À bientôt

6 April 2011Gavin S

At 9 o’clock on March 15, the senior rugby squadron left for battle in the Southwest of France, a battle field which our squad traveled to in 2009. In our travels all 30 of the players experienced the French culture and the religion of rugby.

To start this experience, and to fuel it, the cuisine was to die for! The first four meals we had were duck: we had duck breast, duck gizzard, fois gras, duck confit and no matter what it looked liked, we all ate it and, to our surprise, but not Mr. Healy’s, we all loved it! One of the first things that Mr. Healy told us about the tour is that he will never lead us astray; he will never put something in front of us to eat that we will not like: he was right. Be it the fromage blanc with jam or raw roast beef, each meal was a converted try.

Surprisingly for the amount of food that we consumed, most players on the trip didn’t gain much weight. Even though every meal we had consisted of five courses, the rugby training consumed every calorie. In total we had nine practices and three games and in all of them we learnt something new, be it the different style of scrum in the first game, or the new drills taught by the French coach, it was all an experience worthy of praise. We may have lost our games, but each match was better than the last and we learnt that it does not matter if we are the best passing or kicking team, the outcome depends on if we attack the line.

If there was anything that I had to single out as the best addition to our team, it would have to be the Basque motto. The Basque region extends along the southwest coast of France down into the northwest part of Spain, and it is a region of proud people. Their motto is "Spain and France may come and go, but there will always be the Basque". They don’t give up whether it is just a ‘friendly’ or the championship, and they only fight harder when the score is 40-0; it is their never-die attitude that our squad has adopted and that I believe can be our best characteristic.

This tour was not for the rugby culture alone; we had the privilege of visiting many exciting cities. In the town of Marmande, we viewed the church in which Mr. Healy, was married. He explained to us that when two people get married it is an entire community celebration; he and his wife, Nadia, had a parade through the town from the city hall to the church and the entire town was part of it.

Europe is famous for its castles and cathedrals and we saw plenty of them. In Carcassone where it was raining, St. Jean de Luz where Louis XIV was married, Sarlat where we could put on armor from the 12th Century and Bayonne where we practiced surrounded by a 100 foot 15th century wall, all of these places left us in awe.

To finish our wonderful tour, we spent the last three days frolicking throughout the city of lights. With all the mesmerizing people and architectural masterpieces, it was a fantastic way to end the trip. l’Arc de Triomphe, le Tour Eiffel, le Cathédrale de Notre Dame, le Louvre et la Musée de l’Armée were all great attractions which many of us took the time—time well spent I might add—to absorb and admire.

The professional rugby game that we got to see was another jaw-dropping experience; all 76,000 spectators were loud and the bands were entertaining, but it was the rugby that we went to see. The game was swift, smooth and stunning, and the 80 minute match passed like a fleet winger. Even though our shoes were steaming and had massive holes by the end, it was time that we did not regret.

Lest I forget, the people who made this tour possible must be thanked: Mr. Flynn, Mr. Cowie, Mr. Healy and the billet families who welcomed us into their homes. These coaches gave up two weeks of holiday to spend with thirty teenage boys: they must be crazy. These families welcomed us with open arms and many said they were disappointed with us leaving before they truly got to know us. However, these families did not only give us a place to sleep, they had such an impact on our lives that some of us are considering taking a gap year and playing for their teams in the future. It was truly hard to say goodbye to such hospitable people and such a fine country. This is why, in French, friends don’t say "Au revoir", which means goodbye, instead, they say "À bientôt" which means see you soon We will see them soon be it for rugby or just visiting a friend.

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