During the Easter Holidays, King William’s College Rugby headed off to Paris with their U14 Squad to compete in the International Junior Rugby Festival at Disneyland. Despite the traditional school rugby season finishing in December, the squad continued to train and compete in two 7s tournaments as well as numerous fixtures against a Ramsey Club side in order to prepare for the tour.

After a day of travel the tour kicked off with the group stages to be held at Meaux Rugby Club. KWC finished the first day unbeaten having drawn with St George’s School, Harpenden and defeating the other 3 sides including Manchester Grammar School. This left College at the top of the table and a semi-final draw against Albany. There was a break in the tournament for the second day to allow for a number of coaching clinics to take place with several ex-internationals. These sessions not only gave the boys a day off from playing in hot conditions on hard ground but also the chance to develop some technical and tactical aspects of their individual games.

All eyes were on the semi-final the following day and KWC came out flying when they got back on the pitch, beating Albany 40-0. It was fitting that the College team would go on to play St George’s in the final, having tied with them in the very first game of the tournament, therefore both teams were still unbeaten. The scores were level at half-time thanks to a try from Andrew Macleod and the game was very close indeed. KWC managed to stick to their game plan, allowing them to play some strong attacking rugby leading to a further three tries, one a piece from Macleod, Chris Raatgever and Nathan Pope. The final score was 26-10 in favour of the Manx boys.

The tour capped a fantastic season for the squad having been very successful on the 7s circuit in the UK and unbeaten in the domestic season on the Island. All the team and staff would like to thank their sponsors; Mr and Mrs Raatgever and Kreston (IOM) Ltd.

Photo - Team Final - King William’s College Rugby U14 Squad.