Minis Tour 2008, U11s report, Ice Station Zebra Caythorpe, Lincs.

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We didn't get to play much rugby (though one half more than the U12s at least) but what the kids got was perhaps a once in a lifetime chance to play in perfect snow on a large expanse of flat ground; and better than that to share it with their mates. And those are memories which will be priceless in years to come. This was an outstanding tour.

Irony coupled with the weather can be a cruel mistress. Fed up with the cold, wet and wind we had endured every previous February half-term tour, our entrepreneurial Tour Royalty had thought that by pushing back the tour to Easter we had a fighting chance of good, or at least normal, weather. Our hopes were high in mid-February when the weather was glorious - sure sign of global warming we thought - but should have realised something was up the week preceding the tour when Cambridge was cancelled due to monsoon conditions. However even we were stunned by the arctic-like conditions that prevailed on the tour weekend itself.

Every tour has its highlights as well as lowlights making each memorable in its own way, but before the first morning was over this tour had acquired a status of its own. The first match against Kesteven was abandoned in a blizzard the like of which had not been seen by even our weather-hardened hosts in over 35 years of playing. Our kids are tough - there's few who have played us who would deny that - but several kids were in pain as the hail came stinging down on bare legs but no more than the local players. And as the parents rounded up the kids we had to engineer a way to bring them off: walking backwards with the child sheltering leewards like penguins was most favoured though head down and put up with the stinging face was quicker. This was a brutal, vicious onslaught of weather but all the time this was happening Phil Dixon-Earl (U12s) was out there capturing it all with his video camera – truly, truly mad!

The hail had begun intermittently during the warm-up so several players began cold and this perhaps went some way to explain our slow start. Our hosts also of course had the advantage of knowing how to adapt their game to suit the prevailing wind (or howling gale on this day). So twice Kesteven broke through our defence to score by keeping the ball in the forwards and avoiding the expansive play. Normally this would have suited us, despite their pack being noticeably bigger, but the biting cold was locking up our brains it seemed. In their second try Brandon, who volunteered to play for the opposition to make up numbers, almost broke through but was caught two metres short to allow his team mate to take over the line.

By this time, however, our back line was getting more into the game and though the line was still being punctured by their bigger forwards (and they were big as we have found the rural teams tend to be), we were closing off their passing option and they were being pegged back by some strong tackling. There were some fine tackles coming from the backs - Tim got a few in nice and low whilst double-team tackle of the day went to Ruiri (low) and Simon (high) leaving their player in distress even at the expense of one of our own. We were also now establishing our kick and run game too, a suitable ploy with such a strong wind to our backs. (The wind was so strong that we had to abandon the notion of conversions since the ball was liable to either end up where it had come from or two fields away!)

We made several advances from penalties to touch, out of which came our try. From the throw, we deployed one of our new line out moves enabling Peter to receive the ball at pace and, with Kesteven momentarily confused, he took good advantage to break the game line and gain valuable yards. The ball was quickly recycled and taken inside by the forwards until Rui cut outside and ran in strongly to find space in the corner. The blizzard picked up viciously shortly after and that was that save for saying that at the after-match speeches there was a genuine offer for Kesteven to visit us so we could conclude this interestingly poised match.

We think that the U11s touring squad should be rightly applauded for their application and willingness to give it a go (no wussballers would have been seen out there on such a day). So let’s hear it for: Beth, Brandon, Chas, Dominic, Harry, Jacob, Jamie, Joe, Kate, Lewis, Peter, Ruiri, Simon, Tim, Will.

It is appropriate also to say a few words about our hosts Kesteven. Hitchin has always been well received and served by clubs that have hosted us but Kesteven went above and beyond the call of duty. Having only a few days notice they not only sorted out a team to play us but the ladies who ran the refreshments went out specially to buy the hot-dogs etc. Kesteven itself is a lovely ground albeit a little exposed (as we found out). What is most impressive is that only a few years ago they acquired some land adjoining the existing pitches in order to create an area especaily for the minis and juniors, surrounded by dry-stone walls (for the social historians amongst us), with scaled-down pitches equipped with proportionately sized posts no less! The green-eyed envy bugs were out that day. Thank you Kesteven for being such incredible hosts.

The decision was made later that day to cancel the Sunday match partly on the basis of the weather warning on the radio, especially as the front was forecast to come down from the north east where our hastily rearranged match was scheduled to be played. 60+ miles north in Grimsby to be precise. A good call it turned out - not even the best fish'n'chips were worth the risk of being marooned on a coach in a snowdrift.

It's perhaps fortunate that our squad isn't so large that our threat to drop anyone from the team who didn't want to play rugby in the snow was seen to be a hollow one. For some reason, with the notable exception of Lewis, our kids wanted to snowball fight instead. We forgave them after they took on the U12s and won. The U11s showed commendable teamwork also, under the direction of Alan, when they built the biggest snowman - again beating the U12s effort by some margin. The effort was marred initially by the apparent delight some others took in destroying it, but by lunchtime most of the snowed had melted. At one point in the afternoon we thought we had a match on with the U12s to finish the day but, rather like the snow, this had evaporated before the final session of activities.

And so that was practically that, aside from some final activities on the last morning which were relatively blessed with reasonable, albeit chilly, weather. Another tour over and here's looking forward to the next one when our squad will be expected to take the lead for the others. Time to start practicing the Hitchin Haka.