Courtesy of Barry Fitzgerald

41 boys travelled to Northern Ireland with Mr. FitzGerald, Mr. Campbell,
Mr. Leggett, Mr. Welsh and Fergus Wallace last Thursday to stay in Derry.

The Under-12 and Under-13 squads had three games each, as well as doing
some sightseeing before they returned to Glasgow on Tuesday evening.

Irish teams do not play the same stage development laws as ourselves and
their rugby seems to allow the bigger boy to rule the roost by being able
to do various things such as number 8 pick ups and by having conversions
from in line with where the try was scored rather than bringing it in to
the 15 yard line.

On the Friday, games against Cambridge House, Ballymena resulted in two
close, but unfortunately for both sides, defeats. Both High School teams
played the more expansive rugby, but were beaten by sheer size and
physicality. The U13s lost 31-35 with Vito Giambastiani scoring 4 tries
along with Alastair Ferguson's solitary effort. The U12s also lost by 4
points with James Stewart scoring two tries. Unfortunately Aidan
FitzGerald required some more porridge in order to give him any chance of
converting from the touch line. Despite the defeats, the boys boarded the
coach to go to Ravenhill to watch Ulster beat the Dragons.

Saturday's matches were against Coleraine Academical Institute. They were
also hosting 2 cup matches for their U18 and U15 cup teams, so it was a
busy place. The U13s came up against a very strong and skillful side with
Vito Giambastiani being the only player to cross the try line in a 7-42
defeat. However, the U12s faired a bit better and ran out comfortable
winners 34-14. Ross Horn crossed the try line twice as well as Greg Wood,
Jamie Miller, Oscar Gleave, and Alessandro Palmarini, who also converted
twice. We then visited the Giant's Causeway and returned to the hotel to
watch the 6 Nations matches. Well, at least one of them anyway!

Sunday was a day of rest as far as the rugby was concerned. However, for
some of the boys this was the day of the biggest game....Paintballing!
Many tails will be told of who shot the teachers and what they did in
revenge, but the end story is that Mr. FitzGerald's and Mr. Welsh's red
team were victorious. The evening was rounded off with Mr. Campbell's
quiz proving a bit harder than the staff had appreciated.

Monday morning saw us walk across the Peace Bridge into Derry and have a
tour around the city walls before going to play Foyle College. The U12s
won a very one sided match 64-10. The scorers being, Alessandro Palmarini
(4), Marcus Forbes(2), Fraser Critchley, Ross Horn and Aidan FitzGerald,
who also converted 7 kicks. James Stewart also added a conversion. The
U13s managed to secure their first tour win with a 17-14 victory due to
some excellent defending in the last 5 minutes of the game. Matthew
Dalrymple, Calum Warden and Alasdair Ferguson managed to cross the try
line to ensure the victory. The awards night held in the evening saw
plenty of awards being given out to player of the matches for all six
games, as well as the quiz winners and those with no more than two fines
for offences. Offences ranged from being late to meetings, taking the bus
back up to the top of the hill at the Giant's Causeway, forgetting kit,
boots, wallets and anything else that the staff felt was appropriate. It
is maybe interesting to note that Cairns Wallace was the only pupil to
escape the fines committee. The final awards were for the players of the
tour. The recipients were Mark Taylor for the U13s and Jamie Miller for
the U12s. Although it must be remembered that rugby is a team game and
these guys can only look good because their team mates put them into
position to do so.

The ferry journey home proved a bit more troublesome than the one on the
way out with a few boys not quite holding on to their breakfast.

All the boys were excellent ambassadors for the school and Scotland and I
am sure looking forward to some sleep before they are back at school on
Monday.

This article was posted on 15-Feb-2012, 19:33 by Hugh Barrow.