Rugby Heads to the UK
February 5, 2009
A group of Nudgee College staff and students headed to the UK during the school holidays for the College’s first ever tour of England.
The tour was a great success from both a rugby and educational perspective, as Nudgee College Director of Activities Peter Todd reports:
"In the final week of November, 45 Nudgee College students and a group of staff headed off on our first ever tour of England. The tour was based around Birmingham and the Cambridge area, with sightseeing in London.
The boys played 5 matches against English private schools, watched the Wallabies play the Barbarians at Wembley Stadium, visited the Rugby School and trained on their hallowed turf where the game began, had a coaching session with Eddie Jones and Richard Graham at Saracens Rugby Club, visited Twickenham and the RFU Rugby Museum, and watched Harlequins play Stade Francious in the Europen Heinekin Cup.
We had some added support for our first match of the tour against the Oundle School with a bus load of Nudgee College Old Boys meeting in London and travelling up to Oundle to watch. It was great to have them on the sideline and they were pleased to see some Nudgee College rugby.
The boys were twice hosted for three nights by English families which allowed them to learn about English family life. The boys’ behaviour and standard of manners were outstanding and the positive impression this left of Nudgee College was immeasurable.
All members of the touring party also learnt a lot from visits to popular London locations including the Tower of London, Windsor and Warwick Castles, Shakespeare’s houses in Stratford, Westminster Abbey, Madam Tussaud’s, and famous Bath City.
Tour results were:
Oundle School
1st XV: 0-10 Defeat
Junior: 17 -10 Win
Warrick School
1st XV: 33 - 0 Win
Junior: 19 - 0 Win
King Edward Grammar
1st XV: 49 - 5 Win
Junior: 19 - 8 Win
Oakham School
1st XV: 10 - 10 Draw
Junior: 25 - 7 Win
Whitgift School
1st XV: 19 - 18 Win
Junior: 17 - 3 Win
Outstanding players on tour were Ted Postal, Stephano Hunt, Zac Franks, Luke Canty, Doug Taylor, Levi Power, Jake Myers, Ben Arnold, Ben Rowlatt, Jake Milne, Sam Jefferies, and Phil Kite
My thanks go to all the boys and staff - Mark Ensor, David Miles, Todd Dammers, Mark Braithwaite, Christine Atchison and Thalia Todd – on a great tour."