7 SACS boys tour France in September Holidays
French Tour Report
This International Under-14 Tournament was organized by Paris Rugby and took place from the 20th September to 22nd September 2013. Our touring party consisted of 11 boys of whom four were from Atlantic Rugby Academy, seven from SACS, plus three management. The SACS boys were Oliver Schuurmans, David Hayes, Tom Robinson, Nishen Naidoo, Chad van der Loo, Zolani Masembathe and Vusile (Lucky) Dlepu.
We did very well in the tournament winning all three of our pool games and our quarter final, before losing by one try to nil in the semi-final. The side that beat us, Toulouse, went on to win the final by 33-nil and we won the 3rd and 4th team playoff by 27-0.
Our results were as follows: 1st match vs. Brive (France) won 26-7 ; 2nd vs. Heidelberg (Germany) won 33-0 ; 3rd vs. Brussels (Belgium) won 22-5 ; quarter-final vs. Bridgend (Wales) won 19-7 ; semi-final Toulouse (France) we lost 0-5 ; 3rd and 4th place play-off against Georgia we won 27-0. From the quarter-finals on we played at the Stade Francais Stadium where the Springboks won the 2007 Rugby World Cup Final, which was very exciting for the boys. It was a privilege for the boys to play against and interact with boys from different countries and nationalities.
We had a large group of SACS parents and I must emphasize and congratulate the SACS parents on the huge amount of effort that they put in to make the whole tour a big success. The parents lent much needed support on the sidelines as well as taking the boys sightseeing to the Eiffel Tower and Euro Disney.
We have been invited back to the under 16 version of the tournament in 2015, which means that we could possibly keep the same side. I would also like to thank Graeme Wepener, for interceding on our behalf and recruiting the SACS players all of whom proved to be quality players and great ambassadors for their school.
Alex Lapierre
(Head Coach )
