Our Colts tour broke new ground this year with a trip to Haagsche Rugby Club in the Netherlands at the start of the Easter holidays. Getting to the Hague is a breeze on the Eurostar and we somehow managed to keep the group together through the many distractions of the historic city centre before the match.

HRC have around 600 Juniors and field three Colts sides - with a superb clubhouse and facilities, they were excellent hosts and also proved to be a real test for our players.
The match was full of attacking intent from the start - after Barnes took an early lead, some strong midfield running and sharp offloads brought HRC back into contention. Our own former Hague player, Melchior, was in fine form at fullback - while Leo deserves a special mention for his contribution, in his first appearance of the season after recovering from long-term injury. One of our original Minis, Patrick, scored two excellent tries to give Barnes a late lead, but HRC claimed a deserved victory in the final minutes of the game.

A return trip by HRC to London is already being discussed - they are a proper rugby club with a strong female section as well as multiple men's teams and are well worth considering for any Barnes tour.