Pre-Season
After conquering the merit league last season from the get-go the boys knew this season was going to be different. The build up to the start of season had an edge to it, nobody knew what to expect, but everyone was up for it. This was the first season to trial the rugby fit initiative pre-season and it will be used again next season. The fitness was improving, and we were drawing in new players. This allowed us to recruit some of our key players this season; Dan, Alex, Will, Marius, and Duncan. The rugby fit soon moved into some contact and body position work. Body position and ball retention were two key areas we needed to focus on this season. With the start of the season becoming ever closer we set out some objectives for the year; Well revisit these later.
- Maintain our place in M5
- Be competitive in all our games
- Each player to earn club colors.
During talks about what we wanted the season to have, the social aspect drew its head; everyone wants to win games but more importantly we want to be a family who win games. This was key throughout the seasons and the club has had one of the best social atmospheres in years - including one memorable game of take me out hosted by our very own James Muller.
The season
After lots of planning before, we knew it the first game of the season was here a cup game at home to Exiles. Exiles were in Midlands 4 so we knew it was going to be a tough game and was it ever. After a hard game followed by extra time, it resulted in a 5-5 draw. After a hard pre-season, this was a great result with a team from the league above. The social started that with most players leaving in the early hours.
Our first league game of the season took us to Kersley away, it was there VP day so the touchline was full of home supporters and to say that was intimidating was an understatement. It was tough and, after a hard-played match, Kersley came out on top. We took a lot from that game as a team, we realised how up for it the teams in this league will be and that we are going to get some forward dominated teams and learn to deal with them. When Kersley returned to us we managed to beat them 45-12, and that just shows what work we put in this season.
Following on from the first couple of games, we had some things to learn and quickly Redditch taught us a few lessons about being up for the game when they played us at home. However, we learnt quickly resulting in 7 wins from the next 9 matches - including beating Rugby Welsh away who only lost to two teams.
Results
As we all know, the coronavirus lockdown stopped the season early. This resulted in us being placed 5th in the league. We are all happy with this result and it puts us in a great place to go into next season. Reviewing our season objectives.
- Maintain our place in M5 – Finishing 5th is an excellent result.
- Be competitive in all our games – We fielded a team for all games and were always competitive.
- Each player to earn club colours - 15 Players earned club colours this year, this isn’t the whole squad and something to work on for next year.
Summary
The season has been a successful one, and we wouldn’t have managed it without all the players, coaching staff, bar staff, first aiders and the committee. So, from all the players a massive thankyou to anyone that has helped with the rugby this season.
I want to finish the season on a memory that will stick with me for the rest of my life. After a hard fought game at home to Bishops Castle (who were, at that point, top of the league) we managed to grind out the victory at 7-0. This resulted in an amazing social and our very own coach Melfyn James jumping on the table singing “we beat top of the league, we beat top of the league” with all the players joining in. This just sums up what we have built this season and how the social side is really taking hold. We’re more than just a team, we’re a big family.
