Swaffham Rugby Club were on the road again at the weekend for the third of their annual summer rugby trips.

This one, organised by Daniel Spencer, was the furthest and most ambitious so far – a trip to the Newquay Surf Sevens tournament in Cornwall was this year’s adventure.

Eight players left Swaffham in the early hours of Saturday morning to undertake the eight hour trip and meet up with another two players who helpfully were already in Cornwall.

The squad played in the social competition on the Sunday having arrived in time to see the British Army team take the prize for the Saturday.

Swaffham’s opposition was supposed to be club sides such as themselves for the following day so we watched the rugby on the Saturday, enjoyed the weather and retired to a peaceful campsite with around 50 other teams.

After a restful evening of 10 hours sleep interspersed with around nine hours 50 minutes of parties the teams took to the pitches for the day’s competition.

Swaffham started strongly against ‘The Slow Joes’. recording three tries in the first four minutes before easing to a strong victory.

The second game was a closer affair with ‘The Mavericks’ edging the result by a try.

The third game was against the ‘Help for Heros Rhinos’, which was a showcase for what tour / social rugby should be – both teams playing with a smile, having a laugh and enjoying the game.

Swaffham won this one with a try from John Chamberlain having reached out of a tackle to place the ball on the line and then take the conversion to his own try (his first ever conversion).

The final pool game saw Swaffham take on Exeter Chief’s academy. This match was a shade one sided as Exeter should have been in the competition on the Saturday and swept everyone aside in a display of focussed, drilled rugby.

The only point of note in this match was a brutal tackle from teenager Joe Milligan – who is old enough to step into the senior side this season – on the Exeter full-back which at least left him in no doubt he had been in a game.

Having progressed into the knock out stages our progress was halted at semi-final stage against ‘Hilly’s Heros’.

The tents were packed down and the trip home started.

Pre-season training started on Tuesday and will continue every Tuesday and Thursday.

Meanwhile, the summer rugby will also continue with a trip to Southwold for the beach rugby at the end of this month and then back home for the Swaffham Playmore Sevens tournament in August.