A three week rugby tour to New Zealand - the spiritual home of the oval ball - was, inevitably, a daunting prospect. In the Land of the Long White Cloud, rugby flows in the blood of almost every man, woman and child. New Zealanders are fearsomely competitive and determined to defend the reputation of their country’s rugby heritage. The Marlborough players enjoyed wonderful hospitality and were born into a culture of effort, athletic pride and a genuine love of the game.

The Stuff of Dreams

Written by Charles Harrison (Master i/c Rugby)

En route to New Zealand, a three day training camp and a fixture against St Andrews College in Singapore helped to cement new team partnerships that had been forged during the summer term’s special training. The Singapore Cricket Club lent us its sumptuous training facilities where we practised to the backdrop of Singapore’s stunning cityscape. A Jamie Gibson hat trick and some metronomic goal kicking from Joe Budge, helped Marlborough to a comfortable win, 47–5.

The balmy temperatures of Singapore gave way to a New Zealand winter, the change in climate doing little to dampen our appetite for further adventures. Soon after our arrival, we happened upon All Black Captain, Richie McCaw, in a restaurant - a sure a sign that we were in real rugby country!

The South Island road trip took us via Kaikoura and some awe-inspiring whale watching to a warm welcome at Garin College, a Catholic school in Nelson.

Before our next fixture against Wellington and Scots College, the Wellington Lions lent us some of their top level coaches. This priceless lesson in attention to detail and delivery proved one of the highlights of the trip as did the opportunity to watch Wellington train: to be within touching distance of seven or eight All Blacks was the stuff of dreams! A hard won victory against the College gave us the first real taste of the ferocity of sport in this part of the world.

We felt comfortable playing at Wanganui Collegiate, one of New Zealand’s oldest, most traditional schools with which Marlborough already has strong ties. Defeat in the match itself against a physically more mature side, drew praise for the spirit of the Marlborough players, especially in defence.

‘Gravity Canyon’ and Rotorua’s world famous geysers provided a welcome mid tour break en route to Tauranga but we were slow to recover for our next fixture against Tauranga Boys High School - currently in the top five rugby schools in the country.

There was a different sort of home-stay experience at Massey High School in Auckland - with members of the school netball team, some prospective Olympians among them.

At Tauranga we played the as yet unbeaten Massey 2^nd XV, featuring some formidable players of Polynesian and Maori background. Jonathan Patterson, Brett Nielsen and Jamie Gibson were instrumental in helping Marlborough to its victory with Giles Goatly and Billy Crawshaw both managing to mark their final College appearances with well deserved tries.

Tour of Singapore and New Zealand 2007 Results:

vs St Andrews Junior College W 47 - 5
vs Garin College W 43 - 7
vs Scots College W 10 - 8
vs Wanganui Collegiate L 10 - 24
vs Tauranga Boys College L 27 - 24
vs Massey High School W 22 – 0

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