Tour Diary - Final wrap up and Wally the Wallaby
Tuesday, January 26, 2016
As you can see from all the blog posts the boys have written, the photo's and video's we have published and the match reports that have been provided, the Trinity Grammar School 2015 Rugby Tour was an enormous success both on and off the field.
Like most sporting tours, particularly Rugby Union, a tour mascot is often synonymous with such occasions. The Trinity Grammar School 2015 Rugby Tour was no different and 'Wally the Wallaby' accompanied us as we travelled around Japan. Call it a tour within a tour !!!
Traditionally the tour mascot is carried by the youngest member of the touring party and it is to be with him 24/7 and never left unattended. The youngest member of our touring party was Thomas Lambert and he started with Wally. Almost everyday we had a 'Kangaroo Court', which established who should be fined for various indiscretions. Generally fines were proposed for things such as late for training, late for breakfast, leaving gear behind, getting lost in the hotel, getting separated from your passport, losing Wally, locking yourself out of hotel rooms etc etc. No proposed fine was not considered and none were successfully defended in court on tour, in fact several aggrieved nominees were outraged when their fines were double upon an unsuccessful defence. From each Kangaroo Court session three individual fine recipients were nominated to have the privilege of carrying Wally for a Day. The tour group then voted, and a new custodian of Wally emerged. You couldn't carry Wally twice on tour and if no Kangaroo court was held or you didn't look after Wally well enough, Wally was yours for at least another 24 hours. By the way staff members were not immune from the process.
At this point it is probably best to introduce you to Wally and show you what he got up to with the Boys whilst on tour:
Wally getting his morning coffee
Wally getting into the Christmas spirit
Wally making friends with some of the locals
OOps sorry Wally !!!
Wally getting some shut eye
Wally getting strapped pre-game
Wally ready for post match massage. Taking good care of the match ball.
Wally car surfing. Children please do not try this at home.
Wally grabbing a snack
Pre-match mental rehearsal for Wally
Wally scoring in the corner after beating Ryan Longville, Jordan Morris, Liam Rasch and James Wayland in an inspired run at training !!!! Go WALLY !!!
Wally getting some extra goal kicking practice in
4 degrees celsius, at night, windy and raining but Wally still keen to support the boys in Game 1
Wally keeping an eye on the boys during the match against Kwansei Gakuin
Wally met some strange people whilst in Japan
Wally doesn't mind flying
Wally loves the window seat on the plane
At the end of the Tour the Coaches gave out several awards for a number of things which are listed below. All the players also voted on the players player for the Tour and this player is given the Tour mascot to keep. Congratulations Paul Orphanides.
Metre-Eater - the player that gained the most metres - Jordan Morris
Defence King - the player that tackled the most on tour - Scott Seeto
Tour Ambassador - the player that epitomises Trinity Rugby on and off the field - Jack Arraj
Tour players player - awarded to the player that the players deemed the best on tour -
Paul Orphanides