Weekly Update - Winning Weekend - Week 3
A winning weekend in so many ways, with both the 1st and 2nd XVs beating Marlow and Milton Keynes on Saturday followed by a comprehensive victory for our Colts yesterday over Chinnor. However with the sun out the club shined in so many other ways.
State of the Art Pitch:
Firstly the pitch looked amazing for our first home match of the season and a huge thanks to the ground staff for this and to many volunteers who helped move the water hoses around the pitch this summer.
Pre-Match Lunch:
We had a superb lunch with our new incoming President, Mr Mike Hall, entertaining all our 60 guests with some cracking one liners.
U8s:
The U8s had a match day experience, training with senior players pre-match, with Colts Coach and 1st XV player Rhys Amos. They then joined 1st XV captain Henry Revill for a pre-match speech in the changing room and then provided a guard of honour to welcome both sides and officials on to the pitch. All the boys and girls appeared to love the whole experience and interactions.
New Match Day Programme:
We have also introduced a new match day programme, generously sponsored by The Taps and its first addition may well be up for some comedy awards. We are looking for some input from a mini or junior player - why they enjoy rugby, favourite players etc - anyone keen please let Rhys Amos know.
Rugby Results:
On the actual rugby we had an excellent win against local rivals Marlow, 27-12. We gave them two interception tries in the first half but the key moment of the game was undoubtedly when we were down to 12 men due to three yellow cards in quick succession, and yet we managed to keep them scoreless during that period. A huge defensive effort which bodes well for the rest of the season. Joe Thomas secured the win with the try of the day and man of the match was awarded to Stan Ridout, who had a fine game at scrum half.
The 2s, also at home, managed to beat Milton Keynes 1st team 14-12. We had a number of returning students playing and the strength in depth is definitely there to see. There were 25 players across both squads who have come through the mini and junior ranks, which is a fantastic statistic.
Finally the Colts had a dominating performance against Chinnor on Saturday, winning 59-5. Another great demonstration of the strength of our youth system, especially against Chinnor whose first team play in the Championship.
This Coming Weekend:
This Saturday the first team are away at Windsor, kick off at 3pm. Also both the WRWC semi finals will be shown live at the club, NZ vs Canada on Friday evening and England vs France on Saturday afternoon.
On Sunday we have our welcome BBQ for all mini and junior players and parents. Additionally Hawkinsports are on site selling kit. Our secondhand kit sale is on Sunday week.
Noel