Historic trip by Wicklow girls
First Irish girls club side to tour
THE WICKLOW RFC under-18 girls along with their counterparts from Naas took part in a historic first recently. They were the first Irish girls club side to tour outside the country.
The girls left Wicklow on the way to Saint David's in Wales on a sunny Friday.
There were 38 players and 12 coaches and mentors in total and the atmosphere was electric on the bus as the girls set off on their trip.
They arrived into St David's in the early hours of the morning and grabbed a few hours sleep before they were up and at it first thing on Saturday morning with a training session in St David's followed by a team lunch where the decibels were raised even further.
They then had yoga out on the front patio in the sunshine to stretch out before the kick-off against a Welsh regional side made up from girls drawn from St David's, Llanelli Scarlets, Haverford West, Cowbridge and Neath.
The match was played out in front of a large crowd in lovely conditions and the rugby was a top class affair with both sides playing entertaining running rugby from the off.
The match was a tight affair and the Welsh girls were leading 15-12 with five minutes to go but the Irish girls were determined that nothing was going to take away from their tour and they dug deep and despite their tiredness ran to late tries to snatch a deserved victory against a very good and talented Welsh side.
After presentations and speeches the girls returned for three hours of preparations for the teen disco that the club had thrown for the girls.
The club was absolutely hopping all Saturday and it was in the wee hours of Sunday morning that a very tired but happy bunch of tourists boarded the bus heading back to there beds.
It was a quieter bus the next morning when we boarded the bus for home but the girls soon recovered and the chat soon started flowing.
The girls strengthened old friendships and made many new ones on the trip and were already planning their return trip before we got home.
The girls were an absolute pleasure to be around on the weekend and were a credit to their club and parents.