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Cornwall Tour - Where Nothing Ever Happens.
5 days of nothing have passed for yet another year and it is left to the webmaster to report on the events that occured on this famous tour!
On Thursday, an assortment of cartoon and video game characters assembled in the Duke of Cornwall pub in eager anticipation of the Easter weekend to come. Cider was consumed by those Cornwall Tour virgins in the shadows of mighty Apollo himself, before the intrepid heroes began their hard journey, via luxary minbus, to the sunny resort of Carbis Bay.
The journey itself was long and after Buzz Lightyear had decorated the minibus with go faster stripes and Mr Incredible had proven himself less than incredibe, we arrived at Howards Hotel to a glorious reception from Joe and Terry. Having assesed the situation on arrival, the tour party advanced into the bar where, Robin Hood had a disagreement with Angry Shrek the barman, and Captain Hook and Lawrence of Arabia found themselves a pillow for the evening... the tour party disbanded after this knowing that the match against Redruth the next day was likely to be a hard fought affair.
On awakening on Good Friday, we were graced by the presence of Dr Corin and Bully, and set off to Redruth rugby club for the first game of the tour. This year amazingly saw the tour party succesfully find the ground... however, some might have wished we had not, when we were greeted by the information that Redruth (a team currently playing in National League 2) had a cup game next week and were using the Medicals as "practice" for this event. Needless to say the boys manned up in only the way a Medicals team could. They took the game to the opposition, which boasted an ex-Otago playing New-Zealander at 13 and most of the players on professional contracts. Highlights included a try by Simon Bellringer which was set up by Captain Gary Woodsford's incerception and sly offload, and an incident which saw the opposition 13 dump tackled and then mocked by 3rd team favorite Joe Pick. Needless to say these were the only real moments of brillance from the Medicals in a game which saw a very professional and clinical Redruth side run in 17 tries in some style, racking up 111 points. (A match summary and pictures can be found on the Redruth Website and Photo Gallery). Thanks again to Redruth for their hospitality.
On Friday evening we all jumped into Taxi's and made our way to Penzance Rugby club at the invitation of Dinger and his family to celebrate his birthday. At this point Drs Logan, Elvis, Underwood and Murray arrived (obviously they had been tipped off about the quality of the Redruth side). A good few drinks and some cake and sandwiches consumed... we said our fairwells and headed back to Howards for the evening.
La Parade occured... enough said. Later that evening ISOBAR was visited. Here the Medics showed some great moves and Marcus, his fashion show experience behind him, showed his skills and was lucky enough to meet a lovely Gipsy Man, with whom he spent a romantic evening canoodling!
On saturday, the troops awoke to a lovely cooked breakfast, and a trip to Philips Pastie shop. Refreshed and ready for action the Medicals set off back to Penzance RFC for the second match of the tour... Penzance put out a mixture of development and 2nd team players and supplied the tour with a very competitive and fun game for all involved... the final score of 45-22 is testament to a well fought and open game with touches of flair from both sides. Particular moments of brilliance came from Dogface whose banana kick while on the break fell into Jon Underwoods arms for his 4th try. Other moments of brilliance came from Dr James Murray... a spirited effort to avoid tackles, avoid catching the ball or even get involved in the game earned him Man of the Match, which he was suitably rewarded for later in the evening. Many thanks again to Penzance for their hospitality and giving us a really good fun game of rugby!
Sunday morning saw a day of rest and many of our party saw fit to visit the local golf course to try their luck at the game. A relaxed day was had by all. Eventually following hours of turmoil in conditions resembling a blizzard at times, the Medicals decanted to the seaside at St. Ives for a pub lunch and a relaxing time. In the evening all thanked their captains and a good evening was had by all at Howards Hotel.
Monday morning saw a more tired set of players wake up, only to discover a mass exodus of players from their once full touring party! The Drs, sensing what was to s=come at St. Ives RFC, dissapeared leaving us with only 12 players and Tibbott (dislocated finger... or was it thumb???). We arrived at St. Ives Rugby club later that morning and after conscripting some very nice St Ives lads to our cause, we took to the pitch. However, this game seemed to be one game too far for the Medicals who were beaten convincingly by a strong St Ives team who ran in many quality tries, many of which came from their own half. The end of the game saw the welcome post match tea in the changing room which made everyone feel a lot better about the game. Thanks must go to St. Ives here for not only their great hospitality but also for lending us players to maintain our depleted sides tradition of maintaining the fixtures.
A tired, but satisfied group of Medicals decanted into the Luxury minibus' and set off for home.
Thanks to all the people who made this tour, as always, a great success. The lads who came were awesome and never took a backward step, both on and off the pitch! Thanks again to our three opposition teams and our hosts, Terry and Joe, at Howards for making the oldest running tour in Rugby History as fun as ever.
Bananaman and Homer Simpson x
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