2003 Tour of South Africa

The tour was paid for a weekly envelope at a time, handed over in the Lower School gymnasium to the 'Guvnor' and converted, via a steel-reinforced briefcase, into Tesco Vouchers. Add a dozen team bonding sessions down Merthyr Mawr, a couple of gully runs, some deep reflection sessions from Bowesy and a Saturday knee-deep in it with the Marines, and the squad was primed.

They flew out days after the famous final game on Welsh soil, where Whiskers out-jumped the GOAT at every lineout, Geraint Edwards kicked every spot kick, and co-captains Adam Whitney and Nicky Griffiths — "the body of a lamb but the heart of a lion", in Cav's words — roared the school to victory over Llandovery College.

In Cape Town it was Newlands Stadium, pin badges for the blazers, and Wynberg Boys' High. Tired of winning, the senior members of the squad collectively agreed to lose both games as a mark of respect to the hosts. At the Tygerberg township they decided to win both but keep one competitive and low-scoring; the 2nd XV duly obliged at 5-0.

In between: the Spur steakhouse chain at breakfast, lunch and dinner; Jed's biltong habit and the resulting damage to the drainage at the Breakwater Lodge; the V&A Waterfront as a nightly clubhouse; a proud day with the Goedgedacht Trust seeing where the tour's donations had gone; Table Mountain; and Langa, where children took the players' hands and walked them round the township.

The final game, north of Cape Town against Swartland High in Malmesbury, was won convincingly by both teams — a fitting end for the senior lads who had spent seven years playing together. R&R in Hermanus, a very short dip in the ocean after somebody shouted "Shark", and then the tour court, about which the judge is still not permitted to speak.