside the Redruth half – anything Zinzan Brooke can do!!!
[Oh, and if you’re too young to know who Zinzan is, he was number 8 for the all blacks and he dropped a goal from 47m against England in the semi-final of the 1995 world cup! Perhaps Jack K should start practising drop goals?!?]
A great game came to a close when Tom charged down a Redruth clearance kick in their 22 and Will followed up to score making it a great start and a 41 -5 emphatic victory.
Back to the club house for some San Miguel in some fancy glasses (some of which may have made their way back to Caldicot) and curry and chips.
We had originally planned to stay all day and watch Redruth 1st team take on our Forest neighbours Cinderford but Ernie and his bus turned up to collect us at 2 O’clock so back to Perran Sands via Tesco to pick up Marnie and Karl who, like good managers, had planned a BBQ for the evening and had bought the necessary provisions. However, Tesco let us down – no disposable BBQs!!! This led to a bus tour of Redruth looking for some. Wayne H. got off for a pee while the bus was stopped on double yellows only for the Police to turn up and move Ernie on. Wayne made it back some way down the road but then the two Marks got off (wasn’t there a comedy duo called the two Marks once?). This time Ernie decided to make off up the street a bit further leaving the two Marks stranded. They made it back though and Mark B managed to capture 4 naked posteriors pushed up against the bus window for posterity!!!
Sun all day at Redruth but fog at Perranporth however, undaunted, Karl starts to set up his BBQ. “All we need is one of them fancy benches like the one up there by those posh caravans.” Karl politely knocks to ask if we can borrow it, no answer. Oh well they won’t mind we’ll borrow it anyway. Cue irate caravaner’s neighbour, obviously a brave bloke seeing as he stormed over into what was by now quite a large group. A group including one Edward “black belt” Mustoe who sends him back to his posh caravan with a ringing in his ears but not until he’s had a go at pulling down our gazebo. Anyway, after a couple of visits from security, one arising from us being too noisy even though it was only 6!!!, we have a great BBQ with the compulsory drinking games. The best one comes when Ewan “I know Pi to 26 decimal places” Davies asks for “to my right, multiples of 8”. I think Maths must be his best subject at school!
BBQ is over by about 8 and its back to the “camp” club and it certainly lives up to its name both with the antics on stage but especially with the antics off it!!! Lewis’ granddad tries to get in on the action but has a lucky escape.
End of day 2.
Day 3: Sunday 27th March
Bummer, another early start thanks to the clocks going forward. Back on the double decker but it’s not Ernie this time. Another fairly long drive – it takes a long time to get to anywhere in Cornwall. We drive up to the lovely setting of St. Austell RFC on a beautiful sunny morning. Nina Bennet just manages to avoid throwing up by being first off the bus – could it be due to last night’s sausages Joe? Tom seems to think so and accuses Joe of poisoning his mum.
Anyway, we get pride of place on the main pitch along with another touring team from Hampshire, Alton RFC. First up are the two tourists - us and Alton.
Match 2: Alton U14s vs Caldicot U14s
This time the starting line up is like this:
1. Lewis Jones 9. Evan Hall
2. Jack Herbert 10. James Hussey
3. Ben McKeon-Williams 11. Tom Bennet
4. Jordan Fuller 12. Barney Nightingale
5. Ewan Davies 13. Liam Spencer
6. Nick weaving 14. Mitchell Boswell
7. Adam Davies 15. Callum Lewis
8. Jack Kedward
16. Dodgey 17. Brandon Mustoe 18. Iwan White
19. Will Francis 20. Steven Allsop 21. Karl Bradshaw
Alton start the game off with their own Haka! Caldicot kicked off though and a one sided game followed. Hopefully Alton had some fun while they were on tour and winning isn’t everything after all.
Barney scored first with another great run and James converted. Alton restarted and Caldicot put the pressure right back on them Callum, Ben and Tom forcing them to touch down behind their own line and winning a 5m scrum. It looked like Jack K. would score from a pick up but he got stopped short. Alton had a 22 drop out and sent it long. Mitch collected and set up a ruck but the excellent referee awarded Alton, quite rightly, a penalty however a couple of passes later Alton inevitably knocked on and Caldicot had a scrum from which they kicked upfield with Brandon and Evan in hot pursuit setting up a maul. When the rest of the forwards arrived the maul ground to a halt and Caldicot won the scrum. Tom and Barney took the game to Alton and Callum also posed them problems but found the touchline. Alton tried a short line out but pressure at the ruck allowed Jack K. to pick up and charge over for a second, James converted.
Amazingly half time came with the score at only 14 – 0 to Caldicot, maybe tiredness had kept the Caldicot score down because they dominated all aspects of the game.
At half time, Jack Herbert made for Steve at hooker. This is probably a good point to sing the praises of Jack H. He’s a bit of an unsung hero, an ever present at hooker and he has probably played more minutes of rugby for Caldicot U14s than any other player – him and James are competing for the title of having most game time probably - excellent throwing in and often winning the ball in the scrum. The glory boys in the backs can’t shine without the ball and it’s the likes of Jack who get it for them, well done Jack Herbert.
Next up came another candidate for try of the tour. Alton won a line out but went rapidly backwards under intense pressure. Caldicot got a scrum and the ball found its way to Tom. Tom was tackled but the ball was recycled quickly a kick upfield was collected brilliantly by Mitch who was tackled but managed to pass to Callum who ran in for the try.
The squad played its part again and Adam left the field for Brandon and Jordan left for Iwan.
Alton restarted and James collected sending the ball upfield and winning the ball back. James to Liam, Liam to Barney, Barney to Mitch – try, simple rugby paying dividends. James converted to make the score 26 – 0, less than Caldicot deserved for a dominant display. Will took Tom’s place on the wing and Alton again restarted the game. Ben recycled the ball but it ended up in touch for an Alton line out. An Alton chip over the top was collected by Callum who took it right back, as he regularly does, setting up a ruck but the ball didn’t appear and Caldicot had to settle for a scrum. Some great back play from James, Liam and Barney took the ball forward and set up a maul. From this, a series of short passes took the ball into touch. After initially losing the ball Caldicot soon got it back and Jack K. scored to make it 31 – 0.
Karl took James’ place at fly half and Dodgey replaced Mitch but no more scores came.
Luckily the boys had a rest and poor old Alton had to take on hosts and holders of the Cornwall county cup St. Austell – it was a one sided affair!
Match 3: St. Austell U14s vs Alton U14s
St. Austell looked very good and really put Alton to the sword. Try after try came in the first half – 6 in total, halftime score St. Austell 40 – Alton 0 (Alton were lucky to get nil!!!). It was more of the same in the second half with three more tries from St. Austell for a full time score of 57 – 0 (it seems that the English don’t stop at 50 clear points).
So this set up a battle royale, England vs Wales although I’m not sure if the Cornish think if themselves as English(?) but what’s this, the referee who had performed so well in the first two games is going?!? Another ref turns up, younger, more, how can I put it? More St. Austell than the other one!!! Well let’s see.
Match 4: St. Austell U14s vs Caldicot U14s
Now I have to admit that at this point I lost it a little bit. Darren made Iwan captain and I was so very proud of him I forgot to write down the starting line up! All I put down was Lewis at number 1, James at number 12 (so I guess Karl was 10) Mitch at 14 and Will at full back – I don’t even know what number Iwan had, either 4 or 5? Anyway, we had high hopes of a clean sweep on tour but knew that St. Austell would be difficult opposition – we had no idea though just how difficult!
Caldicot made the best start possible when the Barninator struck after the forwards had won the ball for him to do his stuff. James converted and all was well but then the game changed and it was clear that no matter how well Caldicot played they were unlikely to ever win this game. Don’t get me wrong, St. Austell were very good opponents but the penalty count must have been maybe 3 to 1 against Caldicot. St. Austell struck back immediately with a try and conversion after a cross field kick to tie the game 7 – 7. St. Austell attacked from the restart and Barney made what was a candidate for try of the tour. St. Austell had a three man overlap on him but the greedy centre thought he could get past Barney – how wrong he was!
James and Barney linked up well putting Mitch in space but a knock on gave a scrum to St. Austell and surprise, surprise Caldicot were penalised for something (who knows what) giving St. Austell a free kick. The ref did spot a forward pass though and gave us a scrum. James tried probing the blind side with Barney in support but a knock on gave St. Austell a scrum. Another penalty the hosts meant they could kick to touch. Brandon put pressure on the opposition but a heavy tackle on him led to him reacting and, guess what, a St. Austell penalty. By now the Caldicot support – yes you mums and dads – were a little, how shall we say, upset with the refereeing. To say that Bladder was a bit worked up would be the understatement of the century! But half time arrived with the game hanging delicately in the balance 7 – 7.
Maybe we could prevail, James, Barney and Liam all pressed hard but the signs were bad when St. Austell cleared upfield and when Will caught the ball, the referee’s whistle blew for a penalty (to St. Austell of course) – both sets of supporters were completely baffled! The kick went to touch and from the resulting line out St. Austell scored try and conversion.
More decisions went St. Austell’s way, scrums and penalties. At one Caldicot scrum Evan put the ball in but it hit the props leg and came straight back (i.e. no scrum). The ref’s whistle headed towards his mouth to blow for a reset but when a St. Austell boy collected the loose ball it mysteriously moved back down to his side!
St. Austell almost scored again had it not been for Will Francis. Will made the tackle of the tour when a St. Austell player had broken free and was heading for the line. Will chased him down and brought him down forcing a knock on. From the scrum James took the ball on and Iwan, who had spent most of the game chatting with the referee, kept it going but yet again the referee’s arm went up to signify a St. Austell penalty. Caldicot showed some great play and managed to get the ball to touch after amazingly a penalty went our way. But the throw was judged not to be straight and from the scrum St. Austell scored again.
After the try, the ref even gave St. Austell a penalty, either for a late hit or for back chat – who knows? But despite this, Caldicot were not finished and another try of the tour candidate followed. James Hussey collected the kick and from just outside the 22 ran in for the try, maybe a little cheesed off at how the game (refereeing) had gone. No-one was going to stop him and the four or five St. Austell boys who tried may as well have not bothered as he swatted them out of the way like flies. Final score St. Austell 19 – Caldicot 12.
It left a bitter taste in the mouth and some decided not to partake of the St. Austell hospitality but I think this was a mistake. They served up a lovely carvery and were very complimentary of our team at the presentations. In fact, things could have got ugly if it weren’t for the carvery. At one point, the cat calls from the sidelines were getting too much for our hosts, who I think were a little embarrassed by the referring display themselves, when Clive Hussey called for a halt saying “I want my Sunday dinner after this”.
We’ve been here before (at Lichfield) and perhaps it is an inevitable part of touring. You just have to make the best of it and when it comes down to it, this tour has to be the best yet. This bunch of boys have shown all of the best that rugby offers. It’s a game for all shapes and sizes and each one has a job to do, fast or slow, big or small. We have enough team spirit to take on all comers and the results from this season show that it takes a great team (or a dodgy ref) to beat these boys.
St. Austell have some pictures on their website – here’s the link...
http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/staustell/photos/u14--saints-v-caldicott--27-117895.html
Anyway, Sunday lunch over and we’re back to Perran Sands. Brilliant sunshine at St. Austell, fog at Perranporth – there’s a pattern emerging here. A hastily arranged end of tour presentation is next on the list with prizes for Player of the tour, try of the tour, tackle of the tour and joker of the tour.
First up is try of the tour and it has to be Barney’s try against Redruth, although his length of the pitch run came a close second. Callum’s try against Alton also got a mention from the work Mitch did to put Callum away. Tackle of the tour came down to two, both against St. Austell one for Barney and one for Will, Will got the nod as his almost certainly saved a try. Next came the Joker – Evan and Lewis were commended but the prize went to Liam for his baby bonnet and bib which he seemed to wear even when he didn’t need to (hmmm).
Finally, the award for player of the tour came up. It has to be said that this is a really very good team and the whole squad performed as well as they could. Special mention was made to the front five without whom the backs couldn’t function and this isn’t restricted to just five but Steve, Jack H., Ben, Jordan, Iwan, Lewis, Ewan and Nick should all be proud of their efforts. Mitch had a great tour, Brandon and Barney were prominent, Will and Tom did well but the prize had to go to James who really led from the front and showed some fantastic skill in all three games – especially the drop goal attempt! Maybe next time it’ll go over.
I can’t speak for anyone else but for me this was the best tour we’ve had and this season has been a great season. We’ve got a good team here and I wish everyone all the best for next season.
I don’t know what happened in the evening because I had to go back for work the following morning – maybe the “camp” club has some more stories to be told.
L-R, Back row: Carl Lewis (Team manager), Jordan Fuller, Liam Spencer, Will Francis, Karl Bradshaw, Steven Allsop, Barney Nightingale, James Hussey, Ewan Davies, Jack Kedward, Dodgey a.k.a. Kieron Samuel, Lewis Jones, Callum Lewis. Front row: Alan Bradshaw (coach), Tom Bennet, Ben McKeon-Williams, Mitchell Boswell, Adam Davies, Evan Hall, Nick Weaving, Brandon Mustoe, Jack Herbert, Darren Weaving (coach), Iwan White (lying).
P.S. Thanks for the hat...