Hampton School Senior Rugby Tour 2011

Hampton School have recently returned from a successful Senior Rugby Tour. A 16-day tour saw them play and train in Los Angeles, USA; Auckland, New Zealand; and Nadi, Fiji. It wasn’t all work and no play for the 52 tourists, as they organised a series of exciting excursions; ranging from a sailing trip around Auckland Harbour, to a tour of the New Zealand Rugby Union headquarters in Wellington.

Auckland Harbour Sailing Trip

Various training camps and high quality coaching was laid on for the boys and they hopped from country to country, ensuring they were well prepared for the native challenges. Good starts by both the 1st XV and Development XV in LA saw them fight hard to get two great wins on the board against Belmont Shore RFC.

A series of terrific performances followed, with the tourists facing very different opponents in every match.

NZRU Tour

Pukekohe were Hampton’s next opponents. The hosts provided the tourists with a warm welcome – Kiwi style. The Haka did little to intimidate, with the Dev XV producing a fine win, while the 1st XV fell to a narrow defeat.

Hauraki Plains School proved a very tough opposition for the Dev XV in the next match, beating them 44-12 to claim victory. Meanwhile, the 1st XV claimed a convincing 12-31 win over a Onewhero U19s team – giving the tourists a taste of rural New Zealand as well as rural rugby in some pretty torrential weather conditions!

A Great Win for the 1st XV vs Onewhero U19s in Some Pretty Torrential Weather!

The tour was brought to an end with four more impressive wins by the tourists. The Dev XV swept aside Tawa College in a convinving 17-47 victory, while the 1st XV fought hard to finish 10-25 winners. The Dev XV’s finial match was against VDMC, ending their tour in style with a 10-26 victory; while their compatriots in the 1st XV battled to an impressive 3-26 win.

A once in a lifetime experience for the tourists is now at and end. Serious Stuff were proud to provide the kit for their tour, ensuring they looked the best they could wherever they went. All at Serious look forward to watching Hampton achieve many more victories next year and beyond.

To view all of the photos and videos from Hampton’s tour, please visit http://www.hamptonrugby.co.uk.

The Hampton School Senior Rugby Tourists in their Serious Stuff Kit!