The last tour meal...

It's hard to believe that the tour has reached its final evening having been over 2 years in the planning. What a fantastic 3 weeks it has been with so many different activities including bowling, Great Barrier Reef, jet boating, surfing, Wet & Wild water park, Whale watching, Universal Studios and a trip to the zoo to name but a few. We even managed to win a few games of rugby along the way to justify the tour!

The final evening meal took place at The Shore restaurant which was right on the river in Brisbane. They provided us with a lovely selections of meals and the boys had a good time.

As part of the final evening some awards were handed out to reward a range of excellent performances both on and off the field.

1st XV Most Outstanding - Jon Readshaw

1st XV Most Improved - Harry Heywood

2nd XV Most Outstanding - Ben Pryor

2nd XV Most Improved - Bradley Etherington

Biggest Hit - Jack Sharp

Top Tourist - Nick McCrone

Boomerang Award for the person who lost/forgot the most things - Cameron Weekes

The Waterboy Award for the walking wounded - Dan Bolton, Jimmy Dalton & Joe Pascale

It's also worth mentioning the list and found items at this point - Cameron Weekes managed to lose most personal items he came with at some point. Jack Stewart, Freddie White, Dan Bolton, Dan De Franca & Joe Sladden have all lost their wallets but got them back. Luke Withers lost his phone and when performing the find my phone app it was spotted travelling up and down the Sydney subway but again it came back to him the following day. Mr Paine managed to lose his watch having already broken and mended the strap on his watch he then left it in Townsville on the beach. Mr Wheatley arrived in Townsville but sadly his bag didn't as that was still on the Tarmac in Sydney which was greeted with a large amount of stifled laughter. Finally Mr Harris managed to leave his trainers in Singapore but via Mr Cotton they arrived in Sydney and he then left them on the bus within 20 minutes of getting them back but once again the luck of the tour struck and like a boomerang they came back to him with several stories to tell. I think the most impressive lost & found has to go to Dan De Franca who managed to drop his underwater camera whilst snorkelling in the Great Barrier Reef only for one of the professional divers to retrieve it from the bottom of the ocean for him.

The evening ended with a presentation to Mr Hale from Jon Readshaw & Teddy Oliver who had organised a whip round from the boys to show their gratitude for the hard work which has gone into making the tour possible! He was delighted with the Australia rugby shirt and a decent bottle of wine for him to enjoy whilst we fly back as he starts his own holiday in Australia in a camper van.

Below is a video slideshow of the tour:

Surfing in Paradise

Today we headed out of Brisbane to Surfers Paradise which was about 70 minutes from the hotel. We exited the bus into glorious sunshine and the sound of waves crashing onto the golden sands, everyone suddenly felt like a pro surfer. Below are some of the photographs of the day surfing:

Townsville Drone

The link below is a video of the first 15 minutes of the 1st XV against Townsville Grammar school taken from a drone flying above the pitch by one of the TGS students.

Downlands College Matches

Would it be wrong for me to say that I'm getting a little bored of rolling up to these rugby pitches shrouded in sunshine with stunning views?

2nd XV

From a promising start for TBSHS we had the ball turned over and then gave away a silly penalty. Downlands kicked for touch and were able to retain possession from the line-out, they then moved the ball quickly wide to create an overlap for the winger to score unopposed for an unconverted try. 0-5

The intensity of the game increased and there were some big hits going in from both sides. TBSHS were competing well but there was always the danger of an overlap which was evident on all of the Downlands attacks. TBSHS did well to turn the ball over from some smart play by Tyler Ackerman-Mond and were awarded a penalty which we kicked for touch. This was a shame as the most success we have had from penalties has been to keep the ball in hand throughout the tour, we then lost the subsequent line-out. TBSHS drew another penalty which was kicked into the Downlands 22 to put their defensive line under pressure but we lost the line-out.

Downlands then utilised what seems to be common practise in the Southern Hemisphere and kicked over the top of us for their flying centre to receive. Fortunately we were well prepared and between Jamie, Arriyan and Matt Foster we stopped him and forced him out of play. Our line-out just wasn't firing today and we lost another one as we overthrew the ball allowing their fly-half to pick the ball up and evade two tackles to score under the posts for a converted try. 0-12

Luke Withers demonstrated the intensity which was required to get us back into the game with a huge hit from the restart. This proved to be a catalyst for some good play from Arriyan as he intercepted the ball before offloading to Tyler who unfortunately knocked the ball on.

TBSHS continued to battle hard and look for a gap in the Downlands defence but despite a variety of different approaches nothing was working for TBSHS. The match was finally balanced despite the score and was a good competitive affair but once again the ball was turned over just before half-time and a clever kick from the winger released the outside centre who dodged a tackle from Jamie Rushworth and looked certain to score until Jack Stewart caught him and brought him down just before the line. The Downlands players were the quickest to the breakdown and were able to snatch the loose ball to dive under the posts to extend their lead as the referee brought the half to a close. 0-19

The stands were starting to fill-up in preparation for the 2nd half with over 200 spectators backing Downlands to beat the poms!

A positive restart from TBSHS saw Downlands knock the ball on and a flying Luke Withers caused another mistake but unfortunately we were unable to capitalise on this. The game was starting to get a little tasty as Downlands weren't having it all their own way. Jack Stewart chased down a kick and his last ditch diving tackle caused a knock on from Downlands and we had a scrum on their 22.

TBSHS went through several phases of play and looked certain to score when Freddie White went head first into contact without any support and the ball was turned over. This was becoming a fantastic physical contest and TBSHS were giving it their all to find a way back into the match. The boys were standing up all over the pitch wanting to take the ball and drive us forward. The downside to this was it left us a little isolated with the ball at times and Downlands were able to regain possession. They ran hard and found some excellent lines to carve through our defence but more last ditch tackles kept them short of the line from Stewart, Wells and Demmon but the pressure eventually paid dividends and they went over underneath the posts to score a converted try. 0-26

The restart was again fiercely contested and Cameron Weekes found himself on the frontline making several tackles. Then time stood still as Arriyan Wells flew through the Downlands line to intercept the ball which he has been so close to doing several times on tour. Then from slow motion the game went into fast forward as Arriyan flew towards the line and scored under the posts to allow Matt Foster to slot an easy conversion. 7-26

This fired Downlands up and from the restart they turned the ball over and then showed some fantastic hands as they recycled the ball well in the tackle. As the ball was popped and moved around one of their forms came through like a raging bull to receive the ball and crash through our defence to score. 7-33

Another fantastic tackle by Luke Withers caused the Downlands player to knock the ball on and we were able to maintain possession. Sadly this didn't last long and the Downlands onslaught began again but our defence stood firm until Arriyan Wells was harshly shown a yellow card. With a man down the boys continued to defend admirably with big hits going in from Pryor and Weekes before the Downlands boys knocked the ball on. The intensity with which we were defending with was first rate and if they bring this back to England they will be a force to be reckoned with next season. Downlands were the grateful benefactors of a questionable pick-up which looked a lot like a knock-on was missed by the official and the winger was able to run the ball back into our 22 but once again he met a steel wall. Liam Demmon hit their centre like a heavyweight and the sound reverberated around the arena to the extent that the player didn't know what was happening as he held onto the ball like it was his mother and the referee pinged him.

Freddie White felt harshly treated when he flew up and wrapped up the player only for him to roll over in the tackle and in the officials eyes ground the ball for another score. 7-40

The final play of the 2nd teams tour was a beautiful catch by Cameron Weekes which saw us go through a few phases of play with Ben Hoare smashing it up the middle. Nick McCrone did well to get the ball out of the ruck and moved into Pryors awaiting hands who crashed through again. Nick McCrone was then nearly involved in another car crash as his huge mass was lifted high by an Australian monster fortunately with all of our hearts in our mouths he was put down softly before the ball went out of play and the referee drew the game and the tour for the 2nd XV to a close. 7-40 was the final score but the boys have been on a fantastic journey and improved considerably since Singapore.

MOM - Ben Pryor

1st XV

With a raucous entry to the field this game started as the last finished at a frenetic pace. TBSHS showed fantastic hands and the ball found its way out to Ollie Fortune who demonstrated the feet of a ballerina as he tiptoed through their defensive line to gain us more ground. Our line out was working well and we were drawing Downlands into lots of mistakes.

The ball was being moved well across the line and Ewan Rockell offloaded to Harry Wright who cut inside and drove towards the line with his momentum taking him over the line for a converted score. 7-0

This wasn't the start Downlands were expecting and were we certainly not letting them have it their own way. Daniel De Franca started the game well with make lots of aggressive carries and making ground for TBSHS. More mistakes were being made by Downlands and the referee kept pinging them as they got more frustrated that the pommies weren't laying down for their bashing!

This was a fantastic game of rugby to watch and TBSHS were playing some great stuff with everyone on the pitch doing their job to the best of their ability. The Downlands crowd were doing their best to encourage the players and making a lot of noise but nothing they did was intimidating our boys. Dom Lilley was having an influential game at fly-half as he confidently called players and moved the ball away from any potential trouble.

Angus Learmonth and Jack Sharp put in a couple of massive tackles, sadly this led to one of the Downlands players trying to stamp on Angus which was completely uncalled for and missed by the referee. With TBSHS losing their heads and composure for a split second Downlands took advantage of that and found a gap in our defence to run a try in under the posts to draw the game level. 7-7 (there was a big question mark surrounding a forward pass which led to the try)

TBSHS were enraged at this perceived miscarriage of justice and set about righting the wrongs of the last couple of minutes but in a fair way. What a first half of rugby this was turning out to be and Downlands certainly weren't expecting a group of marauding forwards like we had brought just moving around the pitch delivering huge hits and pain to all who stood in their way!

The final play of the half saw Downlands given a penalty which they kicked into our corner. Again we defended with passion and resilience which caused a knock-on by their dangerous 12 as he was hit first by Jack Sharp and then Jon Readshaw to bring an exciting half of rugby to a close.

The 2nd half started in exactly the same vein as the end of the first with both teams giving it their all to gain an psychological advantage. Bradley Etherington entered the field of play during the half-time break and was involved in the action immediately as he punched a hole in their defence. Sadly the ball was turned over and a moment of madness from TBSHS spear tackling one of the Downlands players led to a penalty which was kicked into touch. The line out was won by Downlands and laid off to the centre who slipped through a gap in our defence to score a converted try. 7-14

This didn't phase TBSHS and was used as fuel to feed their burning desire to win this game. We went straight back onto the attack and drew several penalties, but Downlands had worked out our line out and were able to turn the ball over.

A kick over the top brought Will Powell into the game as he ran it back but a questionable decision gave Downlands a penalty. TBSHS defended with great passion and once again drew the penalty. This led to the ball being flung wide to Jack Sharp who appeared on the wing, as he ran forwards he eye-balled his opposite number and smashed him in the face with a big hand sending him crashing to the ground which was followed up with a lovely sidestep before being felled by the full-back.

This good phase of play cleared annoyed Downlands as once again they decided that stamping on Alex Hughes was their only option once the ball had gone. The referee spotted this one and opted to show a yellow rather than red!

TBSHS continued to defend their line with all that they are worth and Downlands were struggling to find a way through. Jon Readshaw continues to do what he has been doing all tour and nicking the ball at the breakdown with great effect. Downlands were now rattled and Ewan Rockell reacted to a loose ball employing his best football skills as he kicked it into space to run onto and then a chase ensued. Ewan got their first again and knocked the ball into the in goal area before being tackled off the ball which was a real shame. Ollie Fortune then employed his football skills killing the ball dead with his foot from the 22 drop-out and gaining us the ball again.

TBSHS had raised their level again which I didn't think was possible but they found another gear with Angus Learmonth and Jack Sharp turning the ball over. As a result of Downlands frustrations mounting they continued to give away penalties and make mistakes. Unfortunately, the resulting line out was won by Downlands and they ran back hard with the ball, after a couple of phases of play the winger picked the ball up and picked a good line to score under the posts. This was very disappointing as it was against the run of play and certainly wasn't deserved. 7-21

With 5 minutes to go TBSHS were fired up to leave everything they had on the pitch. It was like a fireworks display with the oohs and aahhhs ringing out from the stands in appreciation of big hits and great hands as the ball was flung around by both teams. This is an amazing end to what has been a fantastic tour!

TBSHS had once last hurrah as they threw everything at Downlands. Ewan Rockell demonstrated great hands and the ability to improvise as the attack gained momentum, Jack Sharp cleared out a ruck by firing into two players horizontally knocking them flying backwards but sadly we ran out of time as the ball went dead and the referee brought the curtain down on the Australia 2015 rugby tour and for a few lads their TBSHS rugby career!

MOM - Ewan Rockell

Townsville Grammar School matches

U16

On what would be considered a beautiful summers day in England, we played underneath a stunning backdrop on a 27 degrees winters day in Townsville.

The game started at a ferocious pace with TBSHS driving back the Townsville pack in the first scrum of the game. Townsville started to utilise a kicking game which seems to be common practise in the Southern Hemisphere. This provided us with opportunities to turn the ball over and challenge at the line-outs to regain the ball. Townsville found a foot in the game and started to apply some pressure which TBSHS responded well to.

Matt Foster continued in the same vein as his previous games and was dictating a lot of the attacking moves. Jamie Rushworth also continued to impress at full-back as he dealt with constant bombardment from the Aussies boots raining kicks down.

From a penalty TBSHS moved the ball into Ethan Simons who hits his man so hard he nearly knocked him back onto his feet. The ball was then moved wide before the referee brought it back for our penalty. From the resultant penalty we moved the ball well into their 5 metre area before Jack Stewart picked the ball up to dive over the line for the first score. 5-0

Townsville came back hard and TBSHS had to defend with great resolve and determination. Once again they took advantage of a mistake from us in losing our own scrum and a kick over the top was defended well by Luke Maskell before being pushed into touch. Ben Pryor cleared our lines with a good kick but Townsville caught the ball well and ran it back at us drawing a penalty. A quick penalty was taken and we were caught napping like a tourist on a sun lounger which allowed them to score an unconverted try in the corner to draw the scores level. 5-5

The chase from the kick-off was fantastic from TBSHS and straight away swung the momentum in our favour. Another quick penalty was taken by Owen Edwards who ran hard with the ball and gain valuable ground. The pack then joined Owen and we kept possession of the ball in deep in the oppositions half. TBSHS went through several phases of crashing the ball up and drawing more Townsville players into the melee under their own posts. Dillon Twitchett moved the ball well from the back of the ruck into the hands of a flying Arriyan Wells who proved an unstoppable force as he dived over to give us a good lead going into half-time. Matt Foster managed to convert this one to extend our lead. 12-5

The 2nd half started well for TBSHS and from a scrum just inside our half Dillon moved the ball well to Ben Pryor who shifted the ball to Foster, once again he drew the player towards him and released the ball to Jack Stewart. What happened next can only be described as poetry in motion as Jack received the perfect ball in full flight, he threw a shimmy of the hips to sit the defender down before showing him those clean heels that are becoming a trademark, he then had the awareness to score under the posts to allow an easy conversion for Foster. 19-5

Following more good play a rampaging Ethan Simons collected the ball like something that was last seen on the Serengeti to smash the ball over the line for another try. The referee took an age to give the try but this was met with a triumphant fist pump and cry of joy from Ethan. 24-5

Townsville showed great fighting spirit and they came back hard at us. Once again utilising the kick they put us under pressure and sucked us into the corner for a line-out. From this play the moved the ball quickly across the line and a good dummy in the corner allowed the inside-centre to dive over the line to reduce the deficit. 24-10

The game continued to be end to end with some huge hits being put in by both teams but neither team was able to create another clear cut opportunity to score and the match finished 24-10.

MOM - Matt Foster

1st XV

An early highlight before the game even started was the appearance of a drone hovering over the pitch which was taking video footage of the game (this will become available tomorrow).

Once more the pace at the start was quick with both teams looking to get on top. This meant that a few mistakes were made by both teams until TBSHS seemed to settle into a rhythm. Townsville were continuing to persist with a kicking game and TBSHS showed themselves to be adept at returning the kick with interest through Harry Wright. It was from one such return that TBSHS were able to move the ball through the forwards and crash it up towards the line. Bradley Etherington who had been promoted to the 1st XV was the grateful recipient of some good work by Jon Readshaw and Harry Wright as he collected the ball and dived over for the first score underneath the posts for a converted try. 7-0

TBSHS continued to apply the pressure and were turning the ball over regularly in the tackle with Jon Readshaw being the main instigator. From this turned over ball TBSHS were quick to capitalise with Alex Hughes firing the ball out from the rucks into Lilley and the Oliver who released Nathan Gravestock on the wing to duck, dive and dodge his way through their defence to put another score on the board. 12-0

TBSHS had now got the psychological advantage and discovered a freedom to express themselves which made for fantastic viewing. Once again TBSHS work the ball well at the breakdown and were able to move t quickly creating an overlap of our forwards against their backs and when Jack Sharp is at full tilt there was nobody on this field who could stop him. Unfortunately for Townsville the marauding Sharp picked the ball up with 10 metres out and the result was inevitable "TRY TIME"... 17-0

Just before half-time TBSHS continued to pile on the pressure and were once again demonstrating fantastic technical ability as they moved the ball through hands freely. The pressure was building and once again TBSHS found space to call the "Jack & Jill" move which set Angus Learmonth free to score in the corner, another fantastic team move. Dom finally rediscovered his kicking boots and duly converted. 24-0

This brought the half to a close with TBSHS driving home the advantage.

Townsville came out with renewed vigour in the 2nd half and started to play some excellent defensive rugby stopping us early. This continued to be the trend for the game until TBSHS gained a couple of penalties and Dom Lilley made an excellent kick deep into their half. Sadly Ollie Lukies went over the line to score only for the referee to of already halted the game for another penalty by Townsville and once again Dom found touch 8 metres from their try-line. The ball was rumbled in the resultant maul and Daniel De Franca appeared from nowhere like a magician with the ball in his hands to sneak over the line for the converted try. 31-0

Ben Pryor entered the field of play for the 1st XV and made an immediate impact. Ewan Rockell was also starting to see more of the ball and made some fantastic runs to gain lots of ground deep into the Townsville half. From a TBSHS line-out we retained possession of the ball which was then slung out to Ben Pryor who picked an excellent line to receive the ball and like my father at Christmas with the turkey Ben just carved through the opposition before putting the ball down to bring the game to a close as the conversion was missed. 36-0

MOM - Dom Lilley

After the matches Townsville put on a fantastic dinner which was well deserved and the awards were presented for the MOM's from both teams and gave further opportunities to cement friendships with their hosts. A couple of great fixtures and wonderful hosts, thank you TGS!

Great Barrier Reef

Despite back to back early mornings the boys were on the bus and ready to leave at 6.15am to head off to the Great Barrier Reef. We then got on to a large boat to head out to the Reef which was 3 hours away. The journey provided everyone with an opportunity to catch-up on some sleep until a couple of whales were spotted about 500m away from us and we managed to get to within 50m of the whale which was a highlight especially when it came out of the water. The whale was then joined by a couple of Dolphins to make the journey complete.

When we arrived at the reef everyone squeezed into a wetsuit before putting on their flippers and mask ready to head out to the reef. We then got an hour of swimming around the reef look at one of the seven wonders of the world and spotting fish from Finding Nemo. This was a magical experience as you were transported into a world beneath the sea. The coral was amazing and the amount of technicolor fish would've made Joseph and his coat look black & white.

A good lunch was provided and afterwards the boys had the opportunity to either go back out snorkelling or some opted to spend their time diving into the sea from the boat which was great fun.

Videos

We then headed back to shore with some excitement and fear in preparation for their first night of being billeted on tour. Monday is game day against Townsville Grammar School but we will spend the morning on the beach relaxing and taking advantage of the warm weather.

Travelling...

Today was an EARLY start with alarms going off at 5am to be on the road to the airport for by 5.30am. All went according to plan and we managed to smuggle our rather large hand luggage undetected onto the first flight. The flight down to Sydney went well as we were nearly the only people on the flight but on boarding the flight in Sydney to Townsville our large bags caused the air stewardess a bit of a headache but once they all had been stowed we took to the air.

On arrival in Sydney everything seemed to be present and correct apart from one rather large North Face bag belonging to Mr Wheatley. On further investigation it was discovered to be still on the tarmac in Sydney and the rest of the staff showed great empathy between the laughing.

Fortunately the bag was flown up on the next flight and arrived at 7pm!

Everyone was very excited to get off the plane and find that the temperature was 27 degrees and the sun was shining. The excitement grew further on arrival at the hotel which was equipped with a swimming pool lined by palm trees. The afternoon was spent enjoying the sun and pool as they burnt off some energy following a long time sat on a plane.

In the evening we hired a coach to take us into town for a steak meal at Molly Malone's before heading to the cinema to watch either Ant Man or the new Terminator film. The feedback for the film critics was not to bother with Terminator and Ant Man was quite an amusing easy watch but Jon Readshaw did highlight the flaws around the quantum physics they tried to utilise in the film but this was over the heads of the rest of the boys.

We have another early start tomorrow as we head out to the Great Barrier Reef.