The planned tour to Holland is all arranged and we need to know who will be coming - hopefully all of the boys are able to make it! We will travel to Sassenheim on the morning of Good Friday, 21st March and return on Sunday 23rd March, arriving back at the rugby club in the evening.

Our hosts on Saturday 22nd March are Bassets Rugby Club who we played against at Ashford at the end of last season. They are inviting at least one other local club to join us for a tournament.

On the Sunday we will play another local side (Bassets are arranging) before leaving in the afternoon for the return journey.

The journey time from Calais to Sassenheim is about 5 hours and we are using the Eurotunnel to minimise journey time. We will be staying at the Golden Tulip Hotel in Leiden - about 20 minutes drive from Sassenheim  - the hotel is of a similar standard to the one we stayed in during the West Midlands Tour last September.

The cost per person, including breakfast and evening meals on Friday and Saturday is £130.00. This includes a subsidy from team funds.

We need to know the names of the boys and the number of adults/siblings who will be coming on tour, so please email either David Atkins at d.atkins@virgin.net or Jan Tong at jantong@btinternet.com by FRIDAY 11th JANUARY. For all those coming (both boys and adults) we will require a £25 per head deposit by Sunday 13th January please. Cheques should be made payable to Ashford Junior Rugby Fund.

Thank you.

Team Tour to West Midlands - 7th to 9th September 2007

Ashford U15’s Brief Tour Report Sep 07’It was decided during the Summer that we would like to Tour again before the start of the forthcoming Season, as we felt that “The Team” got so much out of them (and we have and wanted to play a higher standard of Rugby).

Where was the question! Neil Beech (the New Forwards Coach) stated that we could probably at this late stage get a Tour down to his and Rory’s old stomping ground in Herefordshire. So that was that, over to the new Tour Manager (David Atkins) to sort OUT! Well done David, and also a big thank you to the new Sponsors of our Training Tops GSE Engineering (they do look good!). Thanks go to all of the new Management Team will assisted in putting this Tour together at the late stage.

By the time we got going at 6pm on Friday the 7th September, we were down to 14 fit players and 3 injured non-playing U15‘s (that were coming with us), and we also borrowed 2 Under 14’s Max and Owen, thanks lads. So we were off, a 4 hour coach trip down to Walsall where we were staying, a 4* Hotel (courtesy of Neil’s contacts), a quick meal of chips, pizzas and juice for the kids before crashing out at 11pm. Breakfast at 8am, and then we were off (an hours trip) to our first game at Hereford RFC, kicking off at 11am. We turned up with spirits high, and with Neil and Rory back in their backyard, but we encountered a somewhat of a backlash that we were unprepared for, a 40 - 0 defeat (21 out of 25 County players were in this squad, we were told after the game, and you could see why!).

Within 2-3 minutes the younger of our inexperienced U15’s, were getting a lesson in how to play rugby and the seemingly onslaught of contact situations, Des was up and down the pitch, (keeping you fit Des!) and was required quite a few times to patch them up, and get them back on the park!, but the guys didn’t buckle or bend, and with all the players playing with their hearts on their sleeves for the whole game, they never gave up, and by the end of the game we finally started to show them why we were on Tour. As a Coach that’s all you can ask of them.

After the game, we were shown the hospitality you expect of a Rugby Club, food, drink, and more drink, and more Rugby. We then watched Hereford’s 1st Team take on Walsall in a League game (Hereford just sneaked it, last ditch tackle in the corner!). England v USA was the next in line on our Itinerary, this was watched at the Clubhouse with the Hereford lads (a bit of a let down England, was thought by all), but you can see by the photo’s we enjoyed ourselves!, then back on the coach for the trip back to the Hotel for Supper, more drinks and then back to bed for the lads!!

Next day came around just as quickly, as breakfast was again at 8 - 8.30am, some had a quick swim before breakfast but some still had to be woke up just before we set-off!! Back on the Coach for a shorter journey (20 minutes only), was it Wolverhampton (or was it Walsall we were supposed to be playing!!) No only joking, we turned up all ready and rearing to go and play some good entertaining rugby at Wolverhampton RFC, but the kids saw a Stadium, and the butterflies/hearts started to go like the clappers again (remember the Wales tour lads!), no we didn’t play in the stadium, this belonged to the RFU, thank goodness.

We arrived, got changed, made some repairs to Harry and Luke, and then straight into some training before taking to the field against what looked like a good side (we were informed that it would be tough, but not as hard as yesterday‘s). Well, when we found we were down 12 - 0 within 5 minutes, (who was kidding!) one a kick off straight to their fly half, who then went on a loop of the pitch and he still scored out wide), the next came straight through the two of the best tacklers in the team (still working it out how he got through guys!!)

Then the lid seemed to be lifted off the jar and the lads started to think they had better play, a couple of positional changes saw Harry Atkins score out wide with the Captain Adam converting the try (12 - 7), and another quick exchange of passes between the centres and Adam waltzed through their defence to score (Harry kicked the extras (14 - 12), this was starting to look impressive and the lads were tackling, the scrums were starting to work (and Curtis took some against the head, well done), then due to some refereeing decisions, and a lack of composure, the opposition scored just before half time (14 - 17). The half time talk was a brief one, but to the point, lets get out their and win this one (play with passion and pride).

Kick off, and we let another one get through down 14 - 22 (we though here we go again, where’s our heads!!), down goes their fly half, and he has to leave the field, (possible broken wrist/hand), what happened! we then started to play again (they seemed to pick themselves up), the forwards started winning balls in the loose, and started to front up in all areas of the park, two quick tries followed this new spirit, one by Rory (unfortunately unconverted), and then one straight out of the textbook, a set move straight up through the middle of the park and then finished it off in style by Adam (unconverted), back in front 24 - 22, then what do we do again (this needs working on lads), after you score, you need to retain possession for the next few minutes, they scored (converted again) now it was 24 - 29, with ten minutes to go (according to the ref!), the best was left to the last, a solo effort by Harry Atkins, a catch in his own half, side stepped the fly half found a gap, and was through, and with another quick step he was under the posts, Adam kicked the conversion (31 - 29) we thought a minute to go, and we were back in our 22, they were pressing, battering the defence but the lads fronted up and some superb tackling, but the ref had a different watch to ourselves and gave them a few more minutes to keep trying to get through our defence, but when they knocked on in the end, he blew the whistle and we had won 31 - 29, and the lads were so overjoyed with themselves (see the DVD), we were very proud of the lads on their performance, the passion, and the hearts they played with on the day.

Squad Details:

Adam Batt (Capt)

Chris Albrow

Rory Beech

Harry Atkins

Tom Collins

Patrick Macenri

George Sladden

Lukas Warrilow

Charlie Willams

Luke Ransley

Jason Tong

Thomas Mead

Tom Healy

Curtis

Max (Ashford U14’s)

Owen (Ashford U14’s)

The injuries list (travelled with the team and were very supportive of their team mates)

Gareth Jenner

Louis Burdon