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Youth Tour Goes Undefeated

Youth Tour Goes Undefeated

george osborn8 Aug 2022 - 07:44
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The under 18s returned from the inaugural Campion RFC youth tour with an 8-0 record.

On Wednesday 13th July, 30 Campion u18 players, and 5 coaches, left for Canada to begin the first ever Campion RFC youth tour.

10 hours after landing, the squad were playing their first game in a Cross border tournament involving Canada, US, wales, Scotland and UK. On day 1, the team played 2 games. Both were against Ontario representative teams- who are a combination of the best Ontario players to come together for a tournament. Campion won both these matches: 38-7 and 34-0.
Following a day of ice baths, Day 3 of tour saw another tournament game against a rep side. The team were struggling with heat and jet lag, and also carrying a few injuries due to the physical nature of previous games. However, the team still went on to win 17-12.

Game 4 was against Burlington Centaurs. This was a proper club, not a rep side, who had been highly spoke of at the previous tournament. This didn’t stop the boys who went on to win 31-0.

Game 5- was against Balmy Beach RFC. Word was starting to get around of the team, and their winning streak, and the games were continuing to get more physical. Again, the boys rose to the challenge, and won comfortably 38-0.

Game 6- final game in Canada, and against the best team in Ontario. - crusaders RFC- who a lot of the team were earmarked for international selection. The pressure was on to win this game, and leave Canada undefeated, but we knew this would be the most difficult game. Crusaders did not disappoint, and put up a good match but Campion still went on to win 24-12.

Game 7- first game in the US. This game was against Pelham high school. Another strong team, but they were no match for the adrenaline that was running through Campion - spurred on by the 40 supporters who have travelled to watch them. Campion won 38-5.

Game 8- final match in US and of tour. Some boys were nervous as knew everything rested on this match to leave undefeated. Morris RFC had some big players - their front row were far bigger than Campion and any other team they had played before. But the boys were calm, adjusted accordingly and soon made light of the big weights. The boys wanted to break the 40 point mark, and they certainly did that winning by 79-5 at final whistle. This was a huge achievement against a team who, like crusaders, had some international selections. A fantastic win for the squad and a brilliant way to end the tour.

Of course, tour wasn’t all about rugby! The boys had some fantastic days out with some highlights being CN Tower, Niagara Falls, blue jays game, Hudson River cruise, the edge and training in Central Park.

On 2nd August, the team landed back in UK carrying recent titles of Essex Champions, Canada Champions and US Champions!

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