A PARTY of 32 pupils and four staff from Yarm School were due to fly out today on a rugby tour to New Zealand.

They were leaving from Teesside airport to catch their connection through to Auckland, where they will be based for three weeks. They will also visit Palmerston North, Wellington and Christchurch before enjoying three days of relaxation in the Cook Islands on the way home.

The squad are all potential first team players and the tour has been designed to prepare them for the forthcoming season. They have all been training hard since the end of last season and two weeks ago completed a fitness test in the form of a ten-mile run on the moors around Osmotherley.

Parents, led by George Ringrow, have also been active in raising sponsorship and support for the ambitious venture. Fundraising activities included an auction of promises, a sportsmans dinner and bag-packing in local supermarkets.

Mr Ringrow said: "The support we have had from parents and from local businesses has been fantastic - they have all been keen to offer support to enable the players to experience this wonderful trip."

The tour party is being captained by 17-year-old Martyn Sanderson from Northallerton and led by the school's master in charge of rugby, Stuart Hardy.

The former West Hartlepool player is also looking forward to meeting an old acquaintance - he has arranged a fixture with Mount Albert School in Auckland, a side now coached by Dave Stead, a name well known to anyone associated with West Hartlepool during the last decade