2015 UMRFC Costa Rica Tour Recap

Day 1: Travel & 7s Tournament
On February 27th until March 8th 2015, 25 members from your favorite squad of ruggers went on tour to Costa Rica along with head coach Brandon Sparks and Olde Boy/ Tour Manager Spencer Scolnick for a group total of 27. We arrived at our hostel in San Jose at 2am Saturday morning February 28, and were up bright and ready at 8am for the CSE University Rugby 7s tournament the same morning. Before the start of the tournament, there was an event called “Get Into Rugby” to teach young kids about the game of rugby. UMRFC was involved in the event and interacted well with the kids despite the language barrier for some and “unusual” hairstyles. The tournament included the University of Costa Rica 7s team as well as three other local rugby clubs. Michigan brought an A and B team to the tournament and both performed very well. The B side won a couple and lost a couple games, and the A side swept the tournament to bring a nice trophy/souvenir home. After the game UCRugby hold a social for all the teams and were very gracious hosts.

Captain Zack Boourns wielding the first place trophy the same way he does with the ball, above his head

Day 2: UCRugby/UMRFC Joint Training Session

The next day, Sunday March 1, UMRFC was invited to a UCRugby training session. It was started off with Coach Sparks-fit conditioning which was brought on by a very short layover/ pizza incident in the airport on travel day. The UCRugby guys were eager to join in and share the misery when they heard about coach starting with conditioning, especially since fitness was key to our success in the 7s tournament. The rest of training went very well with some players learning some on-field spanish (CORTA!, LARGA!) and some kit exchanging at the end.

Some post-practice shenanigans with Chening Duker and Foo

Day 3 Beach Day #1

On March 2nd UMRFC took a 3 hour bus ride early in the morning to head to a Manuel Antonio’s National Park on the Pacific side to catch some much needed sunshine on the beach. A grand time was had by all with monkey watching, coconut harvesting, and sand frolicking .

UMRFC Seducing all of the beach in tasteful beach attire

UMRFC showing off for the beach to see in tasteful coastal attire

: LOOK AT THE MONKEY!

Day 4: Zipline & 15s Match Against UCRugby

Before the 15s match against UCRugby that night, Michigan Rugby went on a zipline tour through the treetops of Costa Rica. The zipline was a success with everybody returning safe and sound, then heading off to the 15s match. The match was well fought by both sides with several new players making their first A-side appearance. UMRFC proved to be the stronger team took the victory 59-24. Once again UCRugby treated the team to a social, providing dinner for us as well as custom glasses featuring both teams logos to commemorate the event.

Team picture after the match

Day 5–8

Since all rugby events were over after the 15s match, UMRFC enjoyed the rest of their stay in Costa Rica visiting a volcano and waterfall, going to a different beach and trying the hand at surfing, and exploring the city and its markets. On the final day the team went on a river rafting tour before the late night flight home. The only problem was there was one thing served on the lunch that affected 7 or 8 members of UMRFC before the flight. All made it home safely, but not all came home without expelling some demons from their body either on the bus back from rafting, at the hostel before going to the airport, at the airport, or on the plane itself. Regardless the trip was an all around success and a phenomenal time was had by all.