Estonia 2005
Banbridge Blue Sox travelled to the Estonian capital, Tallinn on Thursday. The party of 36 were met by the president of the Estonian RFU, John Stade. The first match on the tour agenda was against Tallinn Tigers on Friday. Set in the magnificent setting of the Hippodroom racing circuit, the match kicked off at 6.00pm in beautiful sunshine. The tourists started strongly and surged ahead with a number of tries. With roll on roll off subs the Blue Sox were able to use most of the available 26 players as the heat began to take its toll.
The local Tigers side roared their way back in the second half with a number of well-taken tries. It took a concerted effort from the Bann side in the closing minutes to put further scores on the board and finally secure the game.
Following the game a number of presentations were made. The Blue Sox also presented Mr Slade with a playing kit and a number of pairs of boots in an effort to assist in his determination to continue with the development of youth rugby in Estonia.
On Saturday the Blue Sox travelled south to Estonia’s second city, Tartu. The Banbridge side had entered three sides in the Tartu 7’s competition along with Tallinn, Tartu, Oscar Wildes and the Army.
A long days rugby ensued and even though the Bann B2 side had guest appearances by John Slade and Maynard Gilmore they narrowly failed to make the play off stages. The final of the Plate competition took place between Tallinn ‘A’ and Blue Sox B1. A slow start by the tourists allowed Tallinn to build up a healthy lead. Bann did claw back level in the second half but the exertion was too much and Tallinn won the match with two good late tries.
The showpiece final, for the cup was held between Blue Sox ‘A’ under the captaincy of Stuart Wickie and Oscar Wildes, a team made up of Estonians, Russians, Australians and Irish. By now the Blue Sox ‘A’ had a number of games under their belt and were firing on all cylinders. Wildes put up a gallant effort but had no reply to the pace and skill of the Bann side who ran out comfortable winners.
The presentations took place in the beautiful surroundings of the Oscar Wilde bar restaurant by the Mayor of Tartu. He in turn was presented with a Banbridge District Council plaque, a Banbridge Rugby Club plaque and a Banbridge RFC tie.
A special word of thanks must go to John Slade who put so much effort into hosting the Blue Sox and helping make the tour a total success.
The terrible trio
The plate finalists
Roger's cut
Estonia National 7's Champions
Maynard's toe
And after a hard days playing.................
The tourists were; R Acheson, A Armstrong, C Broderick, P Cairns, D Chambers, B Clinghan, A Cowan, M Forsythe, S Forsythe, G Frazer, A Fulton, M Gilmore, S Gilmore, L Graham, A Harvey, G Kelly, M Lewis, G Little, R Martin, J Mathers, K McCarten, J McComb, T McCrea, B McKevitt, J McKevitt, M McQuitty, D Moorhead, S Oldham, A Patterson, J Robinson, M Sneddon, N Thompson, F Viljoen, S Wickie and R Wilson.
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