![\"Joe](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/4903373_8_articleinlinemobile_Joe_20Healy_20lifted_20in_20lineout_20vs_20Rugby_20Travel_20Academy.jp.jpeg\" "\\"Joe")
Joe Healy lifted in a lineout versus Rugby Travel Academy. Pic: Don Buckley.<\/p>\nPres are currently in Salou taking part in the Global Schools Challenge, an elite tournament which was created to \u201cshowcase the best in youth sports talent, bringing together teams from around the glove to compete,\u201d according to its bio.<\/p>\n
But Pres manager Ger Burke best describes what it\u2019s like to the school and the players to be involved.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re getting a bit of a lesson here, we\u2019re learning to survive,\u201d says Burke, who apologises for sounding a little hoarse following a busy few days in Spain, on and off the pitch.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe games are passionate, I’ll put it that way. Then there\u2019s the down time in the evening, mixing with the parents, it\u2019s been a good mix so far,\u201d he laughs, before adding how grateful he is to have so many parents join the group.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe parents\u2019 support been so overwhelming. There was about 91 of us that went for dinner last night. There\u2019s 34 of us (29 players and five coaches) and 50 plus parents.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve been remarkable, they\u2019ve organised flags\u2026 they took a bag of jerseys to wash them. The first day we washed them we had to pay but the mothers were having none of it, they took them off us so they can wash them.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s that kind of stuff we\u2019re really embracing, it\u2019s an unbelievable opportunity to make memories that these boys will have for the rest of their lives. It\u2019s been special.\u201d<\/p>\n
And after two match days in this prestigious tournament, PBC have shown they\u2019re not just competing. They\u2019re thriving.<\/p>\n
On Sunday morning, Pres faced the Southern Legion from South Africa in their opening game of the tournament and after Ronan Dillon got them on the scoreboard with an early try, Olan Healy completed the scoring in the 28-7 rout.<\/p>\n
Joe Healy lifted in a lineout versus Rugby Travel Academy. Pic: Don Buckley.<\/p>\n
In their second game of the day though Pres fell to a 19-12 loss to an excellent Oakdale Landbou side.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey would be pretty infamous for being the biggest, toughest school around. We had an absolutely almighty game against them,\u201d continued Burke.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe lost but it was an incredible match. It\u2019s been the talk of the tournament really because of the physicality, intensity, etc.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s wonderful to be able to play in games like that. It\u2019s been a fabulous and unique experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
But after a rest day on Monday, they bounced back in style on Tuesday with a win against Rugby Travel Academy before they then defeated a talented Grey High 42-0.<\/p>\n
Wednesday was another rest day, badly needed as the structure of the tournament sees the squad play a 15-minute a half fixture in the morning and a 30-minute a half fixture in the afternoon of these matchdays.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is probably the most gruelling format these boys can put themselves through,\u201d insists Burke.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese lads today (Wednesday) are sleeping, eating and getting in ice baths. That\u2019s it. That\u2019s all they\u2019re doing. It\u2019s not like it\u2019s their day off so they\u2019re down the beach or they\u2019re go karting. It\u2019s just crazy the amount of rugby they\u2019re played so far.<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/4903376_8_articleinlinemobile_Squad_20Recovery_20Cambrils_20Beach.jpg\" "\\"The")
The Pres squad recovering at Cambrils beach. Pic: Don Buckley.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s full blooded, the scrums over here are on par with AIL (All Ireland league) scrums.\u201d<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s not over yet. There\u2019s one more matchday to come on Thursday which against consists of a shorter morning match (this time against an invitational side) before the main event in the afternoon.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have the biggest challenge of the week ahead of us. I was speaking with the tournament organiser a few months ago and he wanted to make sure that the draw would have us playing Grey College,” said Burke, whose side could still win the competition with two more victories.<\/p>\n
\u201cGrey College would be\u2026. There are very few schools that are known worldwide from a rugby point of view, maybe three or four, but Grey College are certainly one.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re the best team here, they\u2019re an incredibly impressive outfit. They carry themselves well, they wear full uniform with blazers, they\u2019re a proper, traditional South African school.<\/p>\n
\u201cA litany of Springboks have come from there. They\u2019re big, they\u2019re physical, they move the ball well, they play rugby like the South Africa seniors do so it\u2019s going to be a huge challenge, but we just can\u2019t wait.<\/p>\n
\u201cWinning the tournament would obviously be great but the exposure and the experience to play a side like Oakdale say, there\u2019s nobody at home like them.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd Grey College\u2026 they\u2019re different. The games at home are fantastic because of the tradition and different aspects, but this is different.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just an absolutely incredible experience, opportunity for our boys to get stuck into these lads.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pres are currently in Salou taking part in the Global Schools Challenge, an elite tournament which was created…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":197920,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-197919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197919"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197919\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}