Our Saints Academy boys have touched down on UK soil after yet another hugely successful and eventful tour of Australia.
The boys headed off down under back in mid October and have spent three memorable weeks both working hard and enjoying new experiences along the way.
The boys took in the sights of Sydney, had guided tours of the likes of New South Wales Rugby League Centre, the Sydney Cricket Ground and Penrith Panthers, watched Australia beat New Zealand, visited the Blue Mountains, went surfing in Manly and Scuba Diving on Shelley Beach and even met our new Head Coach Kristian Woolf!
Most importantly, the lads put in the hard graft during a number of training camps in the Aussie sun and that hard work paid off as they impressed against the hosts with three victories out of four.
2019 Tour results:
- Game 1 v North Sydney – W: 40-0
- Game 2 v Sydney Roosters – L: 20-16
- Game 3 v South Sydney – W: 10-8
- Game 4 v Penrith – W: 34-22
The final day saw the annual tour awards take place with this year’s winners as follows:
Taylor Pemberton – Special Recognition Award
Keenan McDaid – Best Tourist
Jumah Sambou – Best Back
Reece Sumner – Best Forward
Lewis Baxter – Coaches Award
Lewis Dodd – Player of Tour/Players’ Player.
Following another hugely successful tour, Academy Head Coach Derek Traynor said: “The 2019 Australia tour was a great success. The four games played were all very competitive and the players really developed over the course of the tour.
“The lads were really excellent in the way they represented the club and their families and it was a pleasure to coach them and spend time off the field with them around Sydney enjoying new experiences and making life-long memories.
“I also want to pay a huge thanks to all the staff who helped out this year especially to our Aussie Saint Dave Woods who is one of the biggest reasons the tours are so successful. He organises all the games and activities and without him the tour really would not be possible.
“Roll on 2021!”
