Lining up before the games

Big hits can't stop a winning finish

A leisurely day had by all as we watched the whales dancing around the reef in front of the hotel bar and lazed by the pool in preparation for our final matches this afternoon.

At 3 pm, we were picked up at the hotel and travelled to the rugby club where we were to play our games against Takuvaine and Arorangi. The ground itself was stunning. Set amongst tropical trees and plants and framed within the highest mountains on the island, it was a truly beautiful landscape and one in which it was a privilege to play. A sizeable crowd had gathered, sitting along the touchline, and local children and dogs played around, and sometimes on, the playing area.

A firm pitch and perfect handling conditions set the scene for a fast game between the Epsom College U17 XV and the Takuvaine U16s. The opposition were a real mixture of a youth team, with some huge, yet mobile, Islanders in the front 8 and centres and slight, yet fast, youngsters at half back and out wide.

Anyone who follows rugby will know of the reputation of the Pacific Islanders for big hitting and we were not to be disappointed. Within the first few minutes, Epsom felt the full force of the Islanders' tackling - with or without using their arms. However, we moved the ball well early on, stretching the defensive line, and opened the scoring when Ollie Weir collected a well-weighted grubber from Robbie Macdonald to touch down in the corner. Only hard hitting defence by Takuvaine kept Epsom out for the remainder of the first half and we turned round with a 5-0 lead.

That lead was stretched 10 minutes into the second with an outstanding clean break from the base of the scrum by No 8 Ciaran O'Duffy, who outpaced the covering half back and sprinted clear from just inside the Epsom half. Ollie Weir converted to make the score 12-0 in Epsom's favour.

At this point, the locals rallied as the crowds grew and lifted the home side. They were rewarded with a try of their own after some slick handling and fierce running. With the conversion missed, the deficit remained at 7 points and the home side surged forward once again. With the pressure mounting from the powerful Takuvaine forwards, some desperate defending led to a slew of penalties against us and it wasn't until a penalty of our own, converted by Ollie Weir, that the game felt at all safe. Final score 15-5 to Epsom.

This was a hugely deserved win for the U17s at the end of what has been a tough set of fixtures. The team played some impressive, fluent, running rugby and defended resolutely at all times, putting bodies on the line. All the players will have learnt a huge amount about the true physicalities of the game and have coped admirably against sides that have been bigger, stronger and half way through their own season.

For the U18 XV, the pre-match challenge was to end the tour on a high against the Arorangi U18s, show what they had learnt and make a statement about how they want to play in the season ahead.

Happily, the squad more than rose to the challenge against a typically robust Islander team. In great conditions, the Epsom handling was secure and, at times, outstanding. Harrison Mead had his best game on tour and opened the scoring. Quick tap penalties and lineouts kept up the tempo as Tom Flynn and Alex Aves added to their tour tallies before the break.

In the second half, the opposition struggled to keep up with our pace. Further scores followed for Tom Harty, Alex Aves, Tom Flynn and, inevitably, Jordan Burns. Final score 45-5 to Epsom.

Highlights of this match were a terrific catch in traffic from a high kick by Tom Flynn that left two Cook Islanders on the deck to be carried off, surpassed only by the try of the tour when Alex Aves beat a host of defenders with no more than 5 metres to work in. Magical moments in a magical place and a great end to the playing side of the tour.

Following the match, we were hosted in the clubhouse, which is being developed along with the playing surfaces, to become, in time, a formidable sports club. The hospitality was hugely generous and the food a delight.

Then, perhaps, came the moment of the tour when kit was presented to the Cook Islands boys and was received with rapture. The Epsom boys then swapped various pieces of their own kit with the opposition in a demonstration of how, no matter how hard the rugby is on the pitch, friendship between players is all that matters off it.