Tour is about more than just the match

A TOUR to Cornwall saw Frampton Cotterell in action on the pitch and raising money off it.

A tour party of 45 senior players, most of them under 23 and enjoying their first tour, were joined by more than 50 veterans and former players for the friendly with St Austell RFC.

After a Friday night trip to Newquay, the group played St Austell the following day.

The game was close but Frampton lost 29-25.

Fram man of match and captain was Liam Hennessy, who crossed for a hat-trick of tries, with the other tries scored by stalwarts Mark Smith and Sam Rumley, who borrowed kit to enter the fray at half-time.

The tour also saw funds raised for two good rugby-related causes, with £1,000 donated to help Matt Badman, of Coalpit Heath, fund a specialist chair to play wheelchair rugby.

The Voice reported last month that Matt, who is 28 and has cerebral palsy, has been playing wheelchair rugby for two years.

His ambition is to make the Team GB wheelchair rugby team in the Paralympics but to play at a high level he needs a made-tomeasure chair.

A further £250 was raised to sponsor former Frampton junior player Michael Holden, who has been selected for the England Universities Rugby League squad. Players have to self-fund their places.

The junior tour raised a further £450, with the cause yet to be decided, to make a total of £1,700.

The club would like to thank Euro Coaches, Avon Drivers and all players, non-players, parents and coaches for their contributions and support for the good causes.

While around 100 club members were away enjoying the tour match and a few beers in Cornwall, Frampton's first team still had to fulfil a fixture against Drybrook 2nds.

After some frantic ringing around and dusting off of boots, the Frampton Cotterell Barbarians were born.

Under the coaching guidance of Matt Flood and James Carver, and the captaincy of Alamo Moore, they dominated the match and came away with a 29-7 victory.

The match day squad included several first team debutants, such as Tim Mason, Lawrence Chidley, Liam Crowley, Matt Harvey, Dan Casey, Josh Kay, Rudi Hahn and Adam Nolan.

Tries from Nolan (2), Mason, Rob Keir and the evergreen Tony Bleakman drove the Fram to a convincing victory - and showed what strength in depth the club has.

Matt Badman has an online fundraising page on Gofundme at bit.ly/3YUs626.

Mike Weaver, Matt Marsh and Peter Zaffiro