Dubai Exiles U15 four nation tour

The final rugby day of the tour was another cracker with not a cloud in the sky as we started the wake up rounds at 7:30. Despite the early night it was just as difficult as ever to get them up and going - I think they’ll sleep for a few days solid when they finally get home on Tuesday morning. Shaved lines in eyebrows seemed to be the fashion this morning - not to mention a couple of modifications to hairstyles that had magically happened overnight - must be the leprechauns sneaking around I think. We rounded them up and onto the bus by 9 for the short journey to the grounds. The list of medication required continues to shrink and I think that by the time we get them all home they’ll be ... read more

It was a very subdued night of the boys after their big defeat and we let them sleep-in until 9am to try and help with their tiredness. Some were still late to bed as it took quite a while to get through the ice, rest and then strap routine for a couple of the niggling injuries. Sam Wild and Cesar had managed to both crash out and ended up with over 15 hours of sleep each. This has made a huge difference to them both and they are well and truly on the mend now. A couple of others are showing the signs of wear and tear and may not be in the best of shape by tomorrow! The packing up is certainly getting much easier and the boys were able to get up, dressed, breakfasted ... read more

We managed to sneak a relative sleep-in this morning with an hour past our normal wake up time. It was extremely difficult to get everyone out of bed - even at 8:30 - but we rounded them up and had them down for breakfast. Definitely battle scarred and weary but still on a high from yesterday, they are looking forward to the next challenge. Following breakfast we loaded up the bus - a rather protracted process as each room has to be checked and all the stuff left lying around has to be repacked! Next time we’re bringing a maid for each room! Despite all this we were underway just after 10 and heading for Wales at last. The first ceremony was to award the Dick of the day to Tim - very dubious grounds - ... read more

Despite all our misgivings about the hotel it eventually turned out all right and we managed to find 25 boys and 5 dads pretty much where they should have been in the morning. Everyone was out of bed at the traditional 7:30 for a (fairly average) breakfast around 8. The big concern of the day was whether the laundry would get washed, dried and returned it time - recent history would show that we were likely to be seriously disappointed by the hotel but we were still mildly optimistic. On the bus at 9 we headed first for Old Trafford to see the traditional home of Manchester United and see if we could learn a thing or two from them - after the Chelsea game I had my doubts but, again, mild optimism was prevalent. It ... read more

An early start was just what was needed - just ask the boys - and so it was 7:30 out of bed and down for breakfast by 8. The fact that it was, in fact 10:30 Dubai time, didn’t seem to register with most of them and so it was a long protracted process to extract them from their beds and get them sort of semi respectable - it’s going to be a long ten days! Breakfast - all you can eat of course - was a good start and at 9 am we had pretty much the whole team, packed , loaded, dressed and on the bus with (what we thought) everything they needed for the day. History will show that we were, in fact, very wrong and when you ask 25 boys if they’re ... read more