On the last Bank Holiday weekend in May, Holt seniors sent out a “Holt exploratory group” to Cardiff for a weekend of rugby, to build bridges and take the Holt ethos out into the wider rugby world.

13 players made the trip and started off with a early morning white water rafting warm up to clear clouded minds and prepare for the main event. The Holt tourers played Clwb Rygbi Cymry Caerdydd (CRCC), a club similar to Holt in that they have various levels of senior rugby, an extensive youth and minis section, and a few of their youth have gone on to represent the national side. At heart, a community rugby team.

Both teams' seasons had been drawn out with CRCC only finishing the weekend previous, so with hard ground and tired players the sides played 10 a side touch. This went on for an hour when we changed up to 12 a side touch, with first to 3 tries wins. Holt managed to edge a 3-2 victory, but after an hour and a half of fun the winner was rugby.

CRCC were great hosts, refreshments and food were laid on, and both side joined at the bar to watch the Sarries v Sale final. After a good few hours the Holt exploring group continued into Cardiff to discover the city and its fauna and flora!

The last day saw the forwards and backs go head to head on a Cardiff scavenger hunt. No one knows who won, but it definitely wasn’t those that ate lava bread.

After the weekend the explorers returned to Holt, no one was MIA, new friends in Cardiff were made and many laughs were had.

I’d like to thank Neil Cole and Rhys Jones from CRCC for being great hosts and getting a team out just as varied and to rival the tourers. We have extended an open invitation to CRCC to come to Holt in the future.

Many thanks

Duncan Ayers