Thaumaturgists Touring Rugby Club

The Thaumaturgists are the touring team of Tadley RFC. We have now been on 7 tours. You may remember us from such places as Malta,
Prague, Marcella, Antwerp, Isle of Man and Holland. The most recent tour the Thaumaturgist have been on was May 2006 to Ibiza.
The tour was a great success, 28 Thaumaturgists traveled, with 27 coming back. A good effort considering the size of the group.
The tour was a great success. Thaumaturgist President Sir Robert Searle felt it was the best one he had attended, with it’s mix
of outstanding rugby, sunny weather and ˝ litre of Vodka + Red Bull for 8 Euros. Even a freak mishap to the Thaumaturgist President
couldn’t dampen his spirits (a broken finger in a Toilet incident.). The Jovial President announced – “ I had to give him a dig,
he grabbed my nuts”

Sir Robert Seale, picture taken before recent break
As always seems to be the way on tour rugby was played, here is Thaumaturgist Head coach G. Vitas’s match reports.

Head Coach G.Vitas with a stirring pre match team talk
Thaumaturgists v Llanwitagogo Major
The Thaumaturgists had the unenviable task of kicking off the tournament, clearly so the opposition could do some scouting reports. The
Thaumaturgists didn’t disappoint the watching crowd unveiling a brand of rugby rarely seen before, somehow and it must be stressed
against the run of play the Thaumaturgists lost 41-7.
Highlights of the game were few and all the games do tend to blur into one, but we were treated to an outstanding Thaumaturgist kick off
routine that involved the Welsh side scoring in the 1st 10 seconds. Some outstanding tackling from both sides in what was a very
abrasive match lead to the Thaumaturgists losing 4 players for the tournament; Dave Seal- Sprained Drinking arm, Dave Lewis – Went for a
nap, Rudo – manky foot and Jeremy B- retired due to the pitch being to far from the bar.

Dave Lewis having a snooze
The outstanding part of the match was the Thaumaturgist try, scored by Paul Johnson, he took the Llanwit defense by surprise from a kick
off, appearing as if from nowhere he collected the ball to run through to score.

The Thaumaturgists warming up for their game against Ibiza
Ibiza v Thaumaturgists
This was an excellent game, the Thaumaturgists were let down by silly errors in what was otherwise a close game. Called into the team was
No8 Glen Charles his large presence helped the Thaums. In a reshuffle lock and skipper Dave Boshier went to tight-head prop and along
with Murph and Mark Telling made up the most handsome front row of the tournament.

Thaumaturgsits poised for action, Tadley flankers notice Mark Allan ready to push in the scrum, also Glen Charles looking for someone
to hit and Tom Bailey like a coiled spring ready to go. The chap with the long hair was a lost tourist asking directions to the beach
I think.
The game was on a knife edge when a misunderstanding at a set ‘Dead ants’ lineout move lead to a breakaway score by Ibiza. The
Thaumaturgists responded with a good try from Tom Bailey but the heat was starting to catch up with the limited numbers left of the
Thaumaturgists and Ibiza pulled away late in the game. to win 21-7.

Tom Bailey in action, for all coaches note the thaumaturgist players poised to run from depth, also the subtle tactics used by the
Thaumaturgists to confuse the opposition – not dummy runners but a player praying to Mecca on the pitch, Jay pretending the ball is
still in the ruck.
Thaumaturgist v Purley John Fisher
The last game was a crunch match for the Thaumaturgists, they had to win to avoid coming last, after the national anthem, Ambassador
Jeremy gave a rousing speech. It did the trick as the Thaumaturgists were outstanding.

Flying winger Andy Port stopped a yard from the line
Tries from Jesus Castaneda and Jay saw the Thaumaturgist home 12-10. A great victory against a good bunch that got into the spirit
of the day.
Well done to Ibiza rugby club for organizing a great day, they also put on a spankingly good meal after the tournament and we actually
got to eat genuine Spanish food for the one and only time on the Trip.

Roger Moffat making friends with Purley John Fisher, try to keep a hold of your excitement Roger
It was a proud Captain Dave Boshier who went up to receive his pot for coming joint 2nd. It was also his job to give the speech on the
Thaumaturgists behalf. His concise appraisal of the day, followed by a brief Thaumaturgist history, focusing mainly on the besom broom
connections, was so well received by the large crowd its style was to be adopted by Tadley Vice Chairman, Pete Williams, for use at the
club's Summer Ball.

Ali and Paul having a great time at the after Tournament party
Ibiza didn’t just put on a top rugby tournament, plenty of other competitions took place to make it an all round great day. Here are
some of the other winners.

The 3 finalists of the best tour tan competition, strong entry from the Thaumaturgists here, with two in the final but they did loose
out to tour organizer Jason Harvey from Ibiza RFC

The sprint competition was won by Toby Smith (far right) by a short head
The rest of the photos will be available soon, so keep a look out on the site.
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