You Are Not in Kansas (or Texas) Anymore

Rugby tours are somewhat similar to riding a tornado. One second you are standing quietly at the airport when suddenly a giant whirlwind sucks you into its vortex and keeps you there (spinning round and round) until it spits you back out at your original point of departure eight days later. The game consumes both players and coaches during a rugby tour and unlike other tours, a national team tour is all about business. There is no sightseeing and training two - sometimes three - times a day is the norm. It gives all the traveling members of the squad a good taste of what professional rugby is like. While this is not everyone’s cup of tea, for those of us who are rugby fanatics, it doesn’t get any better. Rugby twenty-four hours a day in England (the birthplace of rugby) –

I am definitely not in Texas anymore!

Day 1 – USA Tour to England

I started the day at 4:30 am ( a time all coaches are familiar with…) and left the house by 6:00 am for a 8:00 am flight to Newark. One would imagine that Easter Sunday would not be a busy day - one would be wrong! The airport was so busy it appeared they must have been giving away free flights!

USA at Worksop

Rugby tours require a good deal of kit (translation – rugby gear) and there is always a

big sigh of relief when you are under the 50 pound maximum for bags. Unfortunately for myself and a number of Texas players, we were forced to check our bags to Newark, which then had to be rechecked for England. I am quite certain that the airlines have morning meetings to see how they can make the day more “interesting” for travelers. I arrived in Newark around 12:30 after a three hour flight. I made my way down to the baggage claim area and then proceeded to wait for what seemed like years and before heading back upstairs to the international desk where I waited for what seemed like more years to check my bags through to England. The challenge began immediately after I checked my bags. I was responsible for gathering together 30 players and three coaches at a central location as they came in on flights from all around the country. This was almost accomplished and the word almost in tour language is profane! Our flight to England was scheduled to depart at 6:50 pm, unfortunately two of our players did not arrive in Newark until a half and hour before departure. Both of the players had been caught in a snow storm in Denver which had delayed them by a couple of hours. After a number of phone calls to parents and discussions with airline personnel, we arranged for these players to meet us in London (they had a flight that left a half an hour after ours).

Coach Mills and Barford discussing English Road Rage

We then boarded the plane for our six hour flight to England, which was smooth and uneventful (just the way we like them). Once we cleared immigration and customs in England we were met by Andy one of our English liaisons. By the time we had gathered everyone together, we only had to wait 15 minutes before our other two players arrived – big sigh of relief! Our only casualties were two lost bags. We boarded our coach for the three and a half hour trip to Worksop College which was to be our home base throughout the tour. Worksop is to the north of London and a beautiful secluded campus that looks much like “Hogwarts” of Harry Potter fame. After arriving, players were issued all their team kit and immediately headed out for a training session. You can imagine how interesting it was to train after traveling for almost 24 hours. The team then had dinner and were off to bed – exhausted but excited about the next days match against Rotherham Rugby Academy.

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