Weekly roundup 17th April 2010

Weekly Roundup 17th april 2010

RESULTS for 17th April

Team	Opposition	H/A		Competition
1st	No Fixture			London 1 South
2nd (Mustangs)	No Fixture			Invicta Division I
3rd	Old Dunstonian II	H	Lost 15-25	Invicta II
4th	No Fixture			Mid Kent A
5th	New Ash Green III	H	Lost 25 - 47	Mid Kent C
Vets	Sandown & Shanklin Vets Havant Vets	A A	Lost 46-12 Lost Lots-5	Tour (sat) Tour (Sun)

I was away on tour with the Vets at the week-end, so havent a clue what went on back at the club - except the bare facts. (To be honest, I havent much of a clue what went on on tour either, for that matter)

It was always going to be a day for odd results, owing to the fact that 1st Teams have finished their season and there are inevitably spare players available to bolster lower teams. So, whilst the form book would have suggested wins for the 3rds and 5ths this week, the win/loss stats will show a different story. It wont be often that the 5ths will score 5 tries and lose though, so I'm sure they enjoyed it anyway at the end of what has been a great season for the team. Likewise the 3rds, having had to settle for 3rd place in Invicta II might ultimately feel a little disappointed but their League position has far exceeded initial expectations and they have enjoyed some greatrugby and some great wins this season - as well as one or 2 spankings.

Regarding the Vets tour, clearly anything that occurred on tour stays on tour except for a brief resume of the matches and scorers. Whilst, given the quality of the opposition and the comparative frailty of the tourists, neither of the tour games were likely to be won, tries from Mick Walker and Steve Vincent on saturday and a close-quarters try from Kev Bailey on sunday were some reward for a couple of gritty although ultimately dooomed performances.

Steve Pooley made his time-honoured late appearance on the tour, arriving by train at vast expense from Devon on saturday morning, only to depart in similar fashion on sunday morning. Steve was the only one in the party who took part in the 1980 club tour to New York (in which all games were won and the club made a profit of £1600) but there was also much talk on tour of the exploits of Mr Ehrhart, who has played in all 25 seasons of Vets rugby at Maidstone, skippered the side for 10 years+ and who has been on every single one of the Vets tours. To have played 3 halves of rugby on this tour (including some straight line-out throwing) and to have been more than worth his place in the front-row, suggests that he still has a great future in the game, (although now unlikely to match his past.)

One of the tour highlights was to see Steve Norton on the touch-line, together with his son Pat. Steve never misses a tour although having fought cancer for a year, he couldnt fully participate in this year's but as a day tripper with a ticket to Ryde, he was very welcome. Luckily, as an experienced tight-head, he was able to offer our callow loose-head prop, Ian Crickmore (41) (who is the only Vets tourist who doesnt drink bitter) some expert advice when Ian was getting stuffed on the tight-head side of the scrum and approached Steve on the touch-line for a few tips. "You're going to have to give up drinking lager" was Steve's expert opinion.

Aside from the playing aspects of the tour, mention must be made of the two host clubs and their superb hospitality. One of the benefits of touring is to spend more time at other clubs and to see what they do well. Sandown and Shanklin could not do enough for us as guests, to the extent of meeting us later in the evening in town and bringing their wives and girl-friends (although unfortunately, not to share). The singing in the club-house after the game was robust and enthusiastic and significantly, it included many of the young players in the club who also participated. Its so important that these traditions are kept alive by tourists, as one seldom hears a song in a club-house during the season.

And as for sunday, its probably fair to say that at the very end of a long week-end, the prospect of playing at Havant on the return leg of a long week-end, did not fill our brave but old and wounded tourists, with much enthusiasm. The anticpated drubbing on the pitch duly materialised but - what a fantastic club!! The place was just buzzing with life, on the day of a huge junior festival and there was a vibrancy about the place that was palpable. In the event, the Havant Vets stuck around and entertained us until gone 10 o'clock - on a sunday night!! There were some interesting parallels to be drawn between Havant and Maidstone, because whilst they would both once have had a similar playing stature within the game, Havant have managed to maintain a much better level of 1st Team rugby in the years since the advent of League rugby, although doing so has taken them to the brink of disaster financially,( from which they have recently been able to recover thanks to a dynamic committee and a fundamental re-think of their structure and priorities). The re-building of the club and the new energy and enthusiasm that is at work is now very much in evidence. I'm sure that we could learn a lot from them.

Court and Social

I gather that despite the absence of any 1st or 2nd team fixture on saturday, a decent effort was made to drink the bar dry before handing over to the cricket club for the summer. It was great to have a young band from within the club playing a gig there, so thanks to Chris Griffiths and G-Riff and all their enthusiastic followers and supporters.

Next Week

Although the scheduled fixtures are now all over, there is still 7s to look forward to. Training will take place this week on tuesday and thursday evenings.

In addition, Cranbrook have suggested that we play their Vets in a play -off for 3rd place in the Evergreen

Cup. Paul Massey has managed to assemble a Veterans side, so we hope to play the fixture on saturday 24th at 3pm at Cranbrook, subject to Cranbrook confirming that they can raise a team. The evergreen Cup final itself is on Sunday at Croydon between Haywards Heath and Blackheath. (I predict a victory for 'Heath).

Lastly, I gather that a west Kent Vets side containing around 5 of our Evergreen Team, saw off an Essex Vets side on saturday, by a pretty decent margin. Congratulations to the selected players.

Fixtures for 24th April

Team	Opposition	H/A		Competition
1st				London 1 South
2nd (Mustangs)				Invicta I
3rd (Evergreen Vets)	Cranbrook Vets	A	Sat 3pm	play-off for 3rd place in Evergreen Cup
4th				Tournamentt
5th				Mid Kent C
Vets				Tour