BLOG | Schools of Rugby U16 squad arrive in Nagasaki

Scottish Rugby’s Schools of Rugby U16 squad travelled to Japan this Monday (6 August), after weeks of preparation, to play two matches against Nagasaki and experience Japanese culture.

The tour is part of Scottish Rugby’s ongoing relationship with the city of Nagasaki and sees 24 players from nine schools in Scotland make the journey.

Jack Chelley from Hawick High School gives his thoughts after arriving in Nagasaki:

“After traveling for more than a day we finally arrived in Nagasaki.

The next day we walked to the pitch and had a light session to stretch the legs. We trained well and went over our key strategies and game structure to prepare for our first game on Friday.

The heat was a shock, however the pool and water slides after training cooled us off.

The school was the next stop for us. Starting with Kyudo (Japanese archery) where we were taught by the students how to use the bows. We ended up having a competition against each other in our clans.

We were in the classroom next learning how to write Japanese symbols from the students. We got presented with a card with our surnames written in Japanese and then tried it ourselves.

Our team mascot, Deano, has been with us throughout the tour and was very well looked after by Brodie for two days and then left behind by Logan after only two hours.

After our tea at night we headed out on the tram to the middle of Nagasaki to see the rehearsal of a festival show. It was great to see as it was nothing like what you might see in Scotland.”

For more updates on the progress of the tour please follow @Scotlandteam on social media.