Prep School Barbarians
After a trial at Stowe school attended by around 100 boys from various preparatory schools across the South East of England, James Crompton and Tristan Louveaux were selected to represent the South East Barbarians in the regional trials. These were held at Rugby School on a particularly cold and wet February day, watched by the selectors (and also by Will Greenwood and Austin Healey).
They played against teams representing the other regions in England and Wales and the South East team won all 3 of their games (James scoring anamazing try in one of them). From those four regional teams, 24 boys were then picked to represent the Prep School Barbarians on their tour to Toulouse in South West France and James and Tristan were delighted to be asked to join the squad.
Rugby is the number one sport in Toulouse and they are mad about it. When Toulouse play games in the Heineken Cup, they put up a large screen in the main square and pretty much everyone turns up to watch. The Barbarians played sides from Narbonne, Montauban and Albi. All tough encounters and the team did well to hold their own throughout, winning as many matches as they lost. The 3 coaches (from St John's Beaumont, St John's and Moulsford) were fantastic and James and Tristan returned in good heart, ready to fight for their place in the U14 team at St Paul’s next year.
