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Bromyard Rugby Club
December Newsletter
Welcome to the latest issue of the monthly newsletter.
The idea of this is to keep everyone in the Club up-to-date with what is happening in the various
teams. This is very much a work-in-progress, and as the months go by, I imagine the content of
this newsletter will change.
Thanks to all of the contributors, and if anyone has any ideas on how it could be improved,
other information which should be included and/or any constructive criticism, let me know. The
next issue will be after the completion of games at the end of January, so I will be chasing
people for news/updates in early February…
Team News
1st XV
2nd XV
The seconds have had a good but tough month winning three and losing one as we could not get a full team out.
We have shown great character in these games as we won two of them with fourteen players in one game and
twelve of our players and two from the other side in the other. Inbetween theses games we beat Ledbury, all in all
the first half of season has been good I think we are third in the league with an extra game to play and if we keep
this good team effort going we hope to stay in our position or higher.
Ladies Touch Rugby
Jessica Gwynn has been appointed the new captain to continue the winning ways of the Ladies. Training will be
starting up on the 6th January at 7pm at the rugby club. If any new starters would like to participate, contact Jess
on 07854 659391 or by email on [email protected]
Girls (U15) Touch Rugby
The girls continued to train through December, unable to secure a fixture. However on 1st February they have
been invited to play at Berkswell and Balsall with 8 West Midlands Clubs who make up a girls tag league.
Bromyard and Winslow Town Council have kindly granted the team with some funding enabling the team to obtain
equipment and help with the cost of a kit which has been designed and looks great. A big thank you to Tom,
Bobby, Jess and Elliot for their time spent training the girls on a Sunday morning.
Under 7’s
Under 8’s
Two teams of mainly 1st season players travelled to Droitwich and met sides made up of all their second season
players but our teams really stepped up well and it was good to see our newer players showing good skills in some
hard matches. This experience really came into its own when we played Malvern away. Both our teams shared
the honours with the very disciplined Malvern sides, playing what all the coaches agreed was the best rugby we
have seen all season. Lots to look forward to in the New Year.
Under 9’s
Malvern: we came, we saw, we conquered!
Two very good games with a draw in the first and a clear victory in the second at 6 - 3.
The mighty Bromyard U9 warriors advanced on Malvern on a blustery Sunday morning and gave an extremely
good account of themselves.
First things first. Player of the week goes to our own pint sized tartan terror Angus! He ran from one end of the pitch
to the other dodging Malvern players left and right with some excellent sidesteps and dodges that made every
adults knees creak just to watch him. He then placed the ball and nonchalantly jogged back with a "shucks it was
nothing expression" on his face. We almost had to get the oxygen cylinder out for his mother who was pretty much
hyperventilating with excitement from this tremendous effort. It's about the size of the fight that’s in the dog and not
the size of the dog that’s in the fight!
GRRRRRRR what phenomenal rugby children !!!!!!!!
The superlatives just keep on coming. Daisy, Ellis phenomenal tries. David, Freddie your ball carrying was
excellent and watching you both power through the oppositions front ranks made me think of Gullivers travels when
the little people (Lilliputians) try and tie him down! You both opened up their forwards very well. Josh you were very
disruptive to their ranks with long runs through every available gap and worked extremely well with an on form
George to exploit every opportunity to get long balls out to the wings where Ellis and Daisy were waiting to use
their speed to make rapid ground and put points on the Bromyard board. Thomas, Isaac you both supported very
well indeed and what's very refreshing to see at this level is that we know have a regular cadre of between 8-10
players who all commit to the tough tackles.
Points to improve on - well it's the usual suspects…
When the ball goes to ground, break into an attacking line and stop bunching up! When you are tackled go straight
to ground if you can't break free, as this stops the ball being turned over. When you go into contact turn your body
and protect the ball. Increase passing distance and look for opportunities particularly when we have momentum
and the opposition are in disarray.
Under 10’s
Well it’s about ½ way through the season and we would like to say a big thank you to all the boys in the under 10's
for a magnificent game against Droitwich & Malvern this month with a pitch at Malvern that resembled a pigs bath!!!
All the boys played out of their skins and the results showed it.
So far during the year we have had a mixed bag of results but no matter what, Bromyard U10s have always been
praised by other teams for the spirit and commitment our boys put in so they should be proud of that and also three
of the larger teams have commented on our boys skill level and said they have been some of the best games they
have played this year - so again well done. We are now looking forward to 2015 - training through January to
refine the skills & move onto the second half of the season.
The BRFC junior Christmas party was an eye opening insight into the future years ahead! Loads of happy children
knowing & showing how to have fun - and all without the influence of alcohol - if only we could bottle their
happiness & joy.
Under 11’s
Following an intense meeting with Droitwich both on and off the field, the U11s finished 2014 with a great effort at
Malvern. Malvern fielding two teams, Bromyard one and putting together a Barbarians team all players got a good
amount of game time on a very cold morning, the coaches warmed up sampling the mulled wine and warm mince
pies! It was a solid team performance and the aggregate score for the three games ended with Bromyard 5 - 6
Malvern, try scorers Ptolomy, Will Pollard & Will Gough. Players of the day for the matches with Droitwich and
Malvern: Dylan, Finley, Henry and Euan. We are looking forward to 2015 including our U11s tournament to be held
on 19th April at Bromyard and finishing the season off with the tour to Devon playing in the West Coast Festival of
Rugby, Happy New Year.
Under 12’s
The story continues
Played: 7, Won: 2, Lost: 5
Points for: 178 + some more
Points against: 162 + a lot more
It is with difficulty that I try to make the final chapter of the year sound upbeat and positive. You will notice the
‘table’ shows that the last two games of the year both ended in our hosts favour, although one defeat was easier to
handle than the other.
A bleak morning in early December had the U12’s travelling to Droitwich for what we knew would be one of our
toughest games to date. Some of the players seemed to be showing the early signs of man flu (we all know how
deadly that can be!) Ben and Freddie were distinctly off-colour and did not play with their usual tenacity. The early
start for us was to our hosts advantage. Our opponents were organised and utilised well practiced drills to quickly
recycle the ball and move it swiftly through the back line, drawing tackles well and offloading to supporting players
in a demonstration of running rugby which was, despite being on the receiving end of, a pleasure to watch. Once
the team had closed their amazed mouths and made concerted efforts to compete for the ball in both the set piece
and the loose, the scoreboard stopped ticking over quite so quickly. The final quarter of the game can only be
described as a damage limitation exercise, which in terms of possession and territory saw the balance tip in our
favour. Regrettably we were unable to convert theses statistical advantages into points, but the boys were able to
leave the field of ‘battle’ with their heads held high. Alex Perrin thoroughly EARNED the ‘Player of the week’ trophy,
and as none of the team deserved the ‘Lemon of the week’ award it travelled back to Clifton deep in the boot of the
manager’s car.
Having drawn inspiration from various teams at various levels of the game, the manager wanted a suffix for
Bromyard - think Sale ‘Sharks’, Leicester ‘Tigers’, Worcester ‘Zulus’, Telford ‘Hornets’ etc. The Bromyard
‘Barbarians’, wearing club shirts and shorts and their school socks took to the field at Malvern for the last game of
2014 hoping to reverse their recent poor fortune.
Three tries: Ewan Guy, Johnny Langford and Marc Hackman all converted by Will Morris were not enough to turn
over an improved Malvern side. Silly mistakes and poor decision making were the rue of the Bromyard Barbarians
on a beautiful winter’s morning. BIG tackles from Ollie Portman on the wing helped to keep the deficit smaller than
it might have been, and earned him the ‘Player of the week’ trophy.
Rupert was delighted to hand the ‘Lemon’ to Kev who had left the team sheet on his kitchen table. His protestation
that eleventh hour alterations were the reason fell on deaf ears and the committee (Rupert) took no time at all in his
decision making.
Rarely does the game of Rugby end in a draw, there is, by default, therefore a losing side on most occasions. The
positive note at the end of a woeful start to the 2014/15 season is that the U12’s are learning to accept the bitter
taste of defeat. The management are hopeful that the Christmas break will give the boys time to reflect on lessons
learned and that the second half of the season will taste sweeter!
As we break for Christmas we look forward to an addition to the fixtures list, a triangular match with Bournville at
th
Kings Norton on the 4 of January, arranged during the ‘fifth quarter’ of our home match against Kings at the
beginning of the season.
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year from the Bromyard ‘Barbarians’!
Under 13/14’s
We have had a tough first half of the season we have only had three games and a training game against an U14
side. The team have grown in numbers we now have fourteen signed up and showing a great team ethic working
for each other and training well , which has showed in our first three games winning all three but coming back from
being down in two of them which has shown great character and team play which is what we are all about.
We then had a great training game with Knighton U14 mixing the teams as these were big lads but they were a
great team and mixed in with our lads helping them in confidence which was great. So above all I am pleased with
the way the team is going and looking forward to a lot more fixtures in second half of the season ,we are still
looking for new players all the time so if anyone knows anybody who is interested please tell them to pop in on
Sunday's.
Under 15/16’s
Other information
Rfu grand draw tickets available from Di Pinches.
£1 per ticket, £5 per book.
First prize £10k., other prizes detailed on poster in clubhouse.
Draw takes place in april
Christmas Party
This year’s Christmas party was well
attended as normal, with loads of food and
many, many muddy kids. Santa arrived in a
rather unorthodox manner – in a sidecar! It
was a bit of squeeze but Santa managed to
get in OK, and more importantly, he got out
as well. The raffle seemed to be popular
with the main prizes being Christmas
hampers (Paul Langford appeared
particularly pleased with his “stash” as he
left), thanks to everyone for their generous
donations. Thanks also to Dave Housell for
judging the Christmas jumper competition;
the winners were Tom Morris (for his
motorbike and sidecar jumper) and Rupert
Hackman (for his fireplace jumper with living
flame effect). A good time was had by all.
Sportsman’s Dinner
We have arranged a Sportsman’s Dinner on Saturday 28 March, guest speaker
John Bevan, tickets £35pp, to include a 3-course meal. Usual raffle, auction,
heads-and-tails, tables of 8 available.
John played Rugby Union for Cardiff, Wales, ’71 Lions, Barbarians, and then
moved to Rugby League, where he played for Warrington, Wales & Great Britain.
Posters will be put up in the clubhouse soon.
To book a place(s), contact Steph.
Floodlit Competition
The next round of this takes place later this month, so please come down and see the opposition that Bromyard will
face in the latter rounds.
All matches are on a Tuesday night, kick-off 7.30pm. so please come and support the games.
25th Nov 2014 Bromyard v Tenbury Wells : result Bromyard 22, Tenbury 14
20th Jan 2015 Greyhound v Clee Hill
10th Feb 2015 Tenbury Wells v Clee Hill
10th Mar 2015 Bromyard v Greyhound
31st Mar 2015 Greyhound v Tenbury Wells
14th Apr 2015 Bromyard v Clee Hill
The Competition Trophy will be sponsored by Nick Champion (Auctioneer from Tenbury) hence the name for the
competition…
Hospitality and Site Boards
There are still a few places left. In addition, the Club is seeking match day sponsors. Anyone interested please
contact Andrew Jelley.
Site Care
Please remember:Dogs are not allowed on the Sports Ground. If you see anyone walking their dogs on the
pitches, please point out the notice on the front gate.
Glasses and bottles are not allowed outside the clubhouse. Broken glass could be
potentially fatal to players, spectators and children frequenting the ground.
Dumping of rubbish, of any kind, is not permitted. If you see this happening please make a
note of the registration number and pass it on to the committee for the necessary action to be
taken.
As a member of the club, it is up to you to keep it litter free. We are all responsible for
clearing up especially after matches and social functions.
Insurance
Playing members are reminded that The Club only takes out the compulsory insurance from the
RFU, which is a ‘permanent total disability’ policy, and covers members for death, loss of limb,
or total disablement from employment, and does not cover any loss of earnings following
accidents.