The U18’s embarked on their 4 day Rugby Tour to Italy at the beginning of the October. A party of 40 travelled to the Venice region to enjoy a fun-filled packed itinerary of Italian flavoured rugby. This was a special tour as Strathendrick sent both a boys and girls team to Italy. The girls team were made up of a composite of girls from Balfron High School and Hillhead Jordanhill. Our tourists were camped in a 4 star luxury hotel at the Jesolo beach resort and the boys and girls made a beeline straight for the hotel pool and beach on arrival.

Late afternoon on the Friday the boys and girls had a 2 hour training session with Italian rugby legend Marco Bortolami, now the forwards coach for Treviso. He was ably supported by Italian rugby internationals Eduardo Gori and Alessandro Zani. Between them having 136 Italy caps. This was a fantastic session conducted at the Le Ghirada Sport Ground of Treviso.

On Saturday the girls played a 7’s tournament against teams from the Villorbo region. A tough series of matches for the girls who started very well but fatigue and injuries caught up with them. They were ably coached by Ciera Campbell and Strathendrick stalwart and ex Balfron pupil Ritchie Bruce who’s daughter Abbe was also part of the team.

On Saturday afternoon the boys played a very strong Villorbo team who played hard physical rugby from the start. They rushed into the lead at the start of the game but Endrick fought back in the second half and were in the ascendency dominating the game in the last 20 minutes but unfortunately ran out of time. The final score 29-14 to Villorbo. Mutual respect was earnt that day.

A fun evening was spent watching a Pro14 game between Benneton Treviso and the Southern Kings, which Treviso won convincingly.

On the Sunday, a battle weary squad played their second match against San Marco Rugby-Venezia Mestre. Another tough game with equally physical team. The boys despite being tired from the previous day put in a good shift against a team that were fresh and who rotated 30 players against us. Both of our opposition from the two days were great hosts and we were well looked after following each of the matches. The tour finished by enjoying an afternoon taking a boat trip to go site seeing in Venice followed by an evening of merriment at a local restaurant.

The boys and girls were a credit to Strathendrick Rugby Club and our Scottish goodwill, rugby reputation and the shield of Strathendrick now reside on the walls of 3 Italian clubhouses. All in all a fabulous experience that will leave life-long positive memories for all the boys, girls and coaches involved.