Another great rugby cultural trip abroad with Brods u17

Old brods u17 tour to the 25th ghent easter rugby festival.
Old brods u17 set off from the club house on Friday morning, 29th of May at 03.45 to the ghent 25th easter rugby tournament with no expectations other than having a good time on tour. On Monday 1st of april they returned as u17 champions of the tournament.
They set off and straight away there was a hold up, shed had forgot his passport. As he was the tour rep and team disciplinarian he was immediately fined by himself for the first act of gross neglegance. Nevertheless we eventually got underway. It was a long journey and with everyone sleeping, things kept calm. Once on the ferry things where beginning to get going, all the dads sat where on the top deck with teas and coffees all round, as for the lads they did there best to find anyone on the boat who needed help in anyway, and assist them whereever passible,in order to keep the good name of the brods alive.
We eventually got to our hotel in Belgium to find a quaint little spacious hotel set in beautiful surroundings. The rooms where given out and the lads went straight in and quietly and calmly unpacked their clothes, making sure to hang up pants and shirts so as not to get anymore creases in them. We then had to go to the ghent rugby club to register the team. We all decided that to keep our carbon footprint down we would use the local bus. Approximately 2 hours later we arrived to find a short walk from France to Belgium was all that was needed to finally get to the clubhouse.
On entering the clubhouse we found a well organised committee waiting for us, eager to help us through any difficulties we had in the process of registering. Another 2 hours later and we were done ready for the next morning. Some of the dads being a little tired decided to go ahead back to town in a taxi and scout out a local tea room that may still be open at 10pm at night, as for the lads they decided they would prefer to take in the night air and have a walk back into town.
Once everyone had sorted themselves out and had been fed and watered they kept to the strict curfew of 11pm in bed ready for a great day of rugby. The next morning was a slow start with everyone getting up in their own time after a great nights sleep in the spacious rooms, and a wake up shower. The breakfast was continental and just what everyone needed.
We turned up to the tournament and where shown our dressing room, with all the lads kits ready and boots pre-prepared the night before, we went off to warm up in the sunny but cool conditions. First team up was a team from Holland called rfc haarlem, who where there for the real buzz of the day, pleasantries where passed about and the game was underway. The brods team, refreshed and feeling fit went straight for the jugular disposing of a team that seemed trapped in the headlights, 31-0. With an hour to wait the dads and lads decided to watch some of the other games, especially the well trained and fit ladies teams that were on show. With plenty of shouts of encouragement everything was turning out to be a great day. Next up in the pool stages where Dartfordians rufc who looked like a more challenging group of players. Again after a great warm up by shed and cliffey the lads took to the pitch. This time it took nearly 5mins to score and the lads had some work to do. Even so they beat the team 35-0 and off to the quarter finals.
This was the toughest of the matches so far and the team called winscombe from near bath had desires of the trophy, if only the brods had not been there this may have happened, but they were, and beat them 15-0. Semis where next and the day was moving on, with no hold up and everything running to plan we had a south London team next called the beccahamiens. With their coach telling me he could not believe they had got this far I was feeling confident. And so it was, 43-0 later and we were in the final.
We all went to the changing rooms to prepare ourselves and eventually got to the field, on looking across at the Landsdowne team from Dublin I noticed a very professional outfit with more coaches than we had players. Looking at our lads I could tell they were hungry, and with the all you can eat bbq running low, shed wanted to get on with the game. After the normal shaking of hands and photos with us the game started. This was over quicker than it began with someone shouting that the burgers where running out and the coffee pots running low for the dads. The brods boys were brutal in this game and came out 25-0 winners, the cup was ours.
We all went to the main tent and with a loud cheer from all our fans we were given our trophy. Some great team speeches and a couple of songs later we left for our hotel. Once back we decided that a small celebration was needed, we all got changed to meet in the spacious entrance lobby for stroll around the town at night together to admire this beautiful town. With craig ayreton as our guide and great knowledge of the local nightlife we had a great time. Again with the strict curfew in place the lads were in bed for 11.15 after allowing an extra 15 mins due to a great days work.
Next up was a trip to Antwerp diablos and a small round robin with Rotterdam , coalville and Eversham in attendance. At this point we realised that the extra 15mins in the town we had given the boys after a long hard days rugby was a bit much, we decided that we would give the u18 lads a game and then call it a day. First up was a team from Rotterdam which for some reason had a couple of young ladies playing for them, with some clarification with their coach it was agreed that josh pickles being the captain for the day would make sure no harm would come to them. We beat this team and went on to draw against Antwerp diablos and coalville to keep the tour unbeaten record intact. After this we decided to head back to the hotel for a well earned siesta and give the brewery tour a miss.
We all met in the hotel lobby for a tour court so that any problems that had happened, could be explained and penalties dished out, with this lasting only 3 mins due to lack of incidents we moved on to town for tea. We all went for all you can eat ribs. The only thing with this was we had booked over the phone and when we arrived with all the lads that was bad enough but on the entry of shed there seemed to some panic in the kitchen area and the loud sound of shots and sounds of last mooing, nevertheless we were fed and left. We all went to a local irish bar as it was thought our opponents from the previous day were there and we would have a quick drink with them,they where no where in sight so we all went up into the party room and had some mind games and a small sing along nothing too dramatic just a bit of bonding really. It was decided we would split up after this and give the lads a last night of freedom as reward for their great work over the tour. They was not dissaponting and all the lads did their best to help the local economy with vists to some not so well known bars and discos. Even so they did not take advantage and were home in good time to make sure they had a good nights sleep. As for the dads we all went to our usual haunt which was a fresh smelling local bar with great local company which we had come to know over the short time there. With craig and others telling of tales, keeping us all well entertained we all went back to hotel and again another great nights sleep.

The next morning we were up at the crack of dawn making sure all the hotel was clean as we did not want to loose our bond with me,shed,nick,Ollie,jasper and a few others helping. At this point a quick sorry to chris bell senior who opened his door to help, only for me to tell him we did not need any help as everyone was mucking in and to go back to bed for a lie in. With all this done it was time to pack up and move on, a quick check of the lads rooms, I might add at this point that every room was immaculate and no more cleaning up was needed which is testament to the great job their mothers do, and we boarded the coach. A few sing songs of deeds done and we arrived back at the brods.
All in all a great tour with a lot of merriment and jovial banter that we will all take to our graves. I think its safe to say this was a trip for some but a journey into manhood for others. Well done to all involved and a great result to boot.
Thanks Gary Wilson.
There may be another version of this report soon but for now this will do.