Broncos Under 11's Tour Of South Wales 2006

Welcome to the Tour Diary page of the Website , on this page you will find a selection of photos our recent tour to South Wales. Pete Timbrell has written a wonderful tour diary which you can read below , and will hopefully be downloadable from the website including photo's in the near future. Please Enjoy , I know we DID!!!!!!!! " " Goes On Tour Stay's On Tour "

BRONCOS UNDER 11’S

TOUR DIARY 2006

Friday 24th March 2006 :

After a long wait and a lot of hard work the day finally arrived. The Broncos u11’s met at 5.00pm in Rock Street car park and boarded the coach for the start of their first ever tour. Destination - West Wales.

 

The traffic was heavy but the coach made good time on our journey to the Youth Hostel in Manorbier (Tenby) – no travel sick or upset children but a few of the adults let themselves down by asking for an additional comfort stop in a lay-by just outside Tenby (caused by too much Beer and a complete lack of self control) – tour fines were the order of the day for some.

Arrived at the hostel at 8.30pm and had dinner – evening entertainment consisted of watching Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire followed by an early night for all (I wish !!!).

Saturday 25th March 2006

The day dawned bright and sunny (well maybe not) – unfortunately Tenby failed miserably to live up to its billing as the sunshine state - it rained, rained and then rained some more.

Undaunted our intrepid under 11’s boarded the coach and made the relatively short trip to Narberth RFC for the start of the first game.

The game kicked off at 11.30am in pouring rain – the Broncos started slowly and were soon two tries down thanks to some enterprising back play by Narberth. Broncos started to pick up the pace and made several darts towards the Narberth line but were stopped by some resolute defence from the home side. Narberth then broke out of defence to score another try – a forward pass not being spotted by the referee.

The Broncos made some changes at half time and brought on some of their more experienced backs – the game was fairly even until the Broncos scored arguably the try of the game. Following a break out of defence by fly half Richard Timbrell, successive offloads were made to Brett Duddridge and Luke Panting who committed defenders before allowing Sam Crow to score unopposed. Narberth and the Broncos added one more try each before the final whistle.

After a good game in terrible conditions both sides welcomed the hot showers and warmth of the clubhouse. A short presentation followed with thanks being offered to Narberth for their welcome and hospitality.

Guess what ? – still raining!. The Broncos spent an enjoyable afternoon at Heathertons Adventure Park to try their hand at Archery, Pistol Shooting, Clay Pidgeon Shooting and Karting. Special mention has to be made of Jack “Alonso” Fare who saw off all of his challengers on the Race Track and would no doubt have beaten some of the adults if they’d let him loose in one of the big karts, and to Steve Sarney (Coach and Membership Secretary) for his archery skills (the safest place to be on the Archery range was actually in front of his target). It was rumoured that Steve was attempting to cut down on the membership admin for 2007.

The Broncos are also considering arranging Golf lessons for young Josh Bryan who managed to hit several golf balls out of the driving range onto the karting track No one was sure if this was deliberate attempt to try and put off Jack Fare and give the others a chance.

Despite the rain the Broncos spirits remained high and they made their way back to the Hostel for dinner and the evening entertainment. During the journey down to Wales the Broncos had been split into 5 groups and asked to prepare a 10 minute entertainment slot for the rest of the group – best presentations went to the groups of Jack Fare (who will be running laps next Sunday for “taking the mickey” out of all the coaches during their session – fairly accurate impersonations though) and Connor Palmer (for his groups re-enactment of Beth Gelert). A junior question of sport also took place and was won by the Cobalt Cockerels led by John Hudson.

On the adult side the competition for most cans of Blackthorn was easily won by Darren Fare, although a strong challenge was laid down by Marc Preston Allen and Mark Bryan.

Another early night for all after a busy day (Ha Ha !)

Sunday 26th March

The morning arrived – well for some it did – the only living beings to be found were Coaches Pete Timbrell and Adam Panting who woke at 5.30am to start the mammoth task of clearing up after the night before (and drinking several cups of tea in the process).

Breakfast was due to be at 8.15am but with very few people moving in the hostel at 8am, Pete and Adam were contemplating a wake up call for all using a referees whistle. A saviour arrived in the unlikely form of Craig Maude (a parent of one of our players staying in the self contained apartment next door). Craig was busy “burning his mushrooms” and set off the fire alarm – well done Craig.

After a hearty breakfast and their rude awakening the Broncos boarded the coach and set off for Waunarlwydd (won-R-Lloyd) RFC in Swansea for the second game of the tour.

Guess what ? – yeah still raining.

The game kicked off and Broncos started slowly once again (no doubt due to the late night enjoyed by many of their players and the loss of an hours sleep due to the clocks going forward). The first five minutes saw Waunarlwydd take control of the game and score a well deserved try following great interplay between forwards and backs. Waunarlwydd continued to press and found space and penetration by running at the Broncos inside backs with only determined Broncos cover defence making up for the missed tackles. A great break by winger Ben Farrell was the Broncos highlight.

Once again the Broncos made changes at half time bringing on some of their more experienced players. Waunarlwydd found the gaps in the inside backs were now closed due to a new combination of tough tackling half backs. The Broncos started to find their feet and scored a fantastic try when Luke Panting crashed over the line carrying several would be tacklers with him after great interplay between backs and forwards. Broncos were now firmly in control of the game and continued to press hard but could not cross the Waunarlwydd line. The final whistle blew on a 5 – 5 draw.

Both sides deserve credit for a great display of entertaining rugby played in atrocious conditions. Birthday boy Zak Hall also enjoyed his mud bath courtesy of the rest of the team.

The teams were pleased to retire to the warmth of the clubhouse for a meal and after match entertainment. A presentation was also made to Waunarlwydd to thank them for their superb hospitality and sportsmanship.

And then the last leg of our journey back to Thornbury. Arriving tired but happy we look back on a great tour where we have learnt a lot about ourselves and definitely bonded as a group. Our thanks for making this tour a success goes to:

·Matt and his staff at the YHA in Manorbier who looked after us brilliantly

·Mikes Travel Thornbury (particularly our Coach driver Richard who was great)

·Narberth and Waunarlwydd RFC for their friendship and hospitality

·All those involved in the fund raising committee (particularly Jane Maude)

·Chris Williams Embroidery for the tour kit

·Essilor, Sheffield Tranmissions, Pendragon, First Call and all the other local firms who have sponsored or contributed to our fund raising efforts.

 

 

 

Download the Tour Diary by clicking this link button above