DORCHESTER Rugby Club Gladiators are set to embark on a tour to Montenegro to play a side from the capital city, Podgorica.

A party taken from all three of Dorchester’s senior sides will head to the Montenegrin capital, with a mix of youth and experience making up the playing squad.

This year is the 25th Gladiators tour, having started their now much vaunted travels in 1997 to Chablis.

Often, they headed to unusual locations such as: Hungary, Latvia, Bratislava, and Ljubljana.

Their finest hour was the tour to Bucharest, in 2000, where the team inadvertently took on a side from Steaua Bucharest containing many players from the Romanian national side due to a slight translation error.

READ MORE: Dorchester A 15-35 Chippenham Seconds - report

This resulted in an appearance on the Richard & Judy show, articles in many national newspapers, along with a Radio 4 interview. The game is now much fabled in history and is the last chapter of the book “Rugby’s Strangest Matches” by John Griffiths.

With the playing squad containing a number of young first-team players, club chairman Tony Foot, a veteran of many “Glads” tours, is hopeful of a win.

However, with unknown opposition whose website boasts several Montenegrin international players, the result may yet hang in the balance. One thing is for sure, more sporting memories will be made.

Along with the travelling players are numerous former players, ready to cheer the team on and impart their much sought-after advice, whether required or not.

These tour specialists will no doubt enjoy the annual event and all it offers to the full.

Meanwhile, on Saturday, May 13 a scratch Dorchester team will play one last game this term, in a charity match, against Wooden Spoon (The children’s charity of rugby) as a curtain raiser to the Hardy Half Marathon.

All senior players can then enjoy the break before pre-season training commences again in July ready for another successful campaign.