After arriving on Friday in the heat having fun at the bowling alley and pool, we set off early on Saturday morning to meet our hosting team CARF Rugby team. We meet them in St Raphael at their amazing training facilities next to the beach. After some training and drills we played some touch rugby to get us ready for the match on Sunday.

We even had the dads and coaches out sweating off the beers from the night before ? After a picnic down on the beach with the oppo we knew this was going to be a good club after watching their boys and ours play rugby/American football and generally have a laugh on the beach for hours in the afternoon. After taking the boys to the amusement parc in the evening we settle down ready for our big game the next day.

We hit the road at 9am (to the boy’s despair) and pulled up at CARF RFC for 11am. Our Warly boys were quiet and tired but the coaches got to task in warming them up and getting them game ready. The facilities were amazing and CARF coaches arranged for the boys to run out together, line up and sing the national Anthems before the game - Amazing !!

We knew we would be up against it as they only had a U16 age group but after a big hit in first minute I see our boys look at each other and decide no one was going to beat up the mighty Warly. The game was played with great spirit and aggression with some of the best rugby I’ve seen all season from both teams. Amazing considering most of our boys had only had 4 hours sleep ! They fought for their mates and you could feel the pride oozing out of them. The game ended in a 17-17 draw and we must say a massive thank you to Reno who reffed throughout.

After the game the celebration begin with the CARF boys storming our changing rooms with “Free from desire” at full blast on the speakers. The afternoon was a credit to both our boys and theirs with the integration of teams I have not witnessed before. The hosts were amazing providing food and refreshments through out the afternoon and generally being the best club, we have ever visited. I think my comment at one point which probably sums it up was “I never thought we would find a club as unhinged as ours” ??

Touring is about seeing our squad knit together even more than they are and providing memories these boys will never forget. I am so proud of our boys and look forward to these bonds being cemented even further for next season and many more to come…..

A massive thank you to CARF rugby club and especially to Reno for the months of back-and-forth organisation with my limited (well no) French ! Their boys are a credit to their club and I really hope we can repay them with an invite to Warly next year, but we will need to up our game !

If any other age groups are looking for clubs to host on tour, I would highly recommend a visit to CARF.