LEUCHARS NOMADS RUGBY ~ A SOUTH PACIFIC EXPERIENCE
The morning of Saturday 29th May 2004 brought 25 members of RAF Leuchars Nomads Rugby Club together in the station rugby bar, ready to embark on what was expected to be an extremely challenging Southern Hemisphere tour of New Zealand and Fiji. Over recent years The Nomads have planned a major overseas tour biannually and have been fortunate to travel to the Czech Republic and more recently to Cape Town, South Africa. After returning from Africa we decided to continue the tradition and proceed with the initial planning of a tour encompassing a lengthy stay in New Zealand and a short break in the Fijian Islands.
The planning of a tour of this magnitude demanded a high degree of resolve and flexibility from all those involved, attributes that have been exuded by all members of the tour committee throughout the past 18 months. The administrative requirements included official approval from the Royal Air Force Rugby Union, Rugby Football Union and the New Zealand Rugby Union, along with seeking in-country clearance from the British High Commission in New Zealand and Fiji. In order to make the tour financially attractive to the Junior Ranks the committee had to explore all avenues of fund raising, which presented varied, but overall successful results.
A typical Scottish spring morning presented itself for stage one of the journey to Edinburgh, however the torrential downpour failed to dampen our spirits. Although we would be facing the New Zealand winter, we were sure that we had left the inclement weather behind. After a short flight to London Heathrow we rapidly transferred to Terminal 3 and made headway to the nearest bar; this was purely for medicinal purposes in order to ease the growing nerves of those tourists who are scared of flying, particularly so in Bobby Walden's case! Heathrow was the designated meeting place for a further 6 members of the touring party traveling from other units throughout the UK, who after a quick dress change into their tour tracksuits also joined the main party for a medicinal beverage.
The flight to New Zealand was in three stages, firstly an 11 hr flight to Los Angeles, shortly followed by a 13 hr flight to Auckland and then a final internal flight to Christchurch, our opening touring location. The first stage to LA passed relatively uneventfully, more so after we realised that the majority of Air New Zealand flight crews are very generous in offering refreshments to thirsty rugby players (and Marvo)! One attendant unfortunately needed a little persuading, but after our glorious principal, Mr Butterfinger's succumbed her with his natural wit and charm, she too ensured that Tonic Water was in abundance. On arrival at Los Angeles we were quickly shepherded into a transit lounge with minimal facilities for 3 hours of restricted milling whilst waiting for the aircraft to be turned round for the onward flight to Auckland.
We were soon at 30,000 feet again heading south towards the Equator and over the South Pacific Ocean towards the North Island of NZ. The generosity of the crew on this flight surpassed that of the previous one to the extent that a few of us were invited to the galley for cheese and wine sampling and whatever other commodities we could lay our hands on. After arriving in Auckland and transferring to the domestic terminal for our short hop to Christchurch, we were caught totally unaware that our visit had attracted governmental attention! Once the Prime Minister of New Zealand, who was awaiting for a flight in the same terminal, became aware that 31 members of the Royal Air Force had arrived in her country, she invited a few of the touring party into her private lounge for a brief chat and photo opportunity. The Fanny Rat was most happy, as it is the first time he has socialised with a national figurehead, and thankfully he conducted himself in an impeccable manner. We said our goodbyes, and with ministerial approval we left sure in the knowledge that the tour would be outstandingly successful and enjoyed by all.
Following a short transfer to our hotel we quickly assembled on nearby rugby pitches for a light training session, carefully planned by our compassionate coaching staff! Although the thought of a training session immediately after a 28 hour transit was not the amongst the highest priorities of all the players, all agreed afterwards that it was worthwhile and left us in the appropriate mindset for the tough rugby ahead. Our tour representative certainly had our well being at heart when the itinerary was composed, by planning a visit to the Canterbury Draught Brewery, located in Christchurch, on this first afternoon. After having to endure the arduous outward transit followed by a tough training session, the thought of a 5 hour brewery trip would be the last thing on anyone's mind, but in this case the inner resolve of all the tour members manifested itself; before long 31 eager rugby players with a common interest of beer fermentation processes used in New Zealand assembled at the brewery reception and made to feel extremely welcome by the staff. 
A relatively early light breakfast was taken on the morning of day 2 before assembling on the pitches again for a full training session in preparation for the opening game of the tour due to take place the next day. The remainder of the day was spent exploring Christchurch and taking in all it has to offer. Christchurch is also known as 'The Garden City' and is the most 'English' of New Zealand's cities being named after the famous Oxford College.
Day 3 on tour was match day, with Leuchars Nomads facing Glenmark RFC in their opening fixture of the tour. Glenmark are a strong country based club with an extremely proud tradition, situated an hour's drive south of Christchurch. Over the years they have become a feeder club to New Zealand's premier provincial team, the Canterbury Crusaders and boast a distinguished list of International caps that recently included former All Black captain, Todd Blackadder. After a pleasant morning spent clay pigeon shooting, Leuchars were scheduled to play the Glenmark 2nd XV that conveniently fielded 3 ex-Crusaders players, now coming to the end of their rugby playing days (fortunately Todd was back at home, currently employed as part of the Scottish coaching staff). Leuchars fielded an experienced team, and although still suffering from jet lag, performed extremely well for the majority of the game. We capably matched the opposition man for man within the forwards and had our fair share of forward domination; unfortunately though we lacked a little structure in the backs and the very experienced Glenmark back line were able to find gaps relatively easily. The final scoreline of 52-7 sadly was not in our favour but to coin a cliché that is so often muttered after matches, the final result did not reflect the game. The post-match entertainment quickly followed, with Glenmark proving to be exceptional hosts, ensuring that the impending hangover the following day would be a painful one!
It was now time to bid Christchurch a fond farewell as we transferred by coach to Queenstown, located in the southern region of the South Island. The 8-hour coach journey through the Southern Alps offered some of the most amazing scenery ever witnessed by many of us (that were awake anyway). The glacier-topped mountains of the Alps feed into vast lakes presenting a stunning sky blue colour on their surface with the magnificent mountains providing a perfect backdrop. This area recently adopted the new title of 'Middle Earth' as extensive location filming was undertaken here for the Lord of the Rings trilogy. When you take in the seemingly endless acres of glorious scenery, it becomes easy to understand why Peter Jackson chose this area for his three epics. As we approached Queenstown, the scenic views were still in abundance and it was clear to see why this small town is New Zealand's premier resort. Queenstown is nestled on the banks of Lake Wakatipu with the aptly named 'Remarkables' mountain range ascending from the foot of the lakes shores. Queenstown is classed as the 'Adventure Capital of the World' and it becomes quick to realise why this is so.
Apart from being the home of the first ever 
bungee jump (the Kawarau Bridge) and the second biggest bungee jump in the world, you can participate in every imaginable extreme activity that is known to man. A few of the more courageous members of the group decided they wanted to leap off the second biggest jump in the world. Leighton decided to mask his fear by wearing a superman outfit for the jump, unfortunately though without any finesse whatsoever; the resulting video provided great entertainment later that evening as it was repeatedly shown in the hotel bar. The majority of us opted for the slightly less fearsome 'Triple Thriller Challenge'. This encompassed a low-level helicopter ride, hugging the faces of the nearby mountains, white water rafting and concluding with the Shotover Ride, an exhilarating jet boat trip along the very narrow Shotover River.
Queenstown was also the location for The Nomads 2nd fixture against Wakatipu RFC, Queenstown's only club. As against Glenmark in our previous game, we were to face the Wakatipu 2nd XV in what promised to be a tough encounter, but after recovering from the jet lag and with a couple of well structured training sessions under our belts, one of them during a fearsome blizzard, had an air of confidence about it going into this fixture. This renewed confidence proved to be extremely effective as Leuchars Nomads put in a fine performance to win a very physical game 38 points to 12. The Nomads back line appeared to be a well drilled force after overcoming their shortcomings from the previous fixture and the forwards continued their dominance up front. With 4 memorable days having passed in Queenstown, it was unfortunately time to pack our bags and hit the road once more for our transfer to our third and final location in New Zealand, Auckland. Thankfully we only had to endure a short road trip to the local airport to catch an internal flight to Auckland, for a brief 2 night stay in the North Island.
The late transfer time coupled with having to play our final fixture did not leave a significant amount of time to fully explore 'The City of Sails' but we managed to discover as much of the city as possible during our short stay. As the home of the annual yachting race, The Americas Cup, Auckland boasts a magnificent harbour complex with a millionaire's row of yachts moored in its bays. Another impressive attraction is the skyline tower, which, standing a little higher than the Eiffel Tower offers fantastic panoramic views over Auckland and the surrounding region. Auckland was also the location for the third and final fixture on tour, the battle of the Air Forces, as Leuchars Nomads faced the Auckland Air Base team, RNZAF Whenuapi. As the New Zealand Air Force has dramatically chopped its fast jet fleet, their manpower has been somewhat reduced, but with Whenuapi primarily operating in an Air Transport capacity, we found it to be a very busy base. Leuchars were still bursting with well-founded confidence after our excellent victory in Queenstown and went into the game in a very positive manner. The game was played with an excellent spirit but was very well contested in all departments, as both teams clearly did not want to come second in this game! The Nomads made quite a poor start to the game, finding it very difficult to get set into their game plan and rhythm, resulting in unacceptable quantities of turnover ball and basic handling errors and this was compounded by losing our skipper very early in the game to what can only be described as very illegal play. We went into the break losing 22 - 0, but after a stern team talk at half time by stand in pack leader, Craig Bones, the Nomads looked a different team and started to play some fantastic rugby in the second half. Both territory and possession percentages were strongly in our favour after the break and throughout the half, which led to the Nomads scoring on numerous occasions; sadly it was not enough as we narrowly lost the fixture 22 -18. For the post match festivities we were invited to the Warrant Officers and SNCO's mess, enjoying a memorable evening in true post rugby match fashion, which proved to be a perfect conclusion to our stay in New Zealand……….Roll on Fiji!
When planning the tour, we decided to conclude it with a couple of days of R & R in a relaxing environment prior to the long journey home and after considering all options, we opted for a small Fijian hideaway known as Beachcomber Island. The transfer to Beachcomber was relatively painless and after arriving there we were genuinely quite surprised by how small the Island was. Beachcomber is predominantly geared towards backpackers, based on a resort concept with a maximum capacity of 200 guests at any one time. Surprisingly it did not take long for the Islands inhabitants and holidaymakers to realise that a 31 strong squad of rugby players had arrived on the island and soon we were the focal point of the tropical retreat. Everyone made use of the excellent facilities that Beachcomber had to offer including water sports, deep-sea fishing, scuba diving and relaxing on the beautiful golden sands. Our 3 days on Beachcomber was a perfect way to wind down prior to our long flight home and a fantastic venue to hold our final night shindig. White Christmas was the theme, which proved to be an excellent choice as for the first time in its history, the island witnessed 12 Santa Claus, 6 reindeer, 5 fairies, a few other non-descript outfits and the amazing Pops dressed as Superman! The highlight of the evening was the Christmas party beach touch rugby match, featuring the Santa Claus & Reindeer versus the rest; sadly I cannot remember the final score? Our time on Beachcomber was both relaxing and memorable and proved to be a perfect experience to end the tour.
After returning home every member of the touring party agreed that it was an incredible tour that most of us may not have an opportunity to experience again. The combination of New Zealand with its tough rugby but very friendly atmosphere and the beauty and exotic climate of the Fijian Islands was an amazing tour for a small Station team to successfully complete. In every location visited we received an outstanding welcome and on departing incredible applause; everyone who traveled with the party can hold their heads high knowing they represented Leuchars Nomads, RAF Leuchars and The Royal Air Force in the finest possible way.