Rugby Union

An eager group of both management and squad members gathered in the hotel lobby after breakfast to make the short walk down to the harbour to prepare for the whale watching expedition. Once all were dressed in the warming floatation suits (a few 'special' suits had to be borrowed from elsewhere for the more mature members of the tour party) it was down to the boats in each group of 10-12...
Once underway the boats made good time travelling up the beautiful coastline of Victoria and Vancouver Island to the outlying islands approx 45 miles away, even crossing into US Waters.
About an hour into the trip the engines were cut and a brief description of what to expect was delivered by the guide - there are 3 pods of Orca in the area, J, K & L. We were watching 2 of these travelling in search of food and could expect to see approx. 45 animals over the next hour or so.
The next 60 minutes passed differently for each boat - some were fortunate to be as close as 20-30 metres from surfacing animals, some were able to see some spectacular leaps while others were a little further from the action. This was all necessary in an effort to disrupt the animals as little as possible and allow to take their own course. Obviously this meant some boats (including WestCoast1 containing Danny Collins, Liam Sharpe, Ben Innes, AJ Connor, James Maycock, Greg Johnson & Richard Jones as well as the tour diarist Adrian 'Cloggy' Gilbert) had fantastic views and returned exhilerated whilst others were left a little disappointed. However all agreed it was worth the time and everyone, even a nervous Peter Altham, enjoyed the boat trips in the speedy little Zodiacs.
After lunch, it was time to soak up the sun again, with the balcony of room 103 drawing an even larger crowd than previously. Although many thought the tanning oil a touch too far! The evening saw the vast majority of the tour group head to the cinema for The Simpson Movie, as despite it being Friday night, tomorrow was match day.

Tries Points

Duthie x 4 20
Terrett x 4 20
M Perkins x 2 10
Hart x 2 10
Jones x 2 10

Abbott, Altham, Burrows, Chamberlain, Hebditch, Innes, T Perkins, Shepherd, Slingsby all have 1 try each.


Goal Kicking

Moore 9 Conversions 18 points
West 6 Conversions 12 points
Hart 1 Conversion 2 points

Total Points for: 147; Against: 0

Played 2 Won 2 Lost 0