August is here, the season is almost upon us. Those of you who have already attended preseason boot camp will have witnessed the transformation of wheezy, pudgy middle aged rugby dreamers into slightly less wheezy, pudgy middle aged rugby believers. Chris Couling has once again found new ways to make fitness torture fun.
After two years of hard work and the reward of lifting the Middx/Hertz phase 2 shield as Club Captain at the last home game of the season. Brian Daniels has stepped aside leaving his successor with the core of a strong squad. Stuart May the prodigal son returned 2014/15 season will lead our 1st team squad with his able lieutenant hit me with a brick to stop me Richard ‘Dicknot’ Goodenough fronting the 2’s. We have a full fixture card this year for both 1’s & 2’s plus 5 schedule Friday night Vets futures, plenty of Rugby for all! The two new skippers have thought long and hard about achievable goals and what they can bring to the season. This is reflected in their personal statements published on the attached Season 2016/17 Objectives document. This document is what we as a playing sub committee should be measured against and as Director of Rugby on the playing side I’m accountable for.
As we move back to Wood Lane for rugby training from Thursday the 4th of August, we need to see more bodies down. After a good summer break getting your hands on the ball and linking up with your mates is what is needed to build a good foundation for your season. Your captains are looking at forming their squads and as club we need to grow our player base. It’s important that you can give a timely intelligent reply to requests for availabilities e.g. if its a ‘NO’ for that weekend then come back with a date as to when? This will help greatly in building our availability data base prior to September kick off proper. With our now annual entry into the Hayes charity 7’s on the 6th and a preseason friendly pencilled in for the 20th now is when we blood new lads and get the taste back for the big hits. So I hope to see a few more in the coming weeks new and old campaigners looking for one last crack at old an enemy, it’ll all go on my attendance register.
With two new strong captains in place and solid targets set we should be straining at the leash to get started. I know Stuart and Dicknot are, so get behind ’em and let’s have a great season.