Yorkshire Terriers Rugby Tour – Australia and Hong Kong 2015

Massage Therapist Rachel Chapman on a Rugby Tour of Australia and Hong Kong.

In July 2015 I had the fantastic opportunity of travelling to Australia and Hong Kong for 3 weeks with Yorkshire Terriers RFC as part of the medical team. They are a representative team with players being selected from across the whole of Yorkshire aged between 18 and 24. There is a tour every 2 years and this was their 10th tour. Over the years they have travelled to various different locations including Canada, South America, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

For the 2015 tour we travelled to Gold Coast, Melbourne and Hong Kong. There was a squad of 32 players, a medical team of 4, 3 coaches, a video analyst and committee members. Over the 3 weeks we played 5 games, 3 in the Gold Coast against the Pine River Boars, West Bulldog Colts and Cyclones u20s/Alleygators RUFC, and 2 in Melbourne against Melbourne University and Melbourne Harlequins. Of which we won all five.

Within the medical team we had 2 doctors, a physiotherapist and myself (Sports Therapist). We took with us a lot of medical kit including trauma/ medical bags, pitchside bags, a lot of tape and strappings, spine board and a treatment table. Each day we would run clinics for a couple of hours which allowed players with any problems to be treated by us. There were training sessions most days and rehabilitation and recovery pool sessions the days after games, so we had a fairly busy time carrying out any injury assessments, sports massages, taping and rehab sessions, and game preparation and pitchside cover.

It was an amazing experience and we all had a lot of fun with so many memories; we did get some free time to visit different places and spend time on Surfer Paradise beach. One day we travelled to Australia Zoo, where I got to cuddle a Koala (it was so cute), feed a kangaroo and meet the wombats. We also went to a couple of Rugby league games and an Aussie Rules game at Melbourne Cricket Ground (it’s huge). On the way back home we had 2 days in Hong Kong where we all had time to relax and do lots of sight-seeing it was an amazing place to visit!

Overall I had a fantastic time, made some amazing memories and great friends. It was great to experience travelling abroad with a team and working together with different people and players and would love to be given the opportunity again in the future.

Rachel Chapman
Massage Therapist