Summer might be a time to take a break from rugby, but it’s also a really good time to plan a tour for the coming HS season.

For Gonzaga HS, touring overseas has become a habit, and while getting out of the country every year may not be in a HS team’s budget, players and coaches say if you can do it, it’s worth it.

Gonzaga went to Spain using Varsity Travel, which is a Goff Rugby Report sponsor. Coach Grant Furnary said the marriage of the two organizations works well.

“They have a good understanding of what we need in terms of skills and physicality,” said Furnary. “They’ve been with us a few years so we’ve started to get a list of opponents that work for us. Varsity Travel does a really exceptional job of knowing who is coming back and where our strengths going to be.”

Their games in Spain were competitive, and useful for both sides.

“I think it’s right to say that at the youth level Spain and the USA are about even. We played the national age-grade champions and we expected to be at that level,” said Furnary. “So we played teams that are on the same level in terms of competition, but have different skills. Our players are able to see things they haven’t seen before.”

The players pose together after hearing Mass at St. Aloysius in Barcelona.

That’s all on the field. Off the field, touring with Varsity Travel has been a benefit, too. Furnary said that cultural and educational benefits to a rugby tour are important to the school adminstration,

“The Jesuit tradition means they have certain values in mind when they talk about a tour,” said Furnary. “Varsity Travel understands that and did extremely well to give our kids some tourist and cultural activities that were also appreciated by the school. In Spain, they visited Manresa, a town Saint Ignatius of Loyola stopped to pray in - the saint is the founder of the Jesuit movement - thus making is a pilgrimage location for many Catholics. 

Then there’s putting together culture and rugby. The players and the coaches are exposed to new friends through a sport they love.

“You go to Spain, Portugal, Italy, or Chile, and you get there and immediately have friends because of the sport of rugby,” said Furnary. “We went out to dinner with the guys from the Grange school in Chile and at the dinner you had guys who had played for Italy, Chile, Argentina, and some USA connections, too. There were some guys who had played in England in the age-grade teams, too. We were all together, from different cultures, together for no other reason than we were rugby coaches, and we were immediately friends. Coaches and players keep those connections through the years, and you know that if you go somewhere, you make one phone call and you’ve got a place to sleep.

“It takes a little longer for the kids to embrace it, but after the first game, they see it. It’s a hugely rewarding part of the tour.”

Touring, then, helps a team get better as a rugby team, but it provides so much more. Ask Varsity Travel how they can help you.