From the south be on the A1. When approaching Newcastle keep on the A1, do not go to the Tyne tunnel. Stay on the A1 going north, past the Angel of the North, go past five junctions and the Metro Centre on the right. Take the next exit, to Swalwell. At the roundabout follow the road to the right, past The Highlander, past the chip shop, through the traffic lights (unless red). As the road bends to the right the club is straight ahead.
From the North (A1) or West (A69) get onto the A1 going south. After going over the river Tyne take the first exit . At the roundabout follow the signs to Consett, the second exit. This will take you under the A1 again. At the small roundabout turn left, go over the river and the club is on your right. The entrance is on the bend in the road at the bottom of the hill.
The 2001-2002 season
Our AGM has been held, at last! Congratulations go to Ruth Scott (née Wilkinson) who was re-elected as Manager; Rachel Hayes who is our Captain again; Sally Fitzpatrick is still the person you will contact for help as Secretary; Nat Badcock is the one to get hold of if you want to arrange a fixture plus she is Captain of Vice; and a warm welcome to Cate Adamson who will be our Treasurer this season and there was no arm twisting needed to get her to do it either; Maria King will take control of Publicity and Alison Taylor will coordinate Fund-raising. A late addition to the Committee is Caroline Davies - we were on a night out when she suggested we should have a Social Secretary and Sal was drunk enough to unilaterally co-opt her onto the Powers That Be.
As the season draws to a close we get to enjoy the great game of rugby in the
end of season tournaments, we are off to the Vale of Lune 10s on the 28th April,
also the Scarborough 7s and Northumbria Uni 10s. We are hoping to play a few
friendlies before the season is out and hopefully we are to host a Belgian
touring team in June!! By then it will almost be time to start Pre-season.
Tour Rugby Report
We had a great time on tour, returning to Leiden after a couple of years touring elsewhere. Sweet Chariots did us proud, all the coaches turned up on time, we all flew on the same flight from Newcastle, what more could we ask for?
Saturday
Newcastle Uni Lost 10-20
All that way and we started against them, considering we were all very
hung over we did ok, we teamed up with the four girls from Farnborough. We
scored two good tries through
AAC (Holland) Lost 20-5
Cookie realised she should have come with us instead of the Uni and played well
for us. We were doing ok and managed to borrow an AAC player and she scored our
only try with a fine interception. We played well but they had more gas to get
all their players around the pitch. We had some stars Nat and Catherine tackled
all day, but H was the start with some fine ball stealing and general setting up
of ball.
Heidelberg (Germany) Lost 15-5
Again we were faced with a team who were taking if far too seriously. They
were well drilled but had little knowledge in how to play off the cuff; if we
were not hung over they would be very predictable and therefore easy to stop.
There is always room for a game plan but players must be able to realise when
the unexpected is needed, play with their eyes up, see what is happening.
Sunday
Sheffield Uni Won 25-0
They were the winners of the Uni Shield, apparently meant that they lost to
a rubbish team, we overheard! We scored through Cookie x2, Struth x1, Louise x1,
and Sharon x1.
Bracknell Won 10-0
Bracknell turned up second day and weren’t a bad side but we were playing
much better today and 10’s helped our good runners get space. Nat got our 2
tries
Keel Uni Won 44-0
Easy peasy not much defending going on but at least we played them. Tries
scored by Catherine, Louise, Nat, Ruth, H, Lennie, Sharon and Chick and Nat and
Lennie got conversions.
Heidelberg Won 12-10
How pissed off were they once they found out they had lost to us. We scored
through Nat and Sharon with Cookie kicking the all important conversion, we
deserved to win by more but we were a little tired.
Diok Lost 31-0
As ever they set out to win the tournament every year and as such were very
sober and serious, they ran out easy winners. But we enjoyed all the games even
through the feeling of crapness and we look good. Unfortunately Louise injured
her knee and was carried off and still has a swollen knee to be looked at.
Camp Hill 7 - 5 Blaydon (National Shield
Semi Final)
In the scope of things this game was there for us to win, unfortunately
we were on the day not at our best. Playing on a pitch which was more like a
paddy field we never got going. This is not meant to Take anything away from
Camp Hill but our performance was below par. We had a few positional changes and
players unavailable but we should still of competed better than we did. Camp
Hill's back row were outstanding on the day they managed to kill a lot of our
good attacking ball and took the steam out of our attacks, this and giving
penalties away unnecessarily in good attacking positions really held us back.
Despite this set back I am extremely proud of the girls this season and the
progress we have made. the only problem for them is that I will expect it every
week next season. at the point of writing we are still second, as Ripon,
Shelford, Fleetwood and Camp Hill have league games to play. Good luck to both
Ripon and Camp Hill in the Shield Final, hope its a good game.
Blaydon 0 – 51 Worcester in
the first round of the National Cup
It is difficult to summarise this game on the one hand I am very proud of the way the girls played against their premiership opponents, but I am also frustrated we did not get the score our play deserved. Especially when we got the ball over the line in the second half, but could not get the ball down.
Worcester were very good their quick recycling of the ball was key to their fast attacking play. The ability to get fast ball with few attackers committed to the breakdown means they have their forwards running at our backs, which is always dangerous This style of play is something we have been aiming for this season, and hopefully after the disappointment has worn off the players will be able to appreciate what we could do with hard work.
We had a reasonable supply of ball and in some promising positions but, as with any good side the ability to turn ball over or just plain steal it from your opponents is vital, Worcester did this very well.
On the plus side our scrimmage was very strong and gave us some good ball. Lineout likewise went well on the whole, and we messed up a few of theirs too. In the backs they were some very good handling moves and nice breaks made, and I am sure that if we played with their intensity more often than we do then we would have taken our opportunities. But what gladdened me the most was our defensive work, strange as it may seem having conceded 51 points but we tackled well, right throughout the game.
We are lucky in the next round we have a bye, so bring on the quarter finals.
Another fine display gave us a 32-10 win over 4th place
Fleetwood, who despite being without several key players put up a spirited
fight. Blaydon were well in control after 5 mins when after several phases of
good handling and driving led to Catherine Arden crossing the line unopposed,
Ali McMullon converted. A storming display by the forwards who's picking and
driving play was very effective led to a series of chances on the Fleetwood
line. Jane Leonard, who was all over the field again popped up in the right
place and drove over from 3m to score in the corner. A similar plan led to our
third try good handling led us to the try line then Captain Rachel Hayes dived
over to put Blaydon well in control, so at
22-0 at half time the game was Blaydon's.
Fleetwood were obviously given a right talking to at half time and came out with
all guns blazing, all their attacks were well led by their scrum half who had a
fine game with sniping runs and clever kicks (we'll gloss over the severe talking to
she got from the ref), and it was Fleetwood who scored first after some attacks
down the blindside their 9 Julia Clapp dived over. This roused Blaydon who got
back into gear almost immediately with fast hands and fine running led to
Jane Leonard sprinting in from 30m out to scored try No 4. Most of the rest
of the half was confined to the middle of the pitch with the play being rather
scrappy as both sides tried to play open rugby. Fleetwood scored their second
try after valiant defence on the Blaydon goal line but after the 4th or 5th
phase of play Jennie Smith their No6 spun out of a ruck to score. Natalie
Badcock topped off a fine display with a storming run down the touchline to out
sprint the cover defence to score by the posts. Blaydon
were to have the last word fast hands got the ball to Sophie Weaver who ran
round the cover defence from 60 m out to score a fine try. The game showed that
we are becoming a hard team to score against and that we are improving all the
time but our game will be sorely tested on the 10th of Feb when we play
Worcester in the National Cup at home.
Most importantly we are joining forces with the Ryton rugby
club to start a Girls rugby team representing the Gateshead area, there are
girls already training at Ryton and we at Blaydon are concentrating on the
schools and other organisations in our immediate area to get it off the ground.
So if you are interested or want to get involved contact me using the link at
the bottom, or come and see me at Blaydon this Sunday.
We are looking forward to taking on Fleetwood at home this weekend (13th). We
lost 29-0 down at their place on a pitch which resembled a pudding. Hopefully
our pitches will be frost free this weekend so we can get back to rugby after 3
weeks off. we will hopefully will be at full strength and looking to build on
the defeat of Ripon and finish the season in style.
Well those of you who may have been travelling to see us at
the Vale of Lune this Sunday .....Don't the pitches are frozen solid so a new
date will be needed, keep watching for news.
Hope you all had a Good Christmas and New Year. We are
trying to prepare for our next game, away at the Vale of Lune. This has proved a
bit difficult as the training pitches are pretty frozen, so running around is
not the safest idea. We will at full strength and looking to carry on our very
good work started against Ripon, and looking to do our points difference some
good. We only have 2 league games left, this year we have the women's World cup
in Spain to prepare for, but I doubt whether any of our players will be going,
unless to watch. We have our hardest game of the season on the 17th of February
when we play Worcester at home in the National Cup a great challenge to coaches
and players.
Sincere apologies, work keeps getting in the way of my
updating the site. Since the last update we have played three games, losing to
Novos but beating both Camp Hill and Ripon.
In beating Ripon Blaydon produced some of the best rugby I have seen from them.
They took their tries very well, but what won them the game was an impenetrable
defence. Ripon were given no time or space to get their dangerous runners into
space. Jane Leonard got us off to a fine start crossing in the corner after some
fine rucking from the forwards. She also got our second, when our close range
rucking a support work worked us right up to the Ripon line, Jane picked the
ball up and drive over the line with the defenders hanging off. In the first
half Ripon only got one real scoring chance when Sam Spence broke through only
to be brought done meters short by cracking tackle by Melanie Christie. The
second half Blaydon had far more defending to do, but were up to the task.
Breaking out of the half mid way through the half good handling and strong
running was rewarded when Melanie went over inn the corner to score. We only let
our guard down right at the end of the game when Ripon finally crashed over to
score. But a win of 15-0 is a huge step forward as a team, sadly we have
Christmas in between so hopefully we won't lose this momentum
Blaydon put the disappointment of losing last week to local rivals Novos behind
them by overwhelming Camp Hill by 42-5 over, scoring eight tries in the process.
The visitors started brightly putting Blaydon under real pressure but the home
defence worked hard to repel the attacks and gradually work their way up the
pitch. The first try came after the forwards produced a series of drives before
the ball was worked to the left wing for Kate Henderson to score in the corner,
her first league try. Blaydon then proceeded to dominate territory and
possession, and only good defence and a few dropped passes stopped Blaydon
running away with the game. Our second try came from Jane Leonard, who broke
several tackles on the way to scoring under the posts, Ali McMullon was
successful with the conversion. Blaydon almost scored from the kick off when
Natalie Badcock ran nearly the length of the pitch, but was tackled while
wondering whether to chip the full back or just run round her. Resulting
pressure on the defence meant the kick to touch was gathered by Kate Henderson
to race into the corner to score her second. Some fine handling and support
running lead to the first of Natalie Badcock two tries, Natalie finishing it off
in fine style.
The second half was much of the same with Blaydon dominating possession and
camping in the Camp Hill half, it still took us 15 minuets to score, Jane
Leonard reacting quickest when good ruck ball gave her the opportunity to drive
over the line from 5 metres. This seemed to get Camp Hill going and they
proceeded to take the game to Blaydon and had a prolonged go at the Blaydon
line. It was looking as if the defence would hold out but after a series of
penalties and drives at the line they got over by the posts. Blaydon were stung
back into by this went straight back down the other end and scored a well
deserved push over try scored by Helen Greenwell, this capped a fine performance
by the forwards who took several balls against the head and generally disrupted
the Camp Hill scrum, this was vital so as not to give the Camp Hill No 9 too
much room to run as she is a very good attacking runner. Two more tries were to
come when strong running by Natalie Badcock, who is back to her storming best,
was rewarded as tiring defenders fell off the tackles allowing her to free run
to the line. Our last try nearly came from a push over but the defending scrum
half kicked the ball out of the scrum, but the ball was re-gathered and good
handling and a fine angled run from Catherine Arden cut through to score without
a hand being laid on her, for her first try for us.
On a bright and sunny Sunday in the North East Blaydon got
back to winning ways against a determined and well drilled Shelford side. We had
been determined that we were not going to have
“Shelford backs running rings around” us again, as they did
apparently in the first game, and so it proved.
Despite going 7-0 down after a fine run by the Shelford 13 to score under the
posts Blaydon enjoyed considerable possession and territorial advantage. After
some fine running and good passes under pressure Ruth McKeown crashed over under
the posts, Ali McMullon converting. By now Blaydon were starting to get the
pattern we have been missing the last two games and were creating try scoring
opportunities, but fine defence and some final passes to going to hands we only
scored one more try Natalie Badcock diving over in the corner after some good
work by the backs.
The second half followed a similar pattern with Blaydon attacking and stout
defence from Shelford. It again took time to score the next try, which came from
our human dynamo Jane Leonard (who seems to have far too much energy), Ali again
converting. Ali McMullon was planning on celebrating her birthday from earlier
in the week, she did far better on the pitch than she did in the bar afterwards.
Our fourth try was scored by Natalie Badcock after superb work from the forwards
giving the backs good ball and Nat was there to crash over, Ali again
converting. Try five came from Karen Snell who had twice come close to scoring
in the corner go over after good handling by the backs. Our last try was good
reward for all the hard work put in by the forwards, a concerted drive over the
line finished it as it had begun with Ruth McKeown scoring.
Despite losing two players through injuries Shelford really stuck at it and
never stopped trying, and contributed to a very good game of rugby. Bring on the
Vale of Lune.
Very poor of me not to put in about our trip to Fleetwood, not one of our better games a combination of poor ball retention slack defence and a pudding of a pitch meant we lost 29-0. they may not think so but a flattering result. We had our chances but lost concentration in vital areas, still there is a feeling that when we get on to some firmer ground we will make life a lot more difficult for them, and I mean a lot
We are off to Fleetwood this weekend, when we in the same league two seasons ago we had two very tough games, so we know what to expect, especially after their big win 2 weeks ago against Camp Hill (64-5). As with most teams now we are starting to get the niggles to players which when you are playing week after week never quite heal properly. So if you want to play rugby come a give it a try at Blaydon (or your nearest club if you don't live close).
Well our roll came to an abrupt end at Ripon, not that we played that badly, but on the day Ripon were outstanding in all they did, especially their lines of running in the backs. The first 15 mins were pretty close with both sides scoring early tries, our was after some sustained pressure Jane Leonard ran round the defence to score in the corner. After that it was backs against the wall defending for us which we did well so I cannot complain about that, but our ball retention was poor, partly due to the defence but our support play was slow. Better still than the game was the night out in Ripon we enjoyed after to celebrate Di Blades' birthday, a lot of ale was drunk and some ropey singing sung but a great night. Now we have a couple of weeks off now to get over the little niggles that have built up.
It's official - we are on a roll, of sorts. An away win at Camp Hill 21-12 shows we are getting to grips with this level of rugby. We did not start well with the home full back running in a try in the first 5 mins, but we recovered well to reply with a penalty try: a break by Jane Leonard was halted just short by a highish tackle and the ref gave a penalty try. Our forwards continued to dominate the home side and created several try scoring opportunities, which we must learn to take. Our second try came from a well worked back row move, and again Jane out paced the cover to score. The second half was hard work as we were penned into our own half for long periods, but we worked very hard in defence and kept Camp Hill out right until the end when they crashed over after a series of penalties. But before that Jane had capped a fine game after racing in from halfway after good breaks by Natalie Badcock and Catherine Arden. Ali McMullon had a fine day with the boot kicking all three conversions. We will have to be at our very best when we travel to Ripon this weekend: they are unbeaten and very tough at home, but we are playing well so who knows?
Our local derby and a league game to boot. Novocastrians at home promised to be a tight game. It was a hard fought game but we ran out winners 31-12. Five tries from Ruth Scott (née Wilkinson), Natalie Badcock (2), Rachel Hayes and Helen Greenwell, with Ali McMullon kicking 3 conversions. It was good to get our league programme off and running in a game we had pretty much under control from the start, scoring after 5 mins. On the whole our defence worked well, not giving Novos many opportunities to get back into the game.
Our first game of the season was a long trip to Shelford, just south of Cambridge. After a keenly fought game we lost 14-12. Our tries were scored by Ali McMullon and Helen Greenwell. We also had a try by Ruth Scott (née Wilkinson) disallowed. Ali also kicked the conversion. It was a game we should and could have won. But there is always next week...
As we finished second in our league, we have been invited to take a promotion place up into National Challenge Div 1, which we have great pleasure in doing. This will be a real test of our squad and our abilities as players and coaches. But I have no doubts about our ability to do well in this league. It is another stage in our plan to build a strong women's club in the North East of England. The linking up with local Universities and Schools will only add to our strength.
The 2000-2001 season
Recently we held our end of season Awards...and in true Awards style, the winners were:
Best
training record went to Maria King, who
attended 87% of training sessions.
We
had three players who played in all
our matches this season. They were Sally Fitzpatrick,
Ruth Scott (née Wilkinson) and Captain Rachel Hayes
Sally
was also voted the Club Person
of the year in recognition of all the behind
the scenes work that she does as our club secretary
and as Manager of the NE Under 16 Team
Our top try scorer was Harriet Radermacher
with 13. Just as she gets to grip with
the scoring thing she decides to go travelling.
Never mind - we wish her well
Rob's
choice as coach for the most improved player
was Ali McMullon. She has worked very hard on
her game this season and played for the NE Rep
side and very importantly she has worked hard on
her place kicking and kicked 18 conversions.
Finally
the most important award. The
choice of the Player's Player of the year;
all our players have a vote. In reverse
order they were 3rd Ali McMullon, 2nd
Harry Radermacher and 1st was Natalie
Badcock for the second year running.
Congratulations to all our winners and good luck for the coming season.
Well
another season draws to a close, and we have had a very good one. We have scored
58 tries by 15 different players and have kicked 21 conversions. Full details
will be available soon but we have our awards night to come so I am unable to
give any hints as to the winners (otherwise we get endless winner's speeches).
We have scored heavily in some of our league games and but for uncontested
scrums versus Ormskirk our top score would have been 72-5. We have scored 320
points and conceded only 116.
What luxury, we had a whole week before our last game, home against Durham
City. We were looking forward to finishing the league season on a high, and so we
did. We ran out deserved winners 44-0. Our try scorers were Helen Greenwell with
3, Natalie Badcock and Harriet Radermacher with 2 each and Maria King taking her
last chance of the season to score her first ever try. We also kicked two conversions through
Sara Baxter. Apparently we dominated from start to finish (your correspondent
was on a stag weekend so details were not taken). Durham stuck well to their
task but had few opportunities to score. From a coaching point of view it was
good to stop them scoring - not a bad habit to have.
30th April: Looking to play three games in a week has taken its toll on our
squad. With injuries and work unavailability's we travelled to Leo's in Leeds
with a much changed team. Nevertheless we have a strong squad so I felt we had a
good chance to win this league 2nd v 3rd game. For most of the 1st half we were
pushed back into our own 22, and after sustained pressure on our line Leo's
scored their first try. They also added a penalty to that before half time. We
turned round to play into a stiff breeze in the second half, and started very
strongly but we were unable to turn the position and possession into the much
needed points. With injuries to Ruth McKeown in the first half and later to our
fly-half Clare Iley we ended the game with 14 players. Right at the end Leo's
scored another try to give them a 13-0 victory. There were some very tired and
bruised bodies at the end and I was very proud of the effort all the girls put
in. We look forward to getting back to winning ways on Sunday with the return
fixture against Durham City at Crow Trees.
Well 3 weeks off and then we have to play Ripon at Home. They
have only lost one this season. But we have been in good form and have been
scoring some good tries so a tight game was expected. A tight game we got, Ripon
started well, picking up a dropped pass to race away and score and very quickly
after that their winger running through several tackles to score from 50 m out,
not the plan at all. Soon after that they got another try to leave us 21-0 down
with barley 25 mins gone. But we have grown stronger this season and pulled
ourselves together, the first time we got close we scored, from a 5m lineout a
catch and drive resulted in a try for Ruth Mckeown. back we came trying to score
again before half time, having nearly scored we were awarded a 5m scrum, whilst
heading for the line their scrum decided it was time to break up, sadly too
early for the ref's liking so he gave a penalty try. The second half was end to
end stuff with both teams playing free flowing, expansive rugby, Ripon had
several chances to score but our defence worked overtime to stop them. With 15
mins to go we managed to scored after sustained pressure on the Ripon line
Natalie Badcock spun over by the posts, with the conversion by Ali McMullon it
left us 2 points down. Despite a frantic finish including Ali narrowly missing a
penalty kick from wide out we were unable to get through a very well organized
and stubborn defence. Despite losing it was one of the best adverts for women's
rugby I have watch for several seasons. we now have to regroup to take on Durham
City (away) on Wed 25th April at Hollow Drift and Leo's Away on Sunday 29th
April
Another good win for the girls this weekend. We beat Ormskirk 77-5, BUT they went
down to 14 after 15 mins when their prop went off. From then on it was
uncontested scrums. This means we technically won only 28-0 (RFUW rules). We
scored 12 tries with Harriet Radermacher, Ruth Wilkinson, Clare Iley and Natalie
Badcock getting two each. Helen Greenwell, Rachel Hayes, Cate Adamson, Ros
Stainer-Smith getting one each and one penalty try. Ali McMullon had a good day
with the boot kicking 6 conversions. It may sound like a rout but Ormskirk work
hard in defence and never gave up and were rewarded with a try in the second
half. We are in the process of rearranging our 2 games versus Durham City so
keep watching!
25th February: Home game against Durham City inadvertently postponed!
11th February: Amazing, our third league win in a row. This was our hardest game for some
time, with Widnes defending well and putting in some big hits! We scored 5 tries
to 2 and Ali McMullon got three conversions. The tries came through Helen
Greenwell getting 2 and Harry Radermacher, Ruth McKeown and Nat Badcock getting
one each. This has been our best spell of league rugby for some time and we are
starting to play a much better balanced game, and scoring tries that our
possession merits.
4th February: Sadly only the Regional Under16's got any rugby this weekend, and
it was almost farcical. The
game was played in a near blizzard, with 1" of snow on a sodden pitch. the
North East scored 2 tries to nil and all players were very happy to get the game
over. Both sides put on a very good show of rugby considering the conditions,
and showed keenness beyond the call of duty (and beyond the understanding of any
sane person).
28th January: Our best display of running rugby saw us win 39-0 against Altrincham Kersal, we
scored tries through Harry Radermacher (4), Sara Baxter, Ali McMullon and Nat
Badcock one each, with Ali getting two conversions. As coach I was very pleased
with the display which shows all the hard work in training is coming good.
21st January: Our league game at Durham City was postponed due to their frozen
pitches. We await the rearrangement with glee. Congratulations to Natalie Badcock for being selected in the Emerging England
squad, and to Ruth Wilkinson and Ali McMullon who are in the North East squad.
7th January: We played our first home league game on the 7th against Leo's, we ran out 22-0
winners and played some very good rugby, and scored four good tries. the tries
came from Lesley Wheatley, Natalie Badcock x2 and Sara Baxter.
10th December: Tough game at Ripon, losing 24-0 but playing really well against the
table-topping team. Our scrums were impressive and the new line-out options are
working well. We must note that it takes only an hour and a bit to drive to
Ripon!
26th November: Played Ormskirk and beat them 35-5, despite being one
short. Illness claimed 3 of our players between selection and meeting for the
bus trip. Big hand to the girly backs who had to play in the forwards. Beat Widnes 5-0 on the 29th October in a turgid match on a morass. Should
have scored more.
22nd October: We didn't play this weekend as some of our players were running in the Great North
Run. They were fundraising for the club and various charities, and all managed
to finish. Some improved their PBs and none of them will do it again.
15th October: We travelled to Berwick, and played our first friendly of
the season against them. We managed
to squeeze through to win 12-10. Our tries were scored by Ruth McKeown, who was guesting for us, and Ruth
Wilkinson at scrum half. Sara Baxter kicked our only conversion and very good it
was too.
8th October: Our first League game came against Altrincham Kersal - a loss of 26-0 was not a fair reflection of
the run of play. The main reason for the loss was the fact that they took their scoring
opportunities, and we didn't. Due to selection problems we only had seven
forwards, so we did pretty well. We nearly scored tries, with Clare Iley coming closest, having
the ball knocked out of her hands over the line. The game was played in horribly wet conditions and
both teams played some very good rugby. Altrincham's star player was definitely their full- back,
who scored three tries.
2nd September: The week after tour we played in our own 10's tournament jointly hosted by Blaydon and Novocastrians,
held at Sutherland Park, home of Novos. 12 teams attended including top English
and Scottish teams, and a police select side, and all enjoyed a day of free running rugby. The tournament is an annual
event to start the season, held in early August - it switches between the two host clubs, and in 2001
will be held at Blaydon RUFC. Get in touch if you want an invite.
August Bank Holiday: Our season started early -
in August we went to the 10's tournament in Skerries, north of Dublin.
We played against the Barbarian Babes, Blackrock College, Skerries and the Vagabonds from the Isle of Man.
If you have never been then try it. It involves a serious amount of drinking, partying and even some rugby.
A good time is guaranteed in the Black Raven.