Northcote Lodge School visiting the ss Great Britain in Bristol

Report by Robbie Garvey, from Northcote Lodge School’s U11s Rugby Team

13-16 March 2009

On Friday 13 March, 18 boys travelled to Bristol for Northcote’s first ever U11s rugby tour.

On the first day we played Millfield Prep School and in the face of some dodgy refereeing, we played well, winning 19-7. Man of the match was myself, jointly with C. Grant. That evening we went to the Memorial Stadium to watch Bristol v Leicester in the Guinness Premiership.

The next day we played Keynsham Rugby Club, who we rate as the strongest clubs in Bristol. We managed to beat them 20-10! That afternoon we went to nearby Bristol Zoo and for a swim in our hotel.

On Sunday we competed in a mini tournament. We won our first game 10-5 against Dings RFC and our second one against Southmead RFC, this time 10-0. Our two wins meant that we qualified for the final, where we thumped Kingswood 25-5 with G. Wainwright scoring a wonder try and being made player of the tournament.

On our final day, Monday we visited ss Great Britain – the world’s first steam ship. We the headed back to school, victorious, capping off an unbeaten season.