On the back of a successful colts tour to South Africa, Eastwood are looking towards the young players at their club to push the Woodies back into premiership contention in the years ahead. 

Head coach Dave Telfer travelled with a group of 22 players for a three-match tour of South Africa in late September, early October and couldn’t speak highly enough of the experience. 

“It was an incredible trip and we ticked off a lot of bucket list stuff, the former colts, now grade coach told Rugby News. 

“It was great to get back to and enjoy an old-school rugby tour and we’ve already started planning a whole club tour for the end of 2026 on the back of this trip. 

“South Africa is just a rugby-mad nation and they were genuinely so happy to have people visit their country. 

“For any rugby people, I can’t stress enough how much you’ll enjoy a trip over there.” 

Eastwood won two of their three matches overseas, beating Winterton Rugby Club and the Sharks Rugby Academy and falling short against Western Province premiers Hamilton Rugby Club. 

“You can’t underestimate the powers of touring,” Telfer said. 

“It’s hard to do these days with the Shute Shield season being so demanding but it’s pretty rare to get to spend two weeks together as a group, growing and forming relationships. We’ve already seen the positive impact it’s had when those players came back and joined preseason.”

Eastwood were disappointed with their 2024 campaign, missing the first grade playoffs for the first time since 2008. 

“A lot of people have reminded me of that over the last few months,” Telfer said. 

“In saying that, we lost 21 players with first grade experience at the end of 2023 and I probably didn’t think that number was as big as it was. 

“But we’ve had that season now and it’s important that we take the next step forward and push our younger players to reach the standards of the really good sides before them. 

“To do that, we’ve got to be aligned right across the club and I think we are heading into 2025. 

“We’ve been very specific in the direction we’re heading and we’re all aligned on that right across the club.”

Following some uncertainty around where the Woodies would play matches in 2025, ahead of their move to a new home base at Castle Hill, Telfer said the players would restart training after the Christmas break at their spiritual home, with an official announcement expected in the coming days. 

“We’ll be back training at TG Millner from January 6 and we’re excited to know that we’ve got one more season there. 

“We’ve got a few ideas already about how we can give the place the appropriate farewell and we’ll announce them in the new year.”