TONGA! TONGA! TONGA!

TONGA! TONGA! TONGA!
 
Those were the chants the fifteen lucky year 8 boys used when welcoming the giant Pacific Islanders. These lucky students had a great time down at Cheltenham Tigers Rugby Club, playing in a local rugby tournament where they got to play other schools and more impressively got to meet some of the Tongan rugby players who have been competing in the Rugby World Cup.
 
After arriving late and a very quick warm up we unfortunately lost to Severn Vale 20-0. We then had Pates to play in which we beat them 25-0 with some great attacking rugby and defence from all. Archy Greenway being the smallest person taking down there biggest players continually and never backing down. Liam Poppleton, Richmond Jimpetey, Finn Rees and Oscar Mort running strong with ball in hand breaking tackles all over the pitch. We then had the highlight of being coached and playing with a number of the Tongan national team which was a fantastic opportunity for the boys, which ended up with the team piling on one of the players who happens to be one of the best props in the world. We then ended the day with a match against Chosen Hill which was a hard fought contest that ended 0-0.
 
What made the day even more special was a surprise to all with some of our students being filmed and being shown on the evening news for the whole of the midlands to see. Furthermore, was a double page spread of the entire squad with a few of the Tongan players. All enjoyed the day and got lots of great memories with most players getting their boots signed by the internationals which they can look back on with fond memories.