Final days on tour - United through Sport and Tango

The tour party enjoyed a long return from Mar del Plata in our luxury double decker bus and on arrival in Buenos Aires 15 of us set off with Eddie from UTS on a short trip to Barracus - a combination of 3 shanty towns on the edge of the city. We were met by Alejandro, a part time manager of the charity who took us inside for an explanation of what he does at this site. Basically the site offers food to up to 50 families five times a day, this is an exceptionally poor area and for many the food distributed is the only food they are able to get for the day. Whilst the parents are inside the charity looks after the children and offer sporting activities, project based work and even English lessons. This is the part of the charity work that UTS want to grow and the tour party met volunteers from Australia, New Zealand and the locality who were all trying to make this experience as normal as possible for the young children. Our boys had the opportunity to mix with the children and pretty soon they were lifting the children in the air (like a line out) and running around having lots of fun. We were very proud of the boys and they staying with the children for the best part of an hour and a half. Alejandro showed us what he is planning to do with the money that was raised for the project and the tour party left after an incredibly uplifting experience. A couple of hours of free time followed after which the boys were treated to a three course meal and a brilliant Tango show, which showed how the dance has progressed through the ages into the dance that we can all recognise today. The following morning we had a very entertaining final tour awards meeting where awards were given for Players player of the tour - Charlie Pargeter, best forward - Alex Lundie, best back - Campbell Swanson, coaches player of the tour - Rory Jackson and best tourist - Finn Bendit. There were also some humorous awards which I am sure the boys will tell you about on their return. Final thanks were given for an amazing experience before last minute shopping time was allowed before we head to the airport for our trip home. Many thanks for following this blog, we look forward to seeing you at Edinburgh airport on Thursday. No mas blog por el momento. Muchas gracias The tour party.

Mar del Plata and match day 4

The tour party had a leisurely breakfast (a long lie in) before heading off to meet their final set of hosts from the Holy Trinity College - we had a wonderful welcome from Marcelo and the boys headed off with their host families. The staff sat down to a welcome buffet and it soon became clear that the hospitality of our final hosts would be exceptional. We headed off for a meal to celebrate Mr Lowe’s 40th birthday before turning in nice and early as a busy day ahead was promised. We woke up early and travelled to the school where we were treated to an amazing Junior assembly to welcome the tour party. Gordon MacNeill had some useful public speaking practice and JP delivered an amazing speech on our behalf, using our tour mascot ‘Henderson’ the bear which the Trinity College pupils absolutely loved. A walking tour of the locality was the perfect way to prepare for the final match of the tour. The match itself was a really good way to end the tour. The first third was excellent and the team showed excellent continuity scoring two excellent tries through Rory Jackson and Max Blacklock, both converted by the fit again Cameron Turner. The second third was disappointing as inaccuracy allowed a good Trinity team back into the match. They scored 3 unanswered tries to take the lead going into the final third. An entertaining final third saw Charlie Pargeter score an outstanding long distance try and Harry Crawley bust through several tackles to score under the posts to secure a really good win. This group have really developed over the 2 weeks and I am looking forward to seeing more progress during the season. Giacometti Pessotto was voted MOM and Max Blacklock the back of the match. A really enjoyable post match function was enjoyed by all before returning to the final night of billeting. Tomorrow sees us travel back to Buenos Aires before some of the party spend time with one of our charities - United through Sport - whilst the rest of the group prepare for a final dinner and Tango experience. We will blog one more time with an update after our awards ceremony. The staff have been very impressed with this group and are extremely pleased with every aspect of the tour, hopefully the boys will have memories to last a lifetime.

Days 10 and 11 - City tour of Buenos Aires and travel to Mar del Plata

Day 10 started with an early breakfast before we boarded the bus for our city tour of Buenos Aires. We started in the main square and were given a history of the buildings surrounding the plaza -including the ‘Pink House’ where Evita gave her famous speeches to the Argentine people. We moved on to the Cathedral and were lucky enough to see a changing of the guards whilst inside -a fantastic sight involving 7 soldiers dressed in traditional dress taking the place of those soldiers who are guarding the mausoleum of General San Martin who liberated the countries of South America from the Spanish in the 1820s. From here we went an a fabulous stadium tour of Boca Juniors, although JP as a River Plate fan seemed not to enjoy this part of the trip as much as everyone else! A brief stop at Caminoto where the boys enjoyed the colourful houses and had the chance to buy some souvenirs was followed by a trip for lunch by the Recoleta Cemetery which was fascinating. We headed back to our host school to drop the boys off for their final night of hosting at St George’s School so that the boys could ready themselves for the final journey of the tour to the south coastal city of Mar del Plata. A brutal training session in th morning ensured that the boys slept for most of the 6 hour journey and on arrival the squad went out to a local restaurant for another squad dinner. Tomorrow we meet our final set of hosts from The Holy Trinity School in Mar del Plata against whom we will play our final match against on Monday afternoon.

Day 9 - Match day 3 vs St George’s College

The overnight storm system had blown away by the time morning came and the squad assembled after a much needed lie in to travel to St George’s Quilmes, the home of JP for over 20 years where he worked as a house master and PE teacher. The journey was quick and we arrived at a beautiful campus and were soon ready for training. An hour to iron out a few issues from the previous games was well spent and the squad went for an early lunch with our hosts. One or two players were unavailable for the match due to minor sprains and illness (nothing serious thankfully) and JP picked a young starting team for the first third. The boys came roaring out of the blocks and were soon on the scoreboard - excellent handling creating space for Max Blacklock to demonstrate his electric footwork and score in the corner. Straight from the restart we attacked again and made more yards out wide. A lovely kick through panicked the St George’s defence into a rushed clearance and Danny Troup attacked from the return, beating several defenders before releasing Freddie Riddle. One brilliant dummy later and Freddie was diving in at the corner to double our lead. Andrew Cadzow -playing at full back scored a third try on the stroke of half time to make the score 15-0 at the break. Numerous changes were once again made at the break in play, but the second third performance was equally as good. A new desire and work rate was noted and, although no more scores were added during this period, the team defended with bravery to ensure they took the 15 point lead into the final third. A strong lineup took the field for the final third with some of the senior players making their first contributions of the match, however, it was St George’s who struck first with a well taken try. The team responded well and an excellent try from Elliot Drysdale and a second for ‘the poacher’ Freddie Riddle made the game safe. This was the performance of the tour so far and real signs of improvement were evident. Campbell Swanson was the outstanding back on the field and Mark Blair won that accolade for the forwards. We had an enjoyable presentation with our hosts where Gordon MacNeill gave the captains speech in Spanish before the players set off with their hosts (in very large cars!) for a 2 night billet. Tomorrow sees the squad embark on a city tour of Buenos Aires where the boys will see all of the notable sights in the city including La Boca - Mr Palacios as a River Plate supporter might not enjoy this bit - the Recoletta cemetery and the famous balcony where Eva Braun delivered her speech to the Argentinian people.

Day 8 - Gaucho time

The squad waved goodbye to their hosts from St Matthews College and travelled and hour and a half to the Estancia de Areco, a working ranch, where they would be entertained for the day. The first obstacle was a very muddy mile or so of road after overnight torrential rain. 4x4s came to the rescue and the squad endured a slippery journey to the ranch. Once there they were met by saddled horses and off they went on an hour long trek. This was at times exhilarating and also hilarious as some of the boys struggled to control their trusty steeds - imagine the faces of the props as their horse responded to an unintended dig in the ribs and sets off on a short canter! After this we enjoyed our favourite food so far - empanadas - before an outstanding Gaucho horsemanship show which included the Gauchos attempting to spear a tiny ring whilst at full tilt on the end of what looked like a toothpick, a traditional game called Pato -a combination of rugby netball, polo and WWF and eventually one of the horse whisperers demonstrated how he controls a horse with ‘love’ not force - this was stunning and he had the horse in his complete control for at least 10minutes. Another Assado followed and the boys left extremely satisfied. A folk show with traditional songs and dances - which involved our boys of course- rounded off an outstanding day which was slightly soured with a 4 hour trip back to hotel due to protests in the city centre as the nation voted on the abortion laws. A pizza and an early night were the perfect finishing touches and we move on to match day 3 tomorrow against St George’s College.

Day 6 travelling day and Day 7 match day 2 vs St Matthews

We left Mendoza with heavy hearts after 3 fabulous days, to travel back to Buenos Aires for a week. So far our flights have all been delayed and the one from Mendoza didn’t disappoint and we were left twiddling our thumbs for an hour and a half. We landed in BA and headed straight to our hosts for 2 days, St Matthews College in the north of the city. A training session ironed out a few of the issues from the first game and we said goodbye to the boys who were all showing signs of nerves with the impending exam results looming the following day. Day 7 started with good news for the tour party as the results were on the whole extremely positive. The group set off for an enjoyable boat trip on the Tigre delta and then lunched with yet more meat. We arrived at St Matthews College for the game in good spirits and hoped for improvements in key areas of our performance. The first third was dominated by EA with some excellent play too often being undone by a sloppy carry or pass. St Matthews took the lead against the run of play, but the team showed resilience to bounce back with an outstanding team try, finished off by Coinneach Petrie to level the scores. The second third was not good as many changes led to a disjointed performance. St Matthews scored 2 unconverted tries and could have scored more without poor handling. The final third was once again extremely encouraging as the boys came flying out of the blocks determined to win the game. Tries from Thomas Adams and Charlie Pargeter, both converted by Cameron Turner gave the team a much needed 21-17 win. Charlie Pargeter was voted a stand out man of the match followed closely by Mark Blair and notable performances from Patrick McCormack and Tom Crossman were also highlighted. We have a long way to go, but this tour is starting to bond this squad together and hopefully we can keep moving forward. Tomorrow sees the squad become Gauchos for the day at an Estancia in San Antonio de Areco.

Day 5 - A Day in the Foothills of the Andes Mendoza

After being dropped off by their host families and goodbyes to new friends, the tour party set off for a short (but adventurous) bus trip with amazing scenery, before arriving in the foothills of the Andes, at the Argentina Rafting Company’s location. The sight of the beautiful glacier water of the river Mendoza, surrounded by spectacular mountain ranges was a sight to behold. Another short bus trip to our final destination and an amazing 45minute walk through a valley, surrounded by cliffs to arrive at a beautiful waterfall, with a sheer 25mtr drop where the tour party would all be rappeling down the sheer cliff surrounding the waterfall. Much nervous banter ensued, but all of the party with no acception managed to get down to the bottom (some quicker than others it has to be said), and everyone left for the walk back down the mountain in high spirits. A lovely lunch followed in the midst of the most amazing scenery, before we were taken away again for the finale, six zip wires set-up amongst the local mountains with the final two being over the river Mendoza. After a detailed briefing and run through of the rules by Stefano with superb hand signals, the tour party all set-off. It was both pulsating, thrilling and spectacular all rolled into one, with the first four all setting up the final two. Hopefully the photos will do the scenery justice! The entire group was on cloud 9 after the finale. Four lads finished this off with a swim in the river (Rory Jackson, Danny Troup, Harrison Cameron Barr and Harry Crawley) all braved the cold and managed a few quick strokes before exiting. Just brilliant!! A tired (but extremely satisfied)crew headed back to the hotel for a meal and an early night as a 6.30am breakfast awaits, before a bus trip to the airport and an early flight back to Buenos Aires, for our next hosting and tour match. Let’s hope we don’t get any more delays!

Day 4 match day vs Maristas

Day 4 saw the first of four matches at the picturesque Maristas rugby ground in Mendoza. We had agreed to play 3x25 minute games which allowed every member of the tour squad to get plenty of game time. The first third was a disaster as a battle hardened Maristas team came out with all guns blazing and scored 28 unanswered points - the main problem being rustiness. A late try from Rory Jackson brought us back into the contest at the end of the third. The second third saw 13 changes in personnel with the younger, more inexperienced tourists given a go. Immediately we saw a change and they tore into the opposition with Fergal Crerar making a very strong contribution with a turn over and an excellent try. Maristas scores with the last play of the period to make the scores level in the second third. The final third was also extremely positive with the experienced players encouraged by the performance of the younger players. The third was deadlocked at 0-0 but we certainly had the lions share of possession and scoring opportunities. The post match function was outstanding and the boys partook in a singing contest against the hosts with an honourable draw being the agreed outcome. The players headed away with their hosts for their final night billet and looked forward to the trekking and zip wiring activity in foothills of The Andes the following day.

Wednesday 1st August - Friday 3rd August:
The tour party met at Edinburgh Airport on time and after a long wait to check in there was a short delay before boarding the first flight to Frankfurt. A long and boring wait was endured at Frankfurt Airport, but the tour party found ways to entertain themselves during the 5 hour layover. The 13.5 hour flight to Buenos Aires was a little bumpy, but the boys managed to get a decent number of hours sleep. On arrival in Argentina we met our contact, Valeria, and we transferred to our hotel. The journey gave us an insight into how Argentineans approach traffic, but also allowed the party to see some of the sights of the city. We were met at the hotel by Mr Palacios and after stashing our bags at the hotel he led the group to a local park for a short training session that got the long journey out of everyone's legs. Lunch, showers, sightseeing and dinner followed before everyone was very glad to be getting into bed. Leisure time on Friday morning before we transferred to the airport for our flight to  Mendoza. We had an unfortunate delay after we boarded which meant that our planned training session on arrival in Mendoza had to be cancelled, but we arrived safely in Mendoza and had the delights of watching the sun setting behind the foothills of the Andes as we came in to land. We transferred to Maristas Rugby Club where we enjoyed a very pleasant welcome and the boys met their hosts for the next two nights.