The U8's decided to go a bit different this year and wanted to join the Mini 6 Nations tournament in Milan as well as GePlo. Unfortunately we could not get a team together for Geneva, but we did manage to get a group of players together for Milan and what a trip it turned out to be.

With our furthest journey yet, we travelled to Milan not really knowing what to expect, simply excited to get a chance to play against teams from other countries.

The tournament was fantastically organised and you could see how much it meant to the local and foreign teams. I mean when you have a gift store for just this tournament, there has to be something special.

The tournament started with all national anthems represented being played and it was incredible. The kids held up the Swiss flag with pride and you could see how excited they were to represent their club here.

As there were only 10 players allowed we only took one team. The rules in Italy seemed similar to the Swiss, so having the thrid game in our group we observed and thought we were ready for our first game. Unfortunately nothing prepared us for the ripping that occurs in Italy and the lack of knock on's or offsides being called. Put some nerves into this mix and our kids, despite their best efforts unfortunately lost the 1st game 3:1.
With better preperation for the second game our kids put up a great fight. Unfortunately a little into this game it got a bit messy with a try given that was not grounded and two high tackles left two of our kids lying on the floor. We had some stern words with the referee and organisers after which the game settled again, despite loosing the game 3:2, we managed to change the score to a draw.

Undeteterred by all of this, our kids decided enough is enough, pulled together as a team and thought, let's play italien rugby. They learned from their mistakes and hammered both oppositions in the next two games 7:2 and 6:1.
Unfortunately we ended up with equal points to the team we had the trouble with but with less tries scored. Therefore we only got to progress as 3rd and played for 7th spot.
In this game we could really see our focus on strength and conditioning in training and where as the other team was fading our team run them ragged to leave the tournament on a high with a 4:1 win.

I can not put into words how proud we are of how the kids did not get angry with the referee when they were treated unjust, how they stuck together as a team and kept on going, how they represented Switzerland and the club with pride and finally to see how much fun they had playing our beautiful game.
This team is really growing into a group of players that are there for one another and stick up for one another and that is a beautiful thing to see.
I can not wait to see what the future holds for them.

Last but not least I would like to extend a huge thank you to all parents, friends and family members that made the trip to Milan. We know it is not easy and it takes a lot of commitment and we are so thankful for your support.

See you all next weekend at our Home Tournament - HOPP ZUG!