Following up on their sweep of the Great Northwest Challenge, the Boys select sides from the state of Washington - Varsity and Junior Varsity - will host a touring Irish side this weekend.
Ryan Field in Seatac, Wash. will see the Down High School team from Downpatrick, Northern Ireland, face off against the Loggers.

This is the end-of-year tour for Down, which spent Thursday touring Seattle on amphibious buses, seeing the University of Washington football stadium (including a Huskies spring practice), and the Space Needle. Word is they got in a practice, too.

Washington are coming off a very tough Great Northwest Challenge, where they won close games over Northern California, Hawaii, and, in the final, Southern California (they also won comfortably over Oregon).

“Our big thing is finding tough competition,” said Shelton HS loose forward Brian Nault. “We don’t look at the games thinking ‘we’re going to stomp on these boys;’ we’re looking to stick to our game plan and take it step-by-step and get into the try zone.”

“Composure is a big part of our team,” added flyhalf Johnny Reid.

“Our intensity and aggressiveness kept on rising,” added Nault about the GNC. who added that the team still needed to avoid penalties. But more than that, the team has bonded. “This is a family; it’s more than a team.”

“It’s just a great feeling to come together as a state, with boys you’ve been playing against all year, and you don’t know them, you meet them, become friends - best friends, and create a team,” added Reid.