A composite under-13 Wakatipu/Arrowtown rugby side enjoyed a five-game unbeaten tour of Australia this month despite struggling with illness and injuries by the end.

The Basin Bulls — reprising a year 8 team who toured two years ago — bookended their tour with games in Sydney and played their other three in Orange, three hours’ drive away, on successive days.

Their second and third games in Orange were back-to-back against Emus Rugby Club sides — their U14s, including bigger boys, and then against their U13s who’d beaten them in Queenstown last year.

Ben Evans, one of the Bulls’ six coaches, says their first Sydney game against a Forest club side was played on astro turf — “the ball bounced differently and the weather was definitely a mixed bag”.

He notes one of the Bulls’ players, a fullback, came on at halftime, “made a couple of huge tackles, then the next tackle he went into he broke his arm, unfortunately, and that was the end of his tour”.

Another player was later concussed and, by the last game against Sydney’s Mosman, “we had a couple out with decent illnesses and we were sort of scraping the barrel”, Evans says, with two forwards having to play in the backs.

“To grind out a win against them to end the tour was awesome.”

Off the field, the 26-boy squad had also prepared for the tour by participating in about a dozen fundraisers — they’re also very grateful to support from local businesses.

— PHILIP CHANDLER