1st XV Team 2007 / 08
Dear Team Mate,

To open I would like to say a big thank you to the outgoing Captains and Coaches for their efforts last season steering the 1st XV, Heathens and Ladies to successful seasons.

The grounding laid down over the last two years or so to establish the current squad of players you are part of, made my decision to stand forward as Club Captain a much easier one than it may have been. I believe that the talent and enthusiasm for rugby at our club are the ingredients for an even more successful season this year and for many years to come.

My decision to stand as Captain was made easier, but not taken likely. It is a great honour for me to have been in this role and being your Captain, I will give it all my best efforts.

I believe that my key role is to ensure that every player at whatever level achieves their highest playing standard, that the team they belong to achieves its best, is a success and that we all enjoy our rugby and our rugby club.

Now to you, the players, I ask you to ask yourself “What do I want to achieve from my rugby?”.
My personal answer to this is; to enjoy playing, win and play better than I have done before and I’m sure you want the same, I want you to be able to look back in the future and to know you did your best for a successful side playing at a level that is above and beyond EC2. So, with your individual efforts and commitment all teams have every opportunity to have that success.

I don’t want to write a huge amount about fitness and training, we all know the importance of being fit and training together. The success of any team does not come without hard graft on the training pitch. We have a coaching staff with at least 40 years of rugby experience between them, so let’s make use of that, be selfish and use them to make your rugby ability better.

Enough of the serious stuff, I am proposing to the committee that both the Heathens and the 1st XV are allocated at least 3 away games each this season with a mini bus, so watch this space. I am also arranging for Team sheets to be posted to your home address, so no excuses that you don’t know who, where or when we are playing. There is information elsewhere about Registration days so please come along to them and make sure your details are up to date.

I must also point out that the Club House will be the meeting place for away games, so don’t forget.

If you have any issues or ideas about anything, please come and speak to me and don’t forget you have a player’s rep that can air your points directly to the committee. There will be also be a programme of player’s meeting, which will be an open forum. I will welcome any advice and any positive criticism,

To close, I want our rugby club to move forward and that happens out on the rugby pitch on Saturday afternoons and it takes us, the players, to play and most of all enjoy our rugby to the best of our ability to be able to do that.

We all know when the beer tastes best…….

Gordon