Under 12's on tour to Weston super Mare
over Easter weekend 2008

BURTON under 12's tour was organised at the last minute by Graham Buddmeister, who managed to get us into  4 team tournament at HORNETS rugby club in Weston-Super- Mare over the easter weekend,and as it turned out rather appropriately the theme was PIRATES. 

Parents and players arrived at their luxury "houses " that had been provided by Pontins, it was like time travel back to the days of HI DE HI, well some of the mould in the  "houses " had definitely been there since the 50's. As usual touring is as much about the social side of rugby as the playing and so friday night the kids played , the parents drank and the coaches huddled in a corner talking tactics.

Saturday morning broke and with it came a bitterly cold and biting wind  and Graham Buddmeister informed us all a luxury coach would be taking us to the rugby club  in the afternoon and so with time to kill the kids went swimming and we all tried to help Sarah piece together what she had done the night before.The time for departure arrived and we boarded the bus not knowing what the rugby would bring, but first we had to survive the bus ride which was more like a ride at Alton Towers, but without the fun, at least Debbie didn't scream to be taken off the bus like she had done the previous year whilst touring Norfolk the previous year with another age group.

At the ground of the Hornets awaited our opposition in the shape of the home team THE HORNETS, the touring side from GRAVESEND and a relatively local team from FROME. The first game up was GRAVESEND, and so started a game where forward play from Burton dominated as the conditions made it hard to play the ball through the hands of the back line.Gravesend put up some initial resistance until the might of the Burton team started to take its toil and although the games were only 10 minutes each half in the end Burton triumphed winning 15-0.

Next up to the plate was FROME,and this was to prove a very frustrating game with the Burton boys loosing a bit of concentration and their biting edge shown in the first game. FROME frustrated the Burton play and instead of trying to play above them and out of their style of play Burton found themselves dragged down a bit this game proved tough for the Burton lads and the previous night partying maybe played a part and eventuallt the two sides could not be seperated and the game ended 0-0.

So to the third and final game of the first day of play and the home side, who on home ground and with a larger squad than the Burton tourists must have fancied their chances.This is where the Burton Pirates plundered and looted and hit the opposition with volley after volley of broadsides and holed their chances.I don't know what the Burton coaches said after the FROME game but captain JACK SPARROW couldn't have done a better job , BURTON played some wonderful rugby the forwards securing ball and winning the battle up front and the backs with their combined pace and skills making great use of the ball and at the end of the game Burton won 20-0.

so ended the first game and Burton were unbeaten having scored 35 points and conceding none, keep the none in mind.

So back to PONTINS, for a lively night in the entertainments room. Some parents went out to a local pub "THE SEAGULL " and enjoyed quality food with excellent service at a very reasonable price in lovely surroundings, whilst others settled for fish and chips or at at cafe PONTINS.The Burton players rightfully relaxed by swimming and enjoyiong themselves whilst Becky Balance could be seen drinking from a lucozPORT bottle.Another late night for the touring party meant that the beds didn't seem so bad when they fell into them.

Sunday Morning arose and once again the touring party helped SARAH piece together what had happened the night before whilst CARL couldn't remeber what hadf happened the previous night.

On the Sunday the Burton Team were playing in the Morning and first up were FROME, the previous days toughest game. Although the wind had dropped it was still cold and the ball was hard to keep hold of, BURTON were determined to make another good start and having learned a lesson from the day before they played the style of Rugby that suited them and not the opposition, and the plan worked because when the finasl whistle blew Burton won 10-0.

Next up was the home side who were obviously out for revenge and had called up players and parents for additional support. The Hornets were the Somerset Champions and had played in a tournament in Cornwall and come away undefeated, and so wanted to even things up with Burton. Burton knew they had to win this game to have a chance of winning the tournament. The first half saw Burton once again Dominate with the whole teamplaying as a team and the Hornets were obviously frustrated by Burtons efforts and play. The game was, how do you say " lively " in the first half and the referee was kept busy but at half time the score was nil -nil. SO started the second half after both coaches had had words with their teams but it seemed that the BURTON players were the ones to settle back down and play rugby, although some difference of opionons still crept in Burton were the ones up for it and this Hornet had it's sting removed when Burton scored. In what was a much closer game than the day before Burton scored the only try of the game and won 5-0.And by default became the new south west rugby champions in the under 12 age group.

So to the last game against GRAVESEND, who had one player who must have been stuck in a grow bag since he was born. Gravesend had obviously been partying as well the night before because once again BURTON dominated all phases of the game, the forwards , the backs , the set pieces and the open play.With the hardest games behind them the BURTON players seemed to relax and play nice open rugby usinmg all the tools they have to hgand in the team and in the end winning 25-0.

BURTON UNDER 12'S PLAYED 6 GAMES WON 5 OF THEM AND DREW IN ONE GAME. WHILST PLAYING IN THESE  GAMES OF 10 MINUTES EACH HALF THEY SCORED 75 POINTS AND CONCEDED NONE, THAT NIL, ZERO, THE POINT ON A SCALE FROM WHICH POSITIVE OR NEGATIVES ARE RECKONED.ZILCH, IN OTHER WORDS A COMPLETE SHUT OUT OF THE OPPOSITION .

This team played as a team and with spirit, when somebody was feeling down they all rallied around as a team to pick them up and when somebody scored they all scored because they were in the team.We are running out of superlatives for this bunch of lads who week on week are improving and week on week put on displays of rugby that older teams could only dream of doing. On the way back to PONTINS they sung appropriate songs and thoroughly enjoyed themselves after two fantastic days of Rugby, the future looks bright the future looks BURTON UNDER 12'S.