TGS Rugby Tour: Tuesday 25th

St Stephens Gardens in Dublin

Tuesday 25th

CUS vs TGS Captains meet

Departed Galway in the morning after thanking our hosts for a wonderful stay. Arrived in Dublin, set down our gear at the Catholic University School (CUS) before walking through St Stephens Gardens and on to explore the centre of Dublin. In the afternoon the tour group met their billet families and departed for home at the end of the school day. A lot of families live some distance from the school, it was an experience for many of our tour group to catch numerous buses and train connections to make the journey home (considering some of our boarding students only commute 30 sec down a set of stairs for them to be 'at school').

Wednesday 26th

Students met at CUS in the morning before venturing out for the day. The group took a long walk through Dublin city to the iconic Guinness factory and toured through the facility. At the top of the Guinness factory was an observation deck with a 360 degree view of Dublin.

Kong wraps up the CUS Scrum Half

In the afternoon the group met back at CUS and was bused to the playing fields (like many schools in Ireland, the CUS school campus didn't have ovals on site). Both teams ran a quick warm up training session before the game......it was rather cold!

The captains met and the game kicked-off with TGS displaying great intensity and early ball possession. CUS soon matched our intensity and the game became an arm wrestle for the forward packs. Both teams were rewarded for their efforts with tries but it was CUS who went into the half time break with a slight lead.

Perkins ready to unleash

In the second half TGS won back some of the points with exciting work from the forwards which was finished off beautifully by the backline. This well matched game had many highlights but none more impressive than the combination of efforts from Dan Perkins and George Muller, both players were simply brilliant for the entire match. The final score was 31 - 21 in favour of CUS. At the post-match function, TGS Rugby Captain, Juhee Kong, presented the CUS coach with a TGS shield and signed TGS jersey as a memento of the match.

Bakers feet too fast

Thursday 27th
Early start for the next leg of the UK journey, England. Students met at CUS one final time to say goodbye to their billet families before taking the bus to the airport.

Grammar line out

The flying time from Dublin to London was a little less taxing than the groups previous journey from Brisbane to Dublin. This time just 1 hour in the air! Upon arrival in London, the group traveled by bus to the Royal National Hotel, which will be our home for the next three days. Once settled in, the group met for a quick introduction to the 'tube' network that will faithfully transport them around the city (with some practice) to all the major landmarks. After a successful trip to Trafalgar Square they were ready to venture out and explore the many tourist spots that London is so famous for.

Murdock gets across

After a few hours of sightseeing the group rejoined to share dinner together and celebrate Dan Perkins birthday. The boys made the occasion special for Dan with a chocolate Sunday ice cream complete with birthday candle presented to him whilst the entire restaurant sang Happy Birthday!......as if turning 17 in London wasn't special enough!!