Final Day

I cannot believe it. The boys leave today! We picked them up at 11am. They looked pretty tired. They had obviously had a great time with their hosts and there were lots of manly hugs when they boarded the bus.

The boys wanted to spend the day at a big shopping mall in Sandton, Nelson Madela Square. Mum says it is because they want to buy presents for their mums. Dad's not too sure.

The mall is huge with loads of shops. Some of the boys bought jumpers. We tried to get Mr Unsworth to go to a diamond shop but he wouldn't!

The boys have now gone through to international departures and we are waiting for our flight to Cape Town. I miss the boys already!! They were really nice to me at the end and I had lots of hugs which was really nice. Mum had some too.

It has been fun writing the blog and posting photos. I hope you have all enjoyed reading it.

Love Anna

xxx

Final Match against Springs Boys High

After an excellent night with their hosts the boys got ready for their last match against Springs Boys High School.

It is David H and Duncan B’s birthdays today. We have bought two big cakes, candles and some sweets for presents. Mr Seymour and Mr Unsworth say that we cannot give the cakes out until after the match.

The school was having a big fund raising day for their next tour, so there were lots of people around and a great atmosphere. The boys had a good training session which set them up for the game to come. Dad had to referee which was a big shock for everyone including him!

Before the game their marching band was due to play and we were going to sing the national anthem with them and Springs were going to sing theirs. However, it rained really heavily so the band couldn’t play. However, our boys wanted to sing so they went out before the kick off and lined up and sang! Springs Boys High sang their anthem but our boys were better! Just as the game started the rain really began to come down heavily, this was followed by a thunderstorm including lightening, so the game had to be stopped just before half time. Dad says it is the only bit of Health and Safety he has seen here! Springs High scored first and the try was converted. However, the boys were very determined to win a match and after some good forward play Andy G scored from close range. Sam Q converted. Soon after, from a forwards drive James D-C broke free and used his height to stretch over to score. Both teams were keen to finish the match, so after a break, waiting for the storm to pass, the second half kicked off. The match was very even both teams were determined to win. Sam Q kicked another penalty but then Springs scored in the corner after we had been on their line! James B had to come off after he took knock and then Mummy had to take Rory O’C to hospital after he had a knock on the head. (Don’t worry, he’s fine and has some cool x-rays from a CT scan). Both sides made some changes and their No 21 gave away 3 penalties which really helped. From one of these Ross R scored so we were 18 – 12 ahead with 3 minutes to go. I was biting my nails! But then Dad blew the final whistle and we had won!

Springs put on a brilliant meal afterwards. We have had such good hospitality. They said they really want us to come back because our boys were really nice and polite in the homes and they played hard rugby. Maybe in two years??

The boys have now gone out with their hosts. Dad spoke to them for along time. He won’t tell me what he said to them!

I can’t believe the tour is nearly over. I have really enjoyed it – I hope the boys have too!

Photos will follow but we are having problems with our internet connection but we will post them in the next few days when we are in Cape Town. PHOTOS ARE NOW HERE http://picasaweb.google.com/anna7davies/4thMatchAgainstSpringsBoysHigh#

I hope you have enjoyed my Blog!
See you soon!
Anna
Xx

Entabeni Game Park

We all had a lie in today until 0815. It was great! The hotel is fabulous, I wish we were staying here for another day. Breakfast was also fantastic and we all stocked up for the long journey. I heard that the boys had gone to a place that had live music last night with Mr Unsworth and Mr Seymour. James D-C pretended he was American and spoke to a lot of girls!

The journey to Entabeni was very long (nearly 4 hours) and the last bit was on a dirt road. We are staying in huts with a thatch roof. Dad said there wouldn’t be any electricity but there is. The huts are really good with a shower. We had lunch when we arrived. The boys ate AGAIN! After the boys had eaten we had down time where most of the boys went to the pool. Dad and I were dipping our feet in the pool and suddenly Rob R came along in his Speedos! He was teased a lot! Though it was pretty funny! The water was freezing! The only brave person to go in was Jo J who just went for it!
We then all got onto jeeps and went on a game drive. They said that it would get really cold and they were right. The boys all had blankets except for Alex H who said that his Reading shorts would be warm enough. Our jeep saw a hippo, a crocodile, giraffe (Duncan B said it was a walking tree at first!), impala, jackal and lots of lovely birds. We searched for animals in the dark too with a spotlight. Our jeep didn’t find a lion but another jeep did. The lion was very close to the jeep and he roared at the boys!

We got back at 7.30pm and went straight into dinner. The boys ate a lot AGAIN. Afterwards we sat around a big campfire. You had to get a Ranger with a gun to escort you back to your hut in case a lion came into the camp! There were other families there. Dad said the boys were flirting with one of the girls!

At 6:00 am a wake up call went round and rangers were at the doors saying it was safe to walk about! I don’t think the boys were very happy about that!
Everyone set off except for 2 of our boys who slept through the wake up calls and the rangers!

The drive was another 3 hours in the very cold air!
On the drive we saw 5 lions, 3 rhinos including a baby rhino, warthogs, 2 hippos and some giraffes!
Some boys were even lucky enough to see a cheetah after a kill!
In my truck we had: Mum, Dad, Andy U, Alex H, Duncan B, Henry K, Michael S, Nick H and I!
I felt sorry for Nick H because he was the only year 13!
Except for our driver commentating we also had Alex H talking about mating calls etc.
Near the end of our drive we had a choir at the back of the truck doing remix’s and it was hilarious!
The songs included: In the Jungle from the Lion King, Jingle Bells, I believe I can touch the Sky and 99 green bottles sitting on shelf! Dad will try and add photos later! Please look later on! Photos now at http://picasaweb.google.com/anna7davies/EntabeniGameReserve#

Everyone loaded the coach and headed off to Spring Boys High School for the boys to meet their hosts.
The hosts seemed really nice. But I felt sorry for 1 lady who took home 5 boys who were very hungry!

Anna
x

3rd Match versus Menlo High School

After a very early start (wake-up call at 0615!) and a quiet flight to Johannesburg we loaded the bus and headed for lunch at Menlyn Mall.

We arrived at Menlo Park High School for our 3rd game. Despite jet lag and the altitude the team tried their best but were overwhelmed by a more skilful, more physical and bigger team. Please see the photographs. This will be the best team that these Shiplake boys will ever face. It included a schoolboy Springbok at fly half and a number of provincial players. It was a case of men against boys but Mr Seymour told the boys that if they learnt a little from the opposition it would have been worth it. Our boys were VERY brave. They did not take a step backwards but they were just really, really good. Pictures are: http://picasaweb.google.com/anna7davies/3rdMatchAgainstMenloHighSchool#

After the game Menlo Park had organised a special meal for the boys and staff. The meal was fantastic!
The boys were making a lot of noise so I presume that they were having a good time!

There was a little presentation where Shiplake and Menlo Park gave out ties, balls, etc. the surprising thing was that when Menlo Park were giving out the Port they even gave me one! They also offered me a glass of wine!

The hotel that we are staying in is gorgeous!
The boys have gone out to eat again I don’t think they’re ever full!

Just a quick note to say that I will not be updating you for two days because we will be staying at a game reserve and there is no internet.
Bye for now!
Anna
x

Court In Session

A court session was held in camera at a local restaurant last night. The prosecutor, Mr Unsworth brought a number of felonies to my attention and I, as judge, had to give out appropriate sanctions. There was, of course, a defence attorney, Mr Seymour, but in all cases he could not adequately defend the perpetrators for their heinous crimes on tour. In fact, on a number of cases, he thought it appropriate that the court severely punish the defendant in an attempt to get the individual back on the straight and narrow.

James D-C was first in the dock for uncontrolled hair. He was given hair wax and told to ensure that, whilst in “Number Ones”, his hair was under control at all times. Ross R had, apparently, eaten a “dodgy” curry the night before which had made him sick. The court came up with an age-old remedy of onion with Tabasco. Ross is feeling a lot better today. James B was accused of wearing an earring whilst in uniform. The court decided that if he wanted to look like a girl he should wear a prettier earring and produced a very attractive clip-on item to be worn with his uniform. A similar earring was produced for Henry K after the court found small round holes in the defendant’s ear lobe. The prosecutor alleged that Craig H had worn underpants to walk up Table Mountain. The court was provided with evidence and refused to accept that the lycra garments should be worn without additional clothing. In addition the court found that the garments in question left little to anyone’s imagination and therefore sentenced the defendant to use a sweet potato to enhance the defendant’s reputation. At this stage there was some disturbance in the court which I had to deal with by use of the South African judicial method of making the heckler bite a chilli pepper dipped in peri-peri sauce. This worked extremely well as those who had spoken out of turn could now not talk at all.

James W was next in the dock accused of leaving the rugby game without the coach’s permission. This was an open and shut case and the defendant was given some baby food to supplement his nutrition as he was finding solid foods, following his mouth injury, difficult to masticate. Sam Q was next accused of spending a disproportionate amount of time on his hair. The court produced a pink Alice band to assist the defendant who was told that it must be worn with his uniform. Tom W was found guilty of wearing inappropriate lime green socks. The court produced some black nylon pop socks for the defendant to wear with his uniform. Alex H was found guilty of careless behaviour over personal possessions and was ordered to wear purple sunglasses whenever he was in uniform. Rory O’C was accused of poor balance. Evidence was put forward which clearly proved that the defendant had slipped over and landed on his coccyx when no-one was in the vicinity. The court granted leniency and produced some “bum cream” which will be used to massage the damaged area when appropriate.

Court was adjourned for the evening with further cases pending. One particularly nasty allegation brought to my attention for the next court session was that Elliot Q had worn a mankini whilst on the summit of Table Mountain. The court granted the defence time to prepare.

2nd match versus Hopefield

The boys all made it in for assembly at 0730. Some of them had indeed had to wake up at 5am. Some had to wait at school-bus stops for 20 minutes in, what seemed like sub-zero temperatures. On balance they thought the Shiplake assembly time of 0820 was much better! There are about 600 pupils at the school which is co-ed. We listened to the Principal tell us a story about a competition between the wind and the sun to see which one could control man. The wind blew as hard as he could but the man just turned up his collar and went about his normal business. The sun beamed warm gentle rays on to the man and the man took of his coat and had to rest. The moral was that if we are gentle with one another we will all be more compliant. Getting nasty with each other will make us more determined to stick to our guns.

The school is bilingual, but the Principal spoke in English, not Afrikaans, for our benefit. They sang their school song for us and I was invited to address the school. After assembly the boys went to the first lesson of the day with their hosts, sometimes in classes of 40. The Principal has a closed-circuit TV in his office with cameras in every classroom. I thought this was a fabulous idea, but I can’t see it being allowed in the UK!

We left to train at Langebaan beach at 9am when the sun was beginning to make a difference. By the time we reached the beach it was like a good summer’s day in the UK. We did some light training focussing on improving some of the weak areas from the first game and then the boys went off to find lunch and to have a paddle. Photos here http://picasaweb.google.com/anna7davies/TrainingAtLangebaanBeach#

At 1.30pm we boarded the bus to get back to Hopefield High School to prepare for the sevens match at 3.30pm and the 15-a-side game at 4.00pm.

I refereed the 7s game which was the least like 7s that you can imagine. Both teams played 15-a-side tactics but with only seven players. However, our willpower won through and we finished the three 7 minute sessions victorious. Photos are here http://picasaweb.google.com/anna7davies/7sMatchAgainstHopefield#

The main game started ferociously but I was proud that our boys did not take a step back. Our defensive organisation was much better, as was our talking. Unfortunately, after twenty minutes James W took a frontal blow to his lower jaw and his bottom incisors were pushed back. Alison and I have driven him to the local hospital (27 miles away!) and I am now writing this blog from the dentist’s waiting room.



We got back, with James having been really brave. His teeth are now looking like they did this morning. We found out that e had lost 12 - 7, but had played fantastically well and had earnt the respect of the opposition who had thought we would be a pushover. Actually the coach was good enought to say that their converted try had come from a definite offside, so technically we had won 7 - 5! We were treated to a great after-match dinner and then the boys went out for a quiet evening with their hosts. Photos are http://picasaweb.google.com/anna7davies/15ASideVersusHopefield#



So 3 matches played and 2 lost, but our performance today gave great hope for the domestic season.

Cape Town once again!

Today at 8:00 am the boys got dropped at Hopefield School.
They said goodbye to their hosts, packed the coach and headed for Cape Town. The boys stopped off at a petrol station which had a Wimpy. As you can imagine that was it for the boys straight out of the coach and start into Wimpy to buy cheese burgers, milkshakes etc. I am guilty because I did have a Banana Milkshake which was delicious!
Everyone arrived at Table Top Mountain where the boys got ready to climb the Mountain!
Mum and I decided to not climb the mountain as we have no walking shoes and it would be to expensive to buy some!
It took the boys one and a half hours to climb the mountain and an hour to get down!
After the boys loaded the bus they arrived at the hotel where the boys settled down and went for a wild swim in the freezing pool!
Most of the were pushed or forced to get in! Even Mr. Unsworth had a quick dip!
Tonight the boys are going to have a court session in a restaurant called Best Ugly just a 10 minute walk down from the hotel! Photos are at http://picasaweb.google.com/anna7davies/Court#
We have just had a surgery in room 44 which is my families room!
We've had knee injuries, neck problems, sore teeth and aching legs!
Got to go to the restaurant!
Anna
x