Old Street Tour report 2017 – Sofia, Bulgaria

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Old Street Tour report 2017 – Sofia, Bulgaria

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Another legendary Old Street Tour took place in Sofia with three wins from three and all players coming home in one piece…

Street travelled to Bulgaria for the club’s annual tour with our largest ever touring party of 36 Onions. All positions were well covered by representatives from all three of the teams so it was always going to be difficult for the host teams.

The first fixture had been arranged for Friday evening against Lokomotive Sofia – Bulgaria’s oldest rugby club. The squad set off from the hotel with great anticipation and after a bit of pre-match warm up in the form of a rather long route march out of the city centre led by Colonel Haines via the railway sidings and around the local cemetery to finally reach the rather foreboding gates of the ground displaying a ‘no guns’ sign.

On entering the team discovered the semi derelict changing rooms which were devoid of any plumbing courtesy of the local travellers (not that dissimilar to Hackney Marshes in the early years of The Club). Having said all this the hosts were extremely welcoming and even the barking guard dog calmed down eventually.

Street soon settled in to the match, making good use of all players which was totally necessary in the heat of the late afternoon and after the first ‘acclimatisation’ night. It was a fun fixture played in great spirit and credit must go to Lokomotive who never gave up despite the scoreline, which ended 10-58  in our favour.

The second day saw us back at the same location, this time to play the locals of Murphy’s Misfits and another local side to us – Southwark Lancers – who’d come straight from the airport.

The afternoon kicked off with a London derby and what started as a close competition (two tries to one at half time) ended with Street showing their superior skill to win convincingly 26-7.

Southwark then played the hosts winning 12-29, before we played our final game of the afternoon with players out of position – namely prop Liam Trudgeon insisting on playing fly half – a matter for which he faced suitable sanctions in end of Tour court the following day.

This was a competitive close game which finished with a spectacular run down the pitch by ‘Silent’ Rich to score under the posts and give Old Street the win in the last play of the match 21 – 28.

The third half was played out at later back in town at JJ Murphy’s Irish Bar.

Old Streetonians would like to thank the players and members of both Lokomotive Sofia and Murphy’s Misfits for their hospitality in hosting us for the weekend and giving everyone concerned a wonderful experience.

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