Canada Rugby Tour
16th November
The Longridge Rugby Team arrived back in Berwick on 9th November after a very successful ten day tour of the western seaboard of Canada which was sponsored by Hudson Homes Limited.
The special tour kit was sponsored by Hudson Homes Limited, a house building Company based in Edinburgh, who are currently building high quality detached residences in Castle Terrace in Berwick-upon-Tweed. We are very grateful to Hudson Homes for their support of an important part of the school's sporting programme. We would also like to thank the School's outfitters, Robertsons of Berwick for supplying the kit at very favourable rates.
The team left the UK early on 28th October flying via Seattle and Paris to Vancouver where they spent a day recovering from their jet lag before settling in with a training session in Stanley Park and a sightseeing trip to Granville Island. The party then transferred to Abbotsford and Yale Secondary School, who hosted the team for the next two days.
The first match at Abbotsford turned out to be a very close and exciting contest. The team took an early lead of 12-0 with Guy Learmonth crossing twice but were then pegged back by a strong Yale team and with five minutes to go were 3 points down. Then a late try in the corner from Michael Binnie secured a close win by 24 points to 22.
That evening the group had a great time attending the school Halloween party in the sports hall and on the following day went on a sightseeing trip to see the Harrison Hot Springs. The party dispersed to their host families for the Halloween evening itself and experienced the huge celebrations which traditionally take place in North America.
Saturday 1st November saw then team move on taking the ferry from Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay on Vancouver Island and then on to Victoria for a four night stay. In the afternoon they watched a rugby match at James Bay and then went to a professional ice hockey match between the Victoria Salmon Kings and Utah.
The next day saw the team travelling to its next fixture at Velox Rugby Club. This match produced the best performance on tour, with a hard fought but convincing victory by 36 points to nil.
The following day the party went on a whale watching trip out of Victoria harbour and saw a great variety of wildlife including killer whales, humpback whales and sea lions all in their natural habitat.
Tuesday afternoon saw the third game of the tour which turned out to be a very physical encounter with Cowichan Rugby Club. Once again this turned out to be a very close match which was only won in the last five minutes by 34-27. Next day the team headed north to Courtenay, a four hour drive up the coast, stopping at Goldstream to see spawning pacific salmon up close along with many carcasses of those which had already spawned.
The hosts for the two night stay at Courtenay were Vanier High School. Unfortunately the last match at Vanier was a little disappointing as heavy overnight rain had left the rugby pitch looking more like a lake. However the team managed to play two 10 a-side matches, on a part of the field which was not totally under water, in which Longridge scored a total of four tries to three. Leaving Courtney the party sailed from Nanaimo back to Vancouver with a visit to Grouse mountain and their resident grizzly bears and wolves, followed by a tour of Capalino and a walk across their famous suspension bridge and a walk in the treetops - not recommended for vertigo sufferers.
The final night of the tour was spent in Vancouver before the party made the long trek home, very tired but extremely happy after such a successful tour.
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