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Manchester U14s Paris, France March 19

Manchester U14s Paris, France March 19

Parent's View28 Mar 2019 - 19:07
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https://www.manchesterrugby.co

Fantastic Time on Tour 8-10 March

Manchester U14s had a terrific time in Paris between 8 & 10 March ‘19.
The squad of 22 players and & parents spent Friday & Saturday nights at a St Christopher’s Hostel, close to Gare Du Nord in the city centre.
Their opposition was a team of PUC -Paris Universitaire Club - from the south of Paris.
They played their first “international“ away fixture under floodlights on Friday evening, kicking-off at 8 pm at a historic sporting stadium
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vélodrome_de_Vincennes
Before the game the national anthems of both sides rang out - the French boys had clearly practiced that part of their game.

The Manchester boys put up a terrific performance against the more experienced PUC lads. Half-time 17-14 to PUC, full-time 52-19.
Our boys tired a little in the 2nd half - understandable since they had been awake since 3:30 am and were still playing at close to 9 pm.

Our hosts made us all very welcome, laying on food and refreshments after the game. The players showed real respect for each other during the match and great camaraderie in their collective celebrations afterwards.

On Saturday morning the lads had a training session at the training ground and academy of Racing 92, one of France Top14 teams, with their former players including Loose-head Prop at Racing between 2007 & 2013-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikaele_Tuugahala
They had a super workout and practiced several drills, introducing them to techniques that they will deploy effectively this year and next.
After training the boys were given a guided tour of the team training facilities and gained insight into the lives of the top players
http://www.plessis-robinson.com/fr/vie-pratique/sport/racing-rugby.html

After training the tourists had a chance to relax, see some of the Parisian the sights and watch the 6 Nations before trying their 3rd restaurant of the tour

Sunday provided marvellous opportunity to see many of the sights of the city with a guided bicycle tour that included Notre Dame, the Louvre, Les Halles, centre Georges Pompidou, Marais district etc and all without a notable traffic incident!

After a “picnic” lunch at the hostel, and a coach to the airport we “zipped” through the check-in and airport security formalities and returned to Manchester airport, more “cultured”, aware of Paris, a stronger team and ready for a good night sleep

Great thanks to Cheryl & Will for their excellent planning and organisation of the weekend, Leo’s support from U & U, the St Christopher’s Hostel, PUC, Racing 92, Mikaele Tuugahala, Gilbert James Voyages, tour guidance & support from Lancashire RFU’s honorary secretary Mark Downs & Christine Spivey, Paris a velo & each of our 3 restaurants and the players, who represented their team, club, county and country so well.
All helped make the weekend marvellous & memorable

Further reading