Courbevoie (French pronunciation: [kuʁbœvwa]) is a commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 8.2 km. (5.1 miles) from the center of Paris. It is one of the most densely populated municipalities in Europe

Our first trip overseas was to a district of Paris called Courbevoie to represent Enfield in a festival of sport travelling alongside The Mayor Of Enfield . We put together a team made up of ourselves, Enfield Ignatians and three lads who live in Enfield but play at Hertford RFC.  

We played Rugby Club Courbevoie who play in a fantastic sports complex with all the facilities you could think of. Once all the pomp and ceremonies were over, meeting both the Mayor of Courbevoie and Enfield, photos were then taken of both teams and standing in line to sing the national anthems (we made some noise). 

From our kick off Courbevoie set out their stall with 15 man running rugby, attacking at every opportunity. We matched them in both the forwards and backs taking the game to them. From the brilliant line out work we were able to attack and carry the ball to them. The scrum worked well once we sorted out the put in, (Courbevoie pushing before the ball was in and ref letting them get away with it) this gave us a good platform to work from. The ball was moved quickly down the backs and ground was always made. The play was end to end. A penalty was given away 15minutes out and the French took a quick tap and go, which caught us out and went over in the corner for the first try. 

We stuck to the game plan attacking at every opportunity but Courbevoie held out and with a kick and chase over our backs, a lucky bounce the French chaser caught the ball and scored under the posts. 

Half Time 12-0

The second was the same as the fist with both teams playing fast running rugby, but with Courbevoie making more of their chances scoring a very good try out wide. With Courbevoie having roll on, roll off replacements (a squad of at least 22 ) the fresh legs and the heat began to tell. We became tired and frustrated and lost our composure. It didn’t help our cause when we had to make a couple of positional changes due to two injuries. Courbevoie ran in a couple more tries in the last 10 minutes to make the final score 29-0. 

Full time 29-0 

I haven’t picked any player out, to do so would be wrong as all 16 lads played their hearts out in what was a fantastic game of open running rugby, brilliant line out and work in the scrums. We the coaches all agreed that the effort and commitment was first class and that it was the best we have played all season.

All the photos from the Tour are in the Youth Gallery section. If you would like to order prints click here for Snapfish.

Paul Asser

Coach 

The photos that were taken on Sunday for the awards ceremony have been emailed out. If you have not received the email link from Snapfish please let me know and I'll send to you.

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Summer Break

What a great way to bring a close to the season! Thanks to everyone for all your efforts this year. The Mayor of Enfield had a great time at our club on Sunday. We really raised the roof with our 80th year celebrations and it was a great way to celebrate a very special day for a very special legend, Keith McGuinness, in his 30th year as Club President.

Keep looking on the website throughout the Summer. We'll update you when we have details about all our plans to make next season even better.

  Jeff

Our next match is against Saracens Amateur RFC on Sunday 11th April 2010. Kick off time is 10:30 so please be booted and ready for 10:00am.

Saracens are bringing a few Mini teams with them so please arrive early as parking will be busier than normal.

In order to make the day run as smoothly as possible we really need to know if you will be joining us or not on the day. Please let Dave Roberts know either way by clicking here This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  as soon as possible.

The clubhouse will be open afterwards so please feel free to join the coaches afterwards. It would be great to get a chance to speak to as many of you as possible about how you feel this season has gone and any ideas you may have to make us even better next year.

IMPORTANT - We need 4 volunteers to help organise the parking on the day and ideally someone who can get hold of some high visibilty vests! We just need help before the games start to keep it organised. Please let Dave Roberts know if you can help.