By: Milton Greenstreet

This August, the Severn River's men's side headed out on an international tour for the second time in almost two decades. Seven years in the making, this tour was initially planned for the summer of 2020, but anyone can guess what postponed the trip that summer. After rescheduling for 2023, the boys were able to hit the road in the first week of August, bound for London Heathrow. The previous international tour, the first in years, was to Ireland and had a mix of alumni and current players. It was all hands on deck to make the tour as viable as possible; the 2023 UK tour did not have such number problems. Severn River travelled with 41 players (a few alumni in the mix, but mostly active players) and had three competitive matches scheduled over the 10-day trip. This was a proper international tour.

The boys hit the road on a coach bus as soon as they touched down at Heathrow and high-tailed it straight to Cardiff. Having landed on a Friday with a match on Saturday morning, the group took it easy on their first night out in the Welsh capital...only pissing off the hostel owner, staying out until 4am and nearly drinking the town out of Jagermeister. After a proper night out in the town in Wales where all the craziness happens (think New Orleans, but if it happened to be in West Virginia), the boys pulled it together early and headed straight to Canton RFC on the west side of town for their first match of the tour. It was a close match, Severn eventually falling to Canton by two tries. During the match, Mike "Butters" Gibson, Erik "Punchy" Dronberger and Uncle Larry Grassi all crossed the whitewash for the fellas from Annapolis. The weather was terrific for a rugby match and Canton's hospitality was just as lovely. This was the only team on the tour with whom Severn didn't have a previous contact - essentially, a rugby blind date. But the gentlemen from the capital were wonderful hosts, treating us to lunch and beers in the clubhouse after the match. River won the boat races inside, but lost the leg wrestling competition. After the short party with Canton, the group moved on to bigger plans in downtown Cardiff - catching the Wales versus England match in Wales' national Principality Stadium in their Canadian Tuxedos. The denim was a heavy choice with some light rain, but they were a big hit with most of the Welsh fans (at least they were told that's why they were being laughed at). Along with the international match, Wales' own Tom Jones was having a concert at the castle in downtown Cardiff that night. It turns out SR stopped into town on the busiest night of the year in the Welsh capital. The boys made sure to hit the town as hard as they did the first night.

On Sunday, the men reached their second destination, Aberystwyth, a small college town on the western Atlantic coast of Wales. Sunday was a recovery day - sightseeing, golfing, or an impromptu jam session with Better than Butters at a local pub. The guys took over the small bar and made a few Welsh friends along the way. After a bit of an early night, the boys retired to their rooms at the local university (their best accommodations of the trip) to prepare for their match against the hometown team the next evening. Aberystwyth is a small town, so news of an American touring side playing the local men's club was big news and there was a decent sized crowd of 300-400 people to greet the boys in green and blue at 6:15pm that night. Unfortunately for Severn, Aberystwyth is in the top flight of amateur rugby in Wales and they showed it on Monday night, winning comfortably 82-0. The worst loss Severn had had in years, the boys were taught a few lessons from the Welsh side that night, from excellent offloading, to consistent and thunderous tackles. To their credit, the Aberystwyth boys treated us as well postgame as they played in the actual match: beers in the clubhouse and a lovely chicken tikka masala served by the players from Aberystwyth.  Most of the fellas voted this the best meal in Wales up to that point. The female president of Aberystwyth (the first in amateur Welsh rugby!) gave a lovely speech after dinner and presented team captain Jake Davis with an awesome sculpture of the Welsh Red Dragon as a gift. Then, the Severn boys rallied the troops, threw on their Hawaiians and went out on the town. Other than SR's UK tour spirit animal, Mike Divver, being carried out of the bar against his will, they had a lovely night out on the town without any bumps in the road.

After leaving Aberystwyth, the tour stopped in Swansea for a quick respite before continuing on to England. Swansea was a mixed bag of football, minigolf, Jagerbombs, rain, a training session, and some bedbugs. On to Bath.

Bath, England lived up to its lovely reputation. The architecture, the food, the people... everything was a hit with the guys. Still licking their wounds from the tough loss to Aberystwyth and the rough stay in Swansea, the stop in Bath was a vacation within a vacation... good food, roman baths, and a geothermal spa. The guys spent so much money at a local nightclub the first night, they were invited back the following night with some free bottles of bubbly for our troubles.

The last leg of the tour was in London. The boys were flagging a bit, sapped of energy after a long week of rugby and rugby-related hijinks, but they managed to get up for the last match of the tour under the lights against East London RFC on Friday night. The team's resident Englishman, prop James Nutland, came to join us for the match. Severn was also supported by the only fan in town for the match, as former Head Coach Dave Egar flew in across the Irish Sea to root for his old pupils. By contrast, East London's fans came out in full force. Armed with all kinds of shit talk, a huge stereo to be played during our lineouts and an enormous megaphone, SR was definitely in enemy territory. The match went back and forth, with East London going out to an early lead, Severn fighting back to take the lead, only to relinquish it in the last moments of the game. There were some bright spots for the blue and green: four tries, including a blinder of a finish from Butters Gibson, beating two on his own to touch down. John "Gio" Giovingo and Punchy Dronberger found the try zone as well. The last try, put in by Sam "Hot Pants" Leone, via a deft kick assist on a counter attack by back row Milton Greenstreet. Dronberger also had a good night off the tee, with 3/4 conversions and a penalty from the field. For all the ferocious offense and fanfare from East London, their hospitality was just as intense. Our connection with East London was developed from SR's previous trips to Ampthill, England. Coach Pete Freeman's personal connection with Ampthill led us to contact Alister Gonse, son of a former Ampthill player and friend of Pete's, who spent a good chunk of his career at East London. Not only helping us arrange the match in London, Alister was honored for reaching a large number of caps with the London Club. After the ceremony, East London Chairman Simon Crick had a few lovely words for Severn and presented head coaches Pete Freeman and Mike Posko with gifts. After a few words from the coaches, the Friday night drink up kicked into full gear and the boys tucked in. Tables were broken, songs were sung and a 15-man boat race was won by the good guys. Severn could have headed back to central London and lived it up, but instead, heeded the advice and continuing hospitality from East London and took their rompers on the tube further into East London. After closing down the club's sponsor bar (who stayed open an hour past close to accommodate us) a good chunk of the Severn team took East London up on the next invite to a house party further East into the burbs, stayed out until Sunrise and had an absolute blast. It's safe to say Severn River officially has a brother club down the road from Big Ben. After all that craziness, a few drinks were had on the following Saturday, bags were packed and the boys headed home. It was a long, arduous and wonderful tour. The only question discussed on the bus ride back from Dulles that Sunday night was, Where are we headed next?