Do you and your friends fancy an evening playing a fun and enjoyable sport?

Back from University from the summer and nothing to do?

Interested in getting back into Rugby?

If you answered ‘YES’ to any of the above then come down to Vale of Lune on…..

WEDNESDAY 11^TH AUGUST

6.30-8.30PM

-Tag Rugby- No Contact version of the game

-6 a-side squads of 8     -Mixed Teams!!!!      -£15 team entry

-No Rugby Knowledge Needed            -Presentation and Prizes

For more information and enter a team please contact Martin Powell on

MartinPowell@therfu.com or 07894 489418

Andy Perry has again sent in new photos today of the roof slabs being lifted into place.

Keep watching.  I am well informed by Andy that this week will see significant changes, I hope he is correct.

RR

Tom Carter organised a young group of  rugby players to represent the Vale of Lune in the annual Fylde Rugby Club  Beach Tag Tournament. With over 200 players competing on the St Anne’s sands the team won 2 games and drew 1 in the first group stage.

This took them through to the 2^nd group stage with an interesting first match against a Fylde vets team who included old boy, Mark Nelson, Sale Sharks Pete Anglesea and Vale Director of Rugby Andy Higgin.

Even more interesting Andy lined up against his daughter Faye in a match which saw Vale thrash Fylde by 6 tries to 1. Vale won the remaining  match in the group to go through to the final against a younger Fylde team that fielded two or three current Lancashire players.

In a tight match and with the referees extra help the Vale were pipped by 1 try. The squad consisted of  Tom and Oli Carter, Sam Wallbank, Jack Turton, James Hodder (who was red carded for a sneaky rabbit punch) Jake Haddow Andy Muir, Faye Higgin and Andy and Kirsty Abraham

Pre-season training starts on Saturday, 26^th June starting at 10.00am at the Vale with all players welcome to attend. The session will be run by Graham Murphy and Jimmy Moore and will be based around setting fitness benchmarks for the coming season.

 Training will continue every Tuesday & Thursday at 7.00pm at the club and each Saturday starting at 10.00am at venues to be advised.

Andy Higgin

Vale of Lune have been drawn at home against Eccles in the first round of the Brian Leigh Lancashire Trophy and will have the opportunity to erase from the memory a dreadful performance in a RFU Senior Vase tie in October 2008.

Over at Gorton Street the Vale lost 14-10 against a lively, committed home side who took full advantage of a Vale side that never looked convincing with a number of players selected out of position, a situation that only compounded their problems.

Vale, who won the Trophy in the 1996/97 season, went out at the first hurdle last season against the eventual winners, Leigh, 10-3. The tie against Eccles, who finished in fourth place in North Lancashire/Cumbria last season, will be played on Sunday August 29th 3.00pm KO.

A number of the Alies were unable to make the first tour to Barcelona since 2002 for various reasons but included in the party were Morse, Fitter, Shagpile, Drainman, formally known as Handy man, plus some old and new faces, Grosvenor, Minesweeper, Catering Manager, Tour Virgin (at 68) and Porron.

Because the Press Secretary was away tanning his perfectly formed body Morse kindly offered to chronicle for posterity the peregrinations of this motley crew. Like the Hon. Sec., and the Major before him, Morse rose to the challenge to produce an illuminating account of the tour from an Alies perspective.

Of course he observes the mantra of “What goes on tour stays on tour,” but even so Morse has provided a tantalising glimpse, a slice of tour life without compromising anyone, a gentle peep through the curtains, but you dear reader, if you have been fortunate enough to sample the “delights” of a tour know that all the memories are collectively shared initially. Over the passage of time some of them enter the public domain, but others remain forever the sole preserve of those who were there, and rightly so.

These are the words that Morse tapped out.

Following copious helpings of the catering Manager’s meat and tater pie with mushies thrown in, the tour got under way with a very much changed representation of Alies on board the two mini charras that left the clubhouse under cover of darkness heading for the Outer Hebredian airport of Prestwick and their luxury Ryanair flight to the independent state of Catalunya; it’s not Spain you know.

After the early evening meeting in the clubhouse there were numerous stops along the way to enable the Drainman to check that all was well with the plumbing the further North the intrepid travellers went. During the journey Shagpile discovered that he had become a great Grandfather, but with no Electrician nearby he decided he didn’t have enough funds to celebrate the fact with his fellow tourists.   

Arrival in the Northern outpost saw an enraged Fitter complaining that the other driver’s reliance on modern technology did not alter the fact that the journey had been far too long and that the way the Fitter would have gone, i.e. via Inverness would have been far quicker.

Getting out of the luxury charra at the Europa Apartments in Blanes resulted in a first encounter with the pleasant heat of a Catalan summer’s day. The rooms weren’t ready but the Alies displayed their commendable wisdom by returning half an hour before the appointed time to get the pick of the rooms for themselves whilst their young charges were filling up with cerveza.

Grosvenor immediately measured up the apartment and decided that it could sleep more than the allocated four and therefore bring in a greater return. His efforts to get people to swap came to naught as a quorum of players could never be found until their remaining mental capacity had gone.   

The Alies attended each early morning’s training, waving away what was left of the young charges ravaged bodies as they moved athletically into the near distance then heading off themselves for a little breakfast.

The first game was a new experience, as all 22 players had their first try out on Astroturf. As one Ally (better to remain nameless), when asked by one of the young charges what the difference was, and which did he prefer, between Astroturf and grass replied, “Don’t know. I’ve never smoked Astroturf.” 

As the days progressed Yorrick became heavier. To their credit, some of the young charges worked out it was probably better to have their turn at carrying the esteemed extra man earlier rather than later in the week when it becomes heavier. We may have been wrong about them all along! 

No such problems faced the Alies. Upholding the Alies traditions of many years, the current group, even the Tour Virgin, avoided carrying Yorrick except in the interests of safety and security as identified by Morse and the Minesweeper. The poor miscreant who had abandoned Yorrick had to pay further contributions, thus adding to the weight.

The Drainman and Grosvenor a.k.a. Wishy Washy spent considerable time negotiating preferable rate with the resort staff to launder the match shirts. Despite a promise from the Tour Committee that they could do the laundry in the public machines and have free beer whilst waiting for the cycle to finish, the negotiations went ahead to Grosvenor’s ultimate satisfaction.

Shagpile displayed his encyclopaedic geographic knowledge when en route to the first match he asked if the ground was near to where Real Madrid played. Answer- “Well yes, if you call 300 miles near!”

Tuesday arrived and with it the 8th Cavalry (Players Regiment) in the form of Lee Acton, Ian Bird, Danny Lin and Simon Baines, who rode over the hill from Barcelona Airport to supplement the team ahead of the challenging match the following day.  

There was an addition to the Alies in the form of Porron who came to display his considerable skill with the said vessel. All the newcomers were reminded that the “No Drinking” curfew kicked in at 2 am on Wednesday morning, the potential for fines increased with rumours circulating that some breaches were occurring!

The early Wednesday morning run was enthusiastically attended by the Alies as they were in charge of collecting the fines, and there were a lot of them about. Training at lunchtime took place on the artificial surface of a municipal Blanes football pitch and the quality of skill exhibited just about matched the quality of real turf.

Much rest was taken by the players between the run and training, then further training and departing for the game, but the Alies maintained contact with local community, whilst discussing previous foreign sojourns and ground development plans at the home base.

The coach to the game, far from seeing the Alies in party mood, saw them in an R and R state, ready for the exertions of both pre- and after- match activities. Shagpile had found how to send a text from Catalunya to Lancaster, much to the relief of his roommates who experienced the incessant “incoming!” noise from his handset. 3 Euros a metre for 3 cervazas and a San Miguel (underlay additional), is a touch expensive and totally incomprehensible for addled brains so long into the tour.

The visit to the Cava vineyard passed without incident, Porron displaying the technique of an expert when handling his namesake thus ensuring that the rest of the Alies escaped personal embarrassment. Morse, having been made the Judge in the tour court, was given his own penalty with the drinking forfeit but, after a feeble effort, in his capacity as Judge he suspended part of his sentence for another time. 

In Barcelona, there were a few forays onto the dark side, the darker side and back to near light, but three hours there was both long enough and not long enough for some people! Morse and the tour Virgin were left to care for the welfare of the Minesweeper who had been kidnapped by his hosts and held to ransom over the previous twenty four hours. Minesweeper had paid for his own release. (Really!) Shagpile, for once, had to look after himself and nearly got lost walking straight down Las Ramblas to the coach that was parked right at the bottom; nothing new there then.

As the week wore on, the Alies wore out. Porron paid the price for his versatility at the Cava; Grosvenor continually checked the bargains on cruise ships as he planned his next foray. Early morning food replacement was taken at “The Bull” which was owned by a couple from Bradford and where Grosvenor had negotiated a very fair party rate on their huge “Bull Monty” breakfast.

On the next to last evening, in the very early hours, Drainman and Catering Manager mugged mein host and hostess and showed them a bit of Red Rose hospitality. After a couple of hours with two former front row men, neither of them were in a fit state for  much on Friday morning, luckily they had a chef to prepare breakfasts.

Mein hostess was particularly gloomy but visibly brightened up on seeing Shagpile’s visage and his struggle to eat beans on toast. The other Alies finally took pity and helped him with them by mashing them up so they didn’t fall from his vibrating hand as he tried to eat.

As the week’s adventure came to an end; a number of the party added to Mr O’Leary’s already huge pile of Euros by having too many clothes with them. All that remained was the excitement of the return journey to the Vale.

The Fitter decided that this time, he would not go the slow way, and headed south like a Formula 1 driver. Tom Watson set of on a north east trajectory and after 39 miles was interested to see the Vale mini bus in his mirrors!

Finally reaching the terra firma of Powder House Lane, the party was warmly greeted by Muggy, Gilly, Enty, Titanium Jim, et al, who were deeply involved with the red leather ball on the big screen, but were delighted to hear that Paco’s “Stadium Bar” was still going strong next to the apartments, but in true Alies style, Paco could remember none of them!

Adios Amigos.

The Vale members can collect their winnings from Michelle Fish at the club.

The squad was further depleted on the morning of the match by the departures of Ian Bird, Danny Lin and Ryan Lock who all had domestic commitments. Their contributions to the tour had been substantial and they will be missed over the last couple of days.

After spending Thursday enjoying the fruits of a Cava production plant, followed by a tourist stroll for a couple of hours along Las Ramblas in Barcelona, daytime training was left in the squad’s own hands which was rightly interpreted as an opportunity to rest on the day of the game.

Thorroella are a smaller, newer club than the first two games and, reportedly, the weakest playing-wise of all. They are coached by Ian Robson, a Vale player in the late 1970s and one of the people responsible for the formation of Carnforth RUFC, so it was good for some of the older members to renew acquaintance with a good friend. There were concerns that  there could be peals of bells heard from the Thorroella team as they sought to gain a victory against the tourists who had produced impressive, flowing rugby in both the games so far.

Selection was further hindered by a number of injuries to players with Neil Bennetts, Mike Huntington and Simon Baines declaring themself unavailable. This left the tour squad to a ‘bare bones’ total of 17.

The game was played on another artificial pitch which was of a slightly different standard to the excellent surface in Barcelona, but still very impressive. Arriving later than anticipated, Brian Bonney put the squad through a rigorous workout before the game to get the team into a rugby state of mind and play to their full capacity.

Vale looked very rusty at the start of the game against opponents who far exceeded their pre-match reputation and the first 15 minutes was mostly spent in the Vale half as they struggled to get back on form.  Good defence in the centre and forwards made sure that the home side were unable to put points on the board. Neither side was helped by a pernickety referee who wanted to show that he could explain the laws in both Catalan and English.

Vale eventually got their game going and, through a number of penalties ended up with an attacking line out on the Thorroella 5 metre line and a planned move saw James Hesketh storm over for the first points of the game. This bright spot apart, the game soon reverted to the previous stop start affair with both sides being penalised and there not being much rugby on view.

The usual half time pep talk from Brian Bonney seemed to have an effect as his team finally started to produce some of the form seen previously on tour. Three minutes into the half, following a number of tap penalties and driving forward runs, James Hodder finally took the three points on offer from in front of the posts after another home infringement.

This was a sign for the tourists to step up a gear and, from the hour mark, they scored at regular intervals. First James Bryan went over after seemingly all the team had handled in the move, then, following a huge touch finder into the corner from Martin Powell, the now dominant forwards again won the ball and produced another move for Andy Garnett to score in the corner.

The Vale’s rugby was now back to its expansive best with the ball being moved quickly from side to side whenever they had possession and Adam McLuskie now imposed himself on the game with a superb hat trick of tries, firstly taking a great line and bursting onto a pass from Powell, then after a cross kick from Powell he changed passes with Bryan and scored in the corner. Next, Matt Hurst stole the ball at the base of a home scrum and, supported by Garnett and Powell, McLuskie took another great angle to split the defence and ran hard for the line, touching down with would-be tacklers in his wake.

This was a great end to a difficult tour where the standard of rugby was better than expected. There were certainly no easy games, despite the final score lines, and the players all gave of their best. The last game was a display of attacking rugby played with heart and enthusiasm by a very committed group of young players who will all have benefitted from the experience of touring and playing abroad.

Today, there were notable performances from Matt Hurst, Martin Powell and the ever grey Gary Pennington but they were eclipsed by the outstanding Adam McLuskie who, as well as being voted Man of the Match for this game, was also chosen as Player of the Tour.

A special word of thanks must go to Brian Bonney for his superb coaching and team management, instilling game awareness and preparation into the whole squad. His reading of the opposition game and flexibility in adapting the Vale game to suit those was appreciated by all the team. His insistence on daily exercise and match day sessions ensured that the purpose of the tour was always uppermost in the players’ minds and ensured that they remained focussed.

Other thanks must go to the organisers, Mike Huntington, Phil Jackson and Paul Warburton, who put on a good tour with challenging excursions and even more challenging rugby.

The tour toughies managed one final night in the clubs of Blanes before a very early departure for the bus to Gerona airport.

There is, of course, more that went on, but, as ever, “Lo que pasa en estancias gira en gira.”

Vale team :-  Sutcliffe, Hesketh, Jackson; Pennington, Acton; Garnett, Perry, Wallbank; Hurst, Doyle; Hodder,  McCluskie, Powell, Bryan;  Curran.

Replacements:-  Melville, Warburton.

Try scorers:-       Hesketh, Bryan, Garnett, McLuskie (3)  

Conversions:-    Hodder (4)

Penalty:-             Hodder