Day 2 & 3: The Bristol Zoo, Bath City and the Aviva Premiership Match

Day 2: Training & Bristol Zoo

The day began with a 9am training run at the Clifton College Sports Complex that includes 12 Rugby Fields. The hosts allowed the Bahay Bata Team to train on the No. 1 pitch which was recently constructed as an IRB accredited Astroturf pitch. The boys certainly had to run the cobwebs out of their system after the 20 hours of travel and they trained alongside the Varsity Team until 11am. The Sports Complex has its own cafeteria and the boys were treated to a quality lunch of Potatoes, Baked Beans, Salad, Tuna and fruit.
 
Unbelievably the temperature hit 26 degrees today and the team walked 5km back to the school through the beautiful countryside of Bristol and were treated to the lovely Victorian-style houses that lined the cobblestone roads.
 
After arriving back at Clifton College at 1pm, the team were escorted next door to the Bristol Zoo. This proved to be an incredible afternoon with the 15 boys walking through an array of Animal Shelters and attractions that were world class and allowed the students to view animals such as Gorillas, Hippopotamus, Monkeys, Snakes, and Lions.
 
The day then concluded with a second training session with the Clifton College u14 team on the main field in front of the historic building that will turn 150 years old in 2012.


Day 3:  Tour of Bath City, Fun Rugby Festival and the Aviva Premier Division Match

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The day began as a wet and windy morning with a 30-minute bus ride to Bath City which is located 25 km South East of Bristol. Luckily, the group arrived at the historic city to sunny weather and the day started with a tour of the ancient Roman Baths and a general stroll through the 2000 year old streets of Bath. At 11am they crossed the bridge to enter the "REC" stadium and participate in the Fun Rugby Festival that was attended by up to 150 other local mini rugby players from clubs situated all around Bath.

The Bahay Bata Team were the main attraction and captivated everyone with their pace and skills and ended up winning the Juniors Touch Rugby Competition. The Bath Rugby Club also arranged a number of fun activities for all the children including Bouncy Castles, Reverse Bungee Races, Face Painting, John Deere Tractor Displays, food stalls and a wide range of Rugby Skill related activities. The boys loved the interaction with the other children and made a number of new friends throughout the Rugby Festival.

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Afterward, the group entered the stadium to find their seats and prepare to watch the Aviva Premier Division game between Bath and Newcastle. It was a full house and the crowd had come to say farewell the English second row player, Danny Drewcock, in his last game playing with Bath. The Bath boys did not let their home crowd down and went into the halftime with a 15 - 3 lead.

The Bahay Bata boys were then invited to the middle of the packed stadium (6,000 seats) to be the guests of honor at a mid-pitch ceremony where the Bath Juniors Under-14s team presented each Bahay Bata team member a Bath Playing jersey. The crowd stood and applauded both teams and 150 juniors Rugby players lined the touch lines watching the two teams from Bath and Bahay Bata waive their flags and embrace each other. The day finished with the boys watching the second half of the game, whilst waiving their Bath Flags and wearing their Bath Jerseys.

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Much thanks and appreciation should be forwarded to James Breeze and John Digby from Clifton College for arranging the day out at Bath Rugby Club and a special mention should be awarded to John Harrison from the Bath Rugby Club who organised the Bath Juniors Fun Day and Rugby Activities.