Programme v Walsall by Ray Todd

Programme ÂŁ2

Saturday 23rd October 2010 Midlands 1 West

Old Laurentian RFC v Walsall RFC

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Welcome to Fenley Field Welcome to friends old and new to Fenley Field for the fifth home game of what is already proving to be an intriguing and competitive season. We are delighted to welcome Walsall RFC here today. We last met Walsall in the old Midlands 1 (now National 3 Midlands) back in the 2003/04 season. Also here today are Spartans 3rds, for a Warwickshire League 3 game – we are pleased to be welcoming them as well. We are also pleased to welcome today’s match referees – Robin Oliver for the 1st XV match; and Hugh Smith, who will be taking charge of the 3rd XV league game. It’s good to be back in Midlands One, the level in the league structure to which we feel we belong. With four games won of the seven played so far, we have made a reasonable start. It could have been five from seven as we had every chance of beating Whitchurch here last month but failed to take the opportunities presented and went down to that penalty in the dying seconds. That was followed up with comfortable wins against Worcester Wanderers and Stratford before last week’s encounter against Sutton Coldfield, our toughest assignment so far. We came out of that with credit and were justifiably disappointed not to come away with a losing bonus point, as our second half performance had at least earned that. So we can face the rest of the season with confidence knowing that we are capable of holding our own with most of the teams in the league and, no doubt, will upset a few along the way! We are not going to repeat last season’s winning run of thirteen matches in present league company. For certain, though, you will see some attractive and compelling rugby played at Fenley Field and all the grounds we visit over the course of this season. Reiner Ferguson has been as busy as ever in continuing to take responsibility for house and ground maintenance and my particular thanks are due to him and the numerous club members who have worked hard to ensure that our facilities are in good order, with massive support, gratefully received, from John Tull and Hydrex. Enjoy the game and your day with us.

Bill Bill Wallis

When only the best will do

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Today’s Visitors

Walsall RFC .Walsall RFC was established in 1922, just three years after OLs, and since the advent of leagues in the 80s has enjoyed consistent success to earn their status as one of the Midlands leading clubs below the top level of the game. The club crest looks very familiar, incorporating as it does Warwickshire’s bear and ragged staff as well as the Staffordshire knot – perhaps our guests can explain the history behind this combination today. The arrival of the leagues and cups in the 1980's opened many doors for Walsall. Promotion to the national leagues was won in 1988/89 to be followed in 1994/95 with further promotion as champions of National Division 5 North. The following season Walsall gained promotion to National Division 3. Then disaster struck and Walsall filled the last relegation place after finishing fourth from the bottom. Season 2006/07 saw Walsall relegated to Midlands 2 West after 6 seasons struggling to hold on to Midlands 1 status. Last season they finished in third place in the league. League success has been matched by a very impressive record in cups and the club has won the Staffordshire Cup no less than ten times in the last twenty five years. The writer can confirm from direct experience, following a spell playing for Lichfield some years ago, that rivalry between the leading Staffordshire clubs is intense. In those days, as well as Lichfield and Walsall, the other two making up this band were Burton and Stafford. It didn’t matter what happened in the remainder of the fixture list, matches against the other three were the ones to win! So it would certainly have hurt Walsall’s pride to have lost their earlier league match to Lichfield by 27-28, in an encounter that was obviously very tight and tense. They arrive today in 11th position in the league, five below OLs but only five points behind. The clubs last met in season 2003/04, our one and only season in the old Midlands 1. We drew 25-25 at home but went down heavily, by 7-49, when we travelled to Walsall for the return fixture. All the signs suggest a close run affair today.

Next 1st XV Matches Saturday 30th October v Bournville (away), League, ko 3.00pm Saturday 6th November v Southam (away) Warwickshire Cup, ko 2.15pm Saturday 13th November v Banbury (home), League, ko 2.15pm

Whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Who at OLs President

Duncan Snook

Chairman

Bill Wallis

Secretary

Alan Willis

Treasurer

Keith Baxter

Chairman, Playing Committee

Colin Wiles

Fixture Secretary

Mick Roberts

Commercial Manager House & Grounds and Gym

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Leah Hope

Membership Treasurer & 200 Club

James Melvin

Web Manager & Press Officer

Ray Todd

Club Coaches

Mark Palmer, Denzil Evans Chris Wade Neal Leeming Adam Mitchell

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1st XV Match Report Midlands 1 West – Saturday 16th October Sutton Coldfield 31 - Old Laurentians 13 Laurentians fought well throughout but came off second best when going down to a very good Sutton Coldfield outfit who remain in second place in Midlands One West after this win over the Bilton side. The home side took their scoring chances well when they were presented and defended strongly to keep OLs at bay when the visitors turned up the pressure. After Denzil Evans had opened OL’s account with a penalty, they held the initiative for the first fifteen minutes but were struggling to satisfy a pernickety referee with their scrummaging. Following the third free kick awarded against them in quick succession Sutton moved the ball right and a kick through OL’s defence by Groom was followed up strongly by fellow centre Raistrick, who won the race for the touchdown. Poulton converted and the home side were ahead by 7-3. OLs went back on the attack and after several phases of play launched Scott Wiles through the Sutton defence. But the move was halted by a high tackle on the full back and Evans kicked the resultant penalty to bring the score back to 76 after twenty minutes. Sutton progressively increased the pressure on OLs and after thirty minutes, following the second of two penalty lineouts close to OL’s line, their forwards drove strongly to put number 8 Harper over for a try, Poulton converting for a 146 lead. OLs pack were working well as a unit but the Sutton eight were now competing strongly and several strong drives by Laurentians didn’t produce the quick possession they needed to launch their backs effectively. But they were every bit the equals of their counterparts in the scrums, despite the referee’s frequent interventions. In his first full game for the 1st team, scrum half Luke Harris was performing tidily behind the pack and dealt very capably with some occasionally wayward possession. Evans came close to setting up a try for his side after breaking blind in the Sutton 22 but the home side’s defence held out under strong pressure. Then Sutton struck decisively as half time loomed and after a clever kick downfield into empty space after OL’s Wiles was caught up in a maul, they worked the ball left for Miller to exploit some uncharacteristically poor tackling and go over. Poulton converted and Sutton reached the break with a comfortable 21-6 lead. For the first fifteen minutes of the second period neither side gained the upper hand until Sutton struck once again when their lively scrum half Ward touched down to finish off a dangerous attack that again stretched OLs defensively and lifted the home side into what appeared to be a winning lead at 26-6. /Continued overleaf

1st XV match report v Sutton Coldfield (continued) But OLs came back strongly and had the better of the closing stages, a prolonged attacking spell reaping its reward when Danny Murch put Chris le Poidevin in for a try after thirty minutes, Evans converting to reduce the margin to 26-13. In the final minutes OLs attacked the Sutton line again, looking for the try that would give them, with the conversion, a losing bonus point. But a pass went astray as the line beckoned, Sutton won possession to work their way up field and outflank OLâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s defence for Miller to go over just seconds before the final whistle. A disappointing finish to a game in which the home side were worth their win, although OLs were entitled to feel that they should have come out of it with more. Three key players, prop Ollie Cowley, number 8 Carl Adams and fly half Denzil Evans, each had to retire early with injury, raising concerns about their availability for this weekendâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s visit of Walsall. But on the plus side, it gave Danny Orr and Tom Gleghorn the opportunity to come on as replacements and make their first appearances for the team this season.

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Sundry Stuff Points Bonanza The three games played by OLs on 9th October yielded 189 points for and a mere 17 against on an afternoon when no less than 28 tries were scored by the boys in green, maroon and gold. Paul Amor topped the try scoring list with 5 as the thirds bulldozed their Leamington counterparts. The seconds swamped Coventry Welsh in their Warwickshire 2nd XV Cup tie and Jamie Brightwell went over for 4 touchdowns to add to the 2 he had notched on his seasonal debut the previous week. A mere 3 apiece were recorded by Grant Inch (1sts), Jeff Fowler and Howard Harris (2nds) and Ben Roberts (3rds), Ben adding 6 conversions for a personal tally of 27 points. Accolade for the top points scorer went to Danny Orr (2nds) with 33 points – Danny inexcusably missed one of the 15 conversions he attempted but made up for it by adding a try! It is reported that there was a flourishing trade in jugs, both at Leamington and Fenley Field. The try scoring feats, both individual and in total, must have come close to setting a club record for one afternoon’s games. Answers on a post card, please, to….. Grinch denied his hat-trick? Grant Inch must have thought that his hat- trick of tries for the 1sts would earn him the headlines, but the Rugby Observer denied him that (not to mention Messrs Amor, Brightwell et al!) The Observer seem to feel it necessary to make a point to us amateur hacks by changing a phrase here, adding a word or two there and generally meddling with reports submitted. So they opened the report of the Stratford game by crediting Troy Owen with a hat-trick

– and then adding the headline ‘Owen stars for OLs’. No question, Troy did star with 2 well taken tries, but Grinch grabbed the trio! As if to rub salt into the wound, they reported Grant’s third try thus: ‘…….allowed Inch to complete his hat-trick to complete the scoring for Newbold ‘(!!??) Bernai declines to join the try fest We quote another gem from the pen of Tim Chambers in his report of the 3rds game against Leamington: ‘….stand-in 6 Burnett found himself with the whole, clear 60 metres of try line in front of him and 10 short yards to cross it. In light of this scenario, quite why he chose to run directly into the only defender between him and the line will remain a mystery for as long as the game of rugby is played.’ What would the Observer have made of that? Probably that Burnie had run 60 metres to score! News on the injury front Simon Bayliss was scheduled to start training again this week after the hairline fracture in the leg that he suffered inside forty minutes of the first league game. We haven’t done too badly without our record breaking try scorer, but it will be good to have him back! Ben O’Riordan is making progress after his knee injury and is still a few weeks away from a return. But it might be some time before we see Matt Miller back in action as, subject to final tests, he has been diagnosed with Addison’s disease. Matt has started a course of steroid hormone replacement and the condition is controllable with regular medication. We wish Matt a full and speedy recovery and look forward to seeing him at Fenley Field before too long.

Calendar of Events, 2010/11 25th Sept. 5th Nov. 4th Dec. 12th Dec. 24th Dec. 1st January 22nd January 19th Feb. 12th March 9th April May (tbc)

VP’s Luncheon, 1.00pm Bonfire Night Snail Racing Night Ladies Committee – ‘Christmas Indulgence’ Kids’ Christmas party Inter Club game and party VPs Away Day to Stratford Captains Day Sponsors Day Ladies day Club Dinner

Earlier Match Action Midlands 1 West - Saturday 9th October Old Laurentians 34 – Stratford upon Avon 17 Laurentians cruised to a comfortable victory against a Stratford side who never gave up on their task but who were outgunned in all departments by a thoroughly efficient performance from the Bilton side. Based on another dominant display by their pack, OLs kept the ball moving at every opportunity and the pace and passing skills of their backs regularly left Stratford defenders clutching at shadows. Wings Troy Owen and Grant Inch displayed clinical finishing to grab all five tries scored, Owen going over for two and Inch claiming a hat trick of touch downs. The wing men prospered from the dominance established by OL’s midfield trio of Denzil Evans at 10 and centres Danny Murch and Iain Wallis, who constantly threatened the Stratford defence with the ball in hand. And full back Scott Wiles gave a fine demonstration of his running skills, attacking from deep with pace and power. Inch started the move for the first try after fielding a kick deep in OL’s half and finding Wiles with a long pass infield, the full back scything through the first line of defence. Murch carried the move on strongly and when he was held the pack fed quick ball to Evans. With OL’s backs lined up on the left, he lifted a kick of pinpoint accuracy to the right wing, where Inch gathered the ball to go over for his first try, Evans converting for 70 after just six minutes. Minutes later, Evans added a penalty after Paul Willis stole a Stratford ball in the lineout and Stratford were caught offside scrambling back to cover. Then from a set scrum on half way after thirteen minutes, Evans dummied before delivering a perfect pass to Wallis at pace, The centre broke through two tackles before handing on to Owen, the left wing running in from the 22 to score and lift the lead to 15-0. Stratford were struggling for quality possession and OLs were dominating territorially and It took the visitors thirty minutes to penetrate OLs 22 for the first time, but they came away with a penalty kicked by stand off Jake White As half time loomed, a beautifully timed pass by Evans found Wiles at full pace and the full back carved through the defence to find Owen on hand, the wing sprinting over for his second try. Evans added the goal points for a lead of 22-3 at the break. Hooker Mark Todd was making a welcome first appearance of the season and had come through it well when he was replaced by Dom Hammond after ten minutes of the second half. With twenty minutes of the half gone, Luke Harris, on as a replacement for Richard Parker at scrum half, did a great job to retrieve poor possession and turn it into attack. The ball was moved sweetly to Owen and the wing made good ground before passing back inside where Inch gathered to go over for his second try, Evans converting for 29-3. Stratford hit back with a well worked try of their own, wing forward Neil Shepherd up in support to finish off a move down their left with a try, White’s conversion making it 29-10. But OLs hit back with a superb try that started from a quickly taken penalty deep in their 22. The ball was moved swiftly right where Scott Wiles scythed through the Stratford defence on a sixty metre run before giving the scoring pass to Inch for the winger’s hat trick try. Another ambitious counter attack attempt by OLs foundered when the ball went loose and was hacked over the try line for Stratford’s Shepherd to win the race for the touchdown and his second try, White converting to bring the scoring to and end and herald the final whistle.

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Duncan Snook

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Grantley Jenkins, Pete Higgs, Mike Lewis, Geoff Morris, Mike Pawsey, Ray Roberts, Terry Wooton, Vice Presidents

Nigel Appleby

Pat Dunn

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Rob Smith

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Simon Bayliss

Tim Fawcett

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Malcolm Blair

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Kevin Mahon

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Arnie Bottomley

Alan Foster

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Matt Brinklow

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Keith Tilley

Anthony Burborough

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Graham New

Ray Todd

Adrian Canale-Parola

David Hannah

William Nolan

Suzette Tonks

Jerry Cahill

Keith Harris

Andre Nutter

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Wayne Oliver

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Roger Cole

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Paul Dempster

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14 Grant Inch 13 Danny Murch

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12 Iain Wallis

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Saturday 23rd October, 2010

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Midlands One West

Walsall RFC Player

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Chris Mould 15 Paul Naylor 14 Richard Towe 13 Steve Halbert (C) 12 Gavin Jones 11 Matt Wood 10

In charge of todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s game is Robin Oliver, of the Warwickshire Society.. We extend a warm welcome to him, along with our thanks for taking charge of the game.

Liam Lloyd

Ian Bradshaw

Jimmy Scott

Jody Lane

Alex Woodward

Nick Field

Rob Tierney

For OLs Physio: James Neal

Ben Nilsen

Touch Judge: Gary Thompson

Rod Dickson

Mark Reeves 16 Dan Boulger 17 Tim Hucknall 18

As always we expect you to treat him, and his decisions, as you would expect to be treated yourself.

League Tables Midlands 1 West Team

Pts

Dudley Kingswinford

241

164

Sutton Coldfield

261 122

139

Old Halesonians

209 160

Bournville

231 108

123

Old Laurentians

163 127

Lichfield

205 224

-19

Whitchurch

114 101

Camp Hill

154 172

-18

Nuneaton Old Eds

132 195

-63

Worcester Wanderers

133 147

-14

Walsall

208 207

Stratford Upon Avon

173 204

-31

Banbury

114 250 -136

Leamington

333 -244

Todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s League Fixtures Dudley Kingswinford

Lichfield

Leamington

Camp Hill

Nuneaton Old Eds

Banbury

Old Halesonians

Bournville

Old Laurentians

Walsall

Stratford Upon Avon

Whitchurch

Worcester Wanderers

Sutton Coldfield

The Midlands One Scene Dudley Kingswinford continue to lead the way and maintained their 100% record against Camp Hill last week, but only by the narrow margin of eight points. Camp Hill had travelled to Lichfield the previous week and come away with a win – they could prove to be the dark horses of this league. Sutton Coldfield stay in second spot after their bonus point win over OLs; and keeping third place are Old Halesonians, who came away from Walsall with the win points. Bournville leapfrogged OLs to move into fourth place after their comfortable looking success over Nuneaton Old Eds. But Whitchurch suffered their second defeat in succession, going down at home to Lichfield, a good win for the Staffordshire side The previous week Whitchurch had suffered a reverse at Worcester Wanderers, but the latter slipped to a slightly surprising defeat at Stratford last weekend. Stratford are beginning to put some daylight between themselves and the bottom two, who met in a basement battle last Saturday. Banbury came through that encounter against Leamington for their first win this season, leaving the Spa men as the only side without a win and with just one bonus point to their name so far. League Results – 16th October

Banbury

22 Leamington

Bournville

13 Nuneaton Old Edwardians

Camp Hill

21 Dudley Kingswinford

Stratford upon Avon

Sutton Coldfield

13 Old Laurentians

Walsall

27 Old Halesonians

Whitchurch

27 Lichfield

Worcester Wanderers

League results – 9th October

Dudley Kingswinford 58

74 Bournville

Lichfield 23

37 Camp Hill

Nuneaton Old Edwardians 31

28 Walsall

Old Halesonians 26

29 Sutton Coldfield

Old Laurentians 34

17 Stratford upon Avon

Worcester Wanderers 15

Leamington 8

Banbury

Whitchurch

Top.Points Scorers, Season 20010/11 All teams (10 points and above) Player

Tries

Convs

Pens

Drops

Tot Pts

Denzil Evans

Ben Roberts

Danny Orr

Grant Inch

Jamie Brightwell

Gary Hammond

Troy Owen

Howard Harris

Paul Amor

John Bean

Jeff Fowler

Alex Smith

Rich Foxon

Steve Pike

Danny Murch

Dom Hammond

Ricky Reed

Marc Owen

Recent Photo Action Stratford, Coventry Welsh and Sutton Coldfield

Glenn Todd in the lineout, v Stratford

Troy Owen touches down against Stratford

One of Jamie Brightwellâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s four v Coventry Welsh

Danny Orr kicks a goal v Coventry Welsh

Luke Harris attempts a charge down v Sutton Coldfield

Danny Murch hands on to Jabba for his try at Sutton

Photos by Ray Todd You can see all of the OLs photos by visiting www.raytodd.jalbum.net

The Local Scene Rugby Lions must win the games against their fellow strugglers in National 2 North to stand a chance of survival this season, but went down 7-35 to Morley last weekend, one of the group at the bottom end of the league. Today they entertain Kendal, another must win game for them, followed by an away fixture at Harrogate, two more of the basement clubs. Nuneaton lost a 36-53 thriller at home to a Fylde team without Jason Robinson, who only turns out in home games for the Lancashire club. The scene is set for a real battle on November 13th when Nuns entertain Lions! Nuneaton play Manchester before then so could face Rugby having already overtaken them in the table. Hinckley remain without a win and are second from bottom of the parallel league, National 2 South. Their upcoming fixtures don’t offer much hope of breaking this sequence. In National 3 Midlands, Kenilworth broke their duck with a first win for the season, coming through 30-17 against Sheffield Tigers on 9th October. But they came unstuck in the Warwickshire derby last weekend, Broadstreet taking the win points with a 35-22 success. The victory propelled Street to the top of the table as Longton lost their 100% record at Luton on the same day. n Midlands 3 East (South) the top two clashed when Long Buckby met Rugby St Andrews on 9th October, Buckby claiming the win points with a 19-5 success, Buckby stay on top but the loss pushed Saints down to fourth spot. Two weeks ago, Newbold lost their home game against league leaders Upton on Severn in Midlands 3 West (South), going down by 14-27 to slip to sixth place. The national cups took over for clubs from level 7 down last Saturday and Newbold progressed to the third round of the Senior Vase with a 19-5 success over Northampton Casuals, who lie towards the bottom of Midlands 3 East (South). Rugby St Andrews travelled to Yardley and District in the same competition and despite being held 33-33 after extra time, were awarded the win as the away side, both teams having registered an identical scoring pattern. Also in the Senior Vase, Southam went down at home by 9-10 to Bedford Swifts, a result which clears the way for our Warwickshire Cup clash with them on November 6th. In the Intermediate Cup, 2nd round, the big surprise was a very rare defeat for Dunlop, who travelled to Aston Old Edwardians and lost 28-6. Lutterworth travelled to Old Saltleians in the same competition and went down by 10-6 – Old Eds and Salts are currently first and second in Midlands 2 West (North), both with 100% league records. Barkers Butts rather lamely pulled out of their tie against Stoke on Trent in the Intermediate Cup, but they didn’t benefit as the reinforced second team they sent to play OLs seconds still went down heavily – see James Melvin’s report of the game in this programme.

Seasons Past – 2003/04 The second in a series of flashbacks, this week featuring 2003/04 League Action OLs were competing in the ‘old’ Midlands The season was the first (and only!) in One (now national 3 Midlands) in 2003/04 which we charged for entry at the gate (as but chose the worst possible time to win distinct from just selling programmes) and promotion to that league with four teams Malcolm Blair organised this. being relegated to it from National 3. We The Players were probably the only club in the league The regular 1st XV half backs were Ricky that didn’t harbour an ambition to be Reed and Denzil Evans, with Dave promoted to the national leagues. The club Middleton standing in for Reedo on a only succeeded in winning two league number of occasions. Outside them you games all season, beating Luton (the only would regularly have seen Iain Wallis, Ade side to finish below us) and Kettering (the Cleaver, Matt Brown, Dave Wallis, Grant shock of the season, as they were riding Inch, Shane Betts and, towards the end of high in second place at the time!) The other the season, that arch finisher Charlie result of note was a 25-25 draw with Turney. Gary Hammond was a permanent Walsall, on October 4th 2003, the last time fixture at hooker and, according to the that today’s opponents visited Fenley Field. records, played with 11 different props, We had three goes at beating Broadstreet, Jason King being the most regular. Paul twice in the league and once in the Willis and Lawrence Sherriff locked the Warwickshire Cup, but failed in all three. scrum for most of the season and the The last was a narrow 7-11 defeat in the normal back row was Chris Wade, Dave final league game of the season. Bedford Longrigg and Gary Smith, Carl Adams Athletic finished as champions.and coming into the picture as the season progressed. In all, some 46 players Kettering as runners up. appeared in the 1st team. The Personalities Geoff Walton was President and Mick The Points Scorers Warwick was Chairman in 2003/04, Alan Denzil Evans finished as leading points Willis was in his umpteenth year as scorer with 151 – no mean feat in such a supreme, Dave Secretary and Dave Longrigg was season. That poacher st Treasurer (as well as being a regular in the Longrigg topped the 1 XV try list with 8, 1st XV). Ricky Reed was 1st XV skipper, Ted closely followed by Shane Betts, with Gary Wallis held the reins of the 2nds (although Hammond in third – he hasn’t lost the knack he was called into action for the 1sts very either! Charlie Turney finished as the club’s rd regularly) and Stuart Burnett was 3 team leading try scorer with 18, spread between captain. The coaches were Stu Birch and the three teams – Charlie has always known where the line is! Gary Teasdale.

More Stuff Sutton on the make? On arriving at Sutton Coldfield’s ground last week, we were asked to shell out £4.00 each for a programme. Fair enough, we thought, but a bit pricey – and there wasn’t much of it! Then reading the small print at the bottom, we spotted: ‘Members £2.00, Non-members £4.00’ For the last bit, read ‘Visiting Supporters’!

If you want a job doing…….! If you were near the OL’s technical area during the game against Whitchurch, you may probably have heard Dave Longrigg’s magisterial tones asking everyone else there to ‘go and clear that dog shit near the 22 line, would you?’ In turn, everyone ignored him. So in the end Plummy was left with one option – do it yourself!

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2nd XV Match Report Warwickshire League 1 – Saturday 16th October Old Laurentian 2nd XV 42 - Barkers Butts 2nd XV 0 The second team kept up their unbeaten start to the season putting in their best st performance so far. Having pulled out of the scheduled 1 team Intermediate Cup game against Stoke-on-Trent, Barkers sent a strong team to Fenley Field and gave Laurentians their sternest test of the season, with the match being much tighter than the scoreline might suggest. OL’s started very brightly, with the second row of Edwards and Ette clearing rucks well, enabling the home team to penetrate deep into the opposition 22, drawing a penalty for killing the ball. This was kicked into the corner and the pack powerfully drove over the line, with Hammond showing all his experience to get his hands on the ball to touch down, converted by Roberts. The powerful Barkers front row were making OLs work hard in the scrums and it was a further quarter of an hour before the next score came. Roberts calmly slotting a close range penalty. Barkers best move of the game saw the ball smartly played through the backs, spreading the ball only for the winger to drop the ball in the act of scoring. After this, any further opportunities were snuffed out with some excellent defending. Richard Foxon made an eye-catching return to the side, playing at number eight in his first start of the season. The opposition weren’t keen on tackling the barrel chested Laurentian who produced a powerful run to touch-down shortly before half time. With the conversion missed, the half-time score stood at 15-0. The second half saw the home team step up the pace. Man of the match Reeve was solid in the scrum and showed up well in open play, although wasted an opportunity to score when he pulled the ball back despite being over the line. Smith once again showed his pace in the openside position, streaking away from close to the halfway line to touch down under the posts for a converted try. Roberts looked very dangerous, beating defenders each time he ran the ball back from the fullback position, but had to share ten minutes in the sin-bin with a Barkers player after trying to separate some of the bigger boys. Ted Wallis and Jamie Brightwell both looked classy in midfield, with the latter scoring from a perfectly timed run. The conversion was scored by Pike, who frequently showed a cultured right boot, chipping the ball behind the Barkers defence. Continuing where he left off in the first half, Foxon picked up the ball from the base of the scrum, diving over in the corner as defenders shifted out of his way. This was followed by a score out wide for Lampard, who had previously shown good composure to clear his lines well. With five minutes to go, Foxon completed his hat-trick. A set move was arranged with scrum half Reed, only for the 8 to ignore the instructions to cross the line. The most pleasing aspect of the game was the clean-sheet, achieved following some hard work in defence and the side looks capable of causing problems for any second team in the county. Report by James Melvin

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2nd & 3rd XV â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Fixtures & Results 2

3 XV

Sept

F Wellesbourne

TBA

Sept

L Newbold II

TBA

Sept

L Earlsdon II

TBA

Sept

F Leicester Lions III

TBA

Oct

L Stratford II

Oct

L Barkers Butts II

Oct

F Nuneaton Old Eds II

Spartans III

Oct

L Leamington II

Kenilworth III

Nov

F St Andrews II

Newbold III

Nov

L Broadstreet III

Nuneaton Old Eds III

Nov

L Spartans II

Sutton Coldfield III

Nov

Dec

Cov Welsh (Wks Cup)

Shipston III

LeamingtonIII

Harbury II

TBA L Newbold II

St Andrews III

Earlsdon III

H A

Dec

L Earlsdon II

Nuneaton Old Eds III

Dec

F Keresley II

TBA

Dec

Jan

L Stratford II

INTER CLUB GAME Kenilworth III

Jan

L Barkers Butts II

Spartans III

Jan

L Leamington II

Harbury II

Jan Feb Feb

29 5 12

F Keresley II L Broadstreet III L Spartans II

A H A

St Andrews III Shipston III Leamington III

H A H

Feb

F Nuneaton Old Eds II

Newbold III

Feb

F Rugby Welsh I

Southam III

Mar

Dunlop II

Mar

F Leicester Lions III

Mar

F St Andrews II

Apr

TBA

Apr

TBA

Apr

TBA

Apr

TBA

TBA TBA

Earlsdon III Sutton Coldfield III

A H

TBA Southam II

Key: League (Warwicks 1 or 3) = L; Friendly = F; Warwickshire 2 XV Cup = W, Clonmell Cup = C

1st XV â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Fixtures & Results Date Month September September September September October October October October October November November November November December December December December January 2011 January January January February February February February March March March March April April April April April May

Day 4 11 18 25 2 9 16 23 30 6 13 20 27 4 11 18 26 8 15 22 29 5 12 19 26 5 12 19 26 02 9 16 23 30 7

Opponents

Venue

Leamington H Nuneaton Old Eds A Old Halesonians H Whitchurch H Worcester Wanderers A Stratford H Sutton Coldfield A Walsall H Bournville A TBA Banbury H Camp Hill A Lichfield H Dudley Kingswinford A Nuneaton Old Eds H Old Halesonians A INTER CLUB GAME Whitchurch A Worcester Wanderers H Stratford A Sutton Coldfield H Walsall A TBA Bournville H TBA Banbury A Camp Hill H TBA Lichfield A TBA Dudley Kingswinford H Leamington A League Play-offs League Play-offs League Play-offs

Type L L L L L L L L L L L L L L L L L L L L L L L L L L L L L

Result + 26 10 33 6 41 34 13

5 31 22 8 13 17 31

Referees’ Signals Explained

Failure to bind fully

Intentionally collapsing ruck or maul

Joining a ruck or maul in front of the back foot and from the side

Diving to ground near tackle

Tackler or tackled player not rolling away

Tackler not releasing tackled player

To help you to understand the decisions made by referees we show a selection of the signals used by the official to illustrate those decisions. Space permitting, we will include a further selection in future programmes of the 46 different signals defined by the IRB – heaven knows how the refs remember them all!