On a glorious weekend for rugby, the Gravesend Under 11s ‘Mad Dogs’ journeyed west down the M3 for fixtures against Redingensians Rams, Reading and Bracknell.

Friday afternoon was spent enjoying activities at team HQ; an outdoor activity centre in Wokingham. The boys held each other’s ropes as they climbed 10 metre walls, negotiated a number of obstacles 10 metres off the ground and got to grips with mountain boarding.

Later, the boys took their dads on at touch rugby with both sides clearly disappointed with the draw result and then after dinner, mums, dads and lads relaxed around a roaring camp fire.

Day two began with the boys enjoying air rifle shooting as well as some rucking practice with Head Coach Nev Hope, before transport arrived to take the tour party to Redingensians Rams RFC.

Fixtures had been arranged with both the Rams and Reading RFC. The Mad Dogs looked strong in both matches played under normal Under 11 rules gaining a 2-1 and 3-0 win against the Rams and Reading respectively.

But then things got very interesting. To maximise game time for the 16 playing tourists, the coaches agreed to play a 16 a side game on a full sized pitch albeit with uncontested scrums. The combined forces of the Berkshire clubs initially overwhelmed the Mad Dogs by cannily exploiting the expanse of space available on the larger pitch. A break away try was followed by a drop kick conversion to put the hosts 7-0 up. The Mad Dogs had been rattled but in true Gravesend spirit and style they dug in with the forwards battling hard to win and secure good ball for the backs to similarly exploit the space and run the ball over the opposition try line. At the end of a great 20 minutes of rugby, the Mad Dogs emerged as 19-7 winners.

The rest of the afternoon was spent enjoying the Redingensians hospitality as their 1st team took on Barnstaple in a National 3 SW fixture. A victory for the Rams would see them earn a playoff position for a place in National 2 next season. In an enjoyable if one-sided match, the Rams won 42-3 and will now play Old Elthamians on April 26th for a place in National 2. The Mad Dogs wish them all the very best for this.

Sunday saw the boys take on Bracknell RFC. Again, the warmth of the rugby community was felt as the boys arrived to “Welcome to the Gravesend U11s” message directing them to their first ever team changing room experience before a guard of honour applauded them on to the Bracknell first team pitch.

The Bracknell U11s are a useful side and in the first of two matches scored very quickly to put a tired looking Mad Dogs immediately on the back foot. However, Gravesend woke up enough to equalise and enjoy the majority of possession in a 1-1 draw. The second match was equally tight with Gravesend always looking most likely to score but a sterling defensive effort by Bracknell resulted in another draw; this time 0-0.

After a somewhat disappointing day at the Kent qualifiers, based on the quality of rugby demonstrated on this tour, the Mad Dogs can now approach their Kent Shield matches at Aylesford on April 27th with a renewed confidence.

Of course this being a traditional rugby tour, the boys and their parents partook in cultural necessities such as sing songs, kangaroo courts, egg roulette and custard pies but it would not be appropriate to report on the finer details of these activities as we all know, “ WHAT GOES ON TOUR, STAYS ON TOUR!”