1965-66: Keith Capped by England

Dick Ashley became Honorary Secretary of the Club. Maurice Goymer was skipper for the third time with John Thompson as his vice-captain - but he was injured for much of the season. We were in need of some new blood as Tony Payne went to Moseley and our young stars David Scannell and Roger Landon left for Coventry and Rugby respectively (Landon later moved on to Northampton). We had some useful ready-made newcomers in Roger Maycock at scrum-half, John Regan a centre from Blackrock College and winger Mick Ward. John Hibben also joined the club. He announced himself as a winger but was told he was too tall and was moved to the forwards, where he stayed for the next thirty plus years. But it was the coming of age of the post war “baby boom” generation that resulted in a major expansion in our playing numbers around this time. More and more good young players were coming through from the local schools and the Colts, such as Guy Nicholls, Jim Doak, Steve Austin, Roger “Fred” Emeney, Bob Russell, Howard Blackmore and Martin Tottle, but we needed time to rebuild and the first team suffered one of its worst seasons ever, winning only 6 of 31 games.

Warwick Youth Centre was a good source of recruitment. Their 1966 line-up was more or less all Leamington -

Keith Bidmead, Howard Blackmore, Vic Barber, Andrew Crompton, Martin Tottle, Dave Perkins, Chris Gandon, Bob Russell, “H” Henshaw – John Wheildon, Paul Brant, Pete Butler, Steve Austin, Colin Barker, Fred Emeney, Dave Green

We began with a pre-season tour to the Bristol area, organised by Robin Smylie. We lost to both Old Colestonians and Keynsham (old Radio Luxembourg listeners will recall the spelling!). More seriously we picked up a number of injuries which kept several players out of the game for some weeks. A 3-0 win against Newbold in the second game was the only victory prior to Christmas and we went nearly five months before we came out on top again with a win at Osterley in the Saturday morning game before England’s match against Ireland. A three-match winning run towards the end of the season added a little respectability to our record. It was not that we were losing by big scores, most of the games were fairly close and on numerous occasions victory just eluded us, such as in the second match against Kenilworth where we lost in the last couple of minutes. One of the problems appears to have been a poor attitude to mid-week training, and fitness levels were not what they should have been for a club of our standard.

With the side scoring only 145 points, the individual scoring totals were correspondingly modest with Dave Moffatt the top scorer on 28 points, followed by Guy Nicholls on 22. Roger Maycock and Dave Schofield were top try scorers with 5 each. It had been a poor season and even in the sevens we were knocked out in the in the first round at the Worcester, Coventry and Lockheed events – our only consolation was winning the plate at Lockheed.

The Extras and Seconds were still playing as more or less the same side and our records for the season treat them as such. They had an even record winning 12 of 25 games and were led by Roger Philpott and Tony Grimes, both of whom missed quite few games due to injury and promotion to the 1st XV. They were well supported by Martin White, Bernard Gallagher and Terry Pugh. Terry was the leading scorer with 23 points, followed by Guy Nicholls on 15.

First XV - 1965-66 Robin Smylie, Gordon Mallinson, Colin Hemmings, Colin Commander, David Wilby,

Ray Ward, Eric Stansfield, Guy Nicholls - David Schofield, Roger Maycock, John Thompson,

Maurice Goymer, Terry Liggins, Tony Grimes, John Regan

Lol Smith’s Stags were well down on the previous season but they still finished in credit, winning just over half of their games, although it was the case that their fixture list was considerably strengthened and they turned out against other clubs’ first teams on two occasions (winning once) and second teams nine times. Brian Badger was top scorer with 45 points followed by Andy McKowen with 34. The Tigers were now becoming established as a fifth team and they were fortunate in having Jack Devis to lead them, assisted by Tim Powell. They won 11 and drew 1 of their 21 games and featured 94 different players during the season, including a number of young lads who fought their way through into the higher teams. Jack was top scorer with 20 points followed by John Lane with 12 and Tony Mullen with 11. The Leopards played 11 games but lacked a permanent skipper.

The Colts had a very short fixture list and although their commitment under skipper Vic Barber was high they won only 1 game. Their players filtered into the senior sides before the end of the season. One Colt making great progress was young full-back Guy Nicholls, who made his debut in the 1st XV In November whilst still 17 and he went on to play in all the games for Warwickshire Colts who won the Midlands championship.

The end of the season was a time for retirements and four very fine players decided to hang up their boots. John Richardson failed to recover from an injury sustained on the pre-season tour and Roger Philpott also had to pack up due to injury. Dave Butler emigrated to Wales. Maurice Goymer called it a day at first team level, although he was to play on, The photo shows the end of a floodlit game against Stratford in the mid-1960s with Maurice coming off the pitch, his smirk indicating that he had enjoyed the usual punch-up, although Stratford look to have won their own Floodlit Trophy . We suffered another great loss when Freddie Thacker decided to retire after 20 years as Match Secretary and at the end of season AGM he was made an Honorary Life Member. Lol Smith took over the very onerous Match Secretary job.

On a brighter note, we had some reflected glory through the progress of Keith Savage (pictured) who had moved to Northampton two years previously. We watched with interest and pride as he was selected to play for East Midlands, went on to the national trial and was then capped by England for the opening round of the Five Nations against Wales. He held his place throughout the season and topped it with selection for the British Lions’ tour of Australia and New Zealand - one of only five England players to make the trip. We had a celebration dinner for Keith at the Regent Hotel in March 1996, attended by many local celebrities and about 150 club member

1966-67: Record Wins for Ray

After the disappointments of 1965-66 there were big changes this year and Ray Ward, who was captain again, managed to transform our fortunes with a record 24 wins from 38 games and a record points total of 391. After moving from second-row to prop the previous year, Ray stayed there as a permanent move and he was joined by Brian Montgomery, with Tommy Tucker and Dave Grove sharing the hooking duties. Bill Wiggins and Colin Commander paired up in the second-row along with John Thompson and John Lyne and Howard Blackmore and John Wheildon came through to play in the back-row with Robin Smylie. John Regan was vice-captain and led the backs. Colin Barker and Terry Liggins were his normal partners in the centre with Bill Ward, and Dave Schofield on the wings. John Humphries joined us from Kenilworth and he shared the fly half duties with Bernard Gallagher, outside Roger Maycock. Guy Nicholls played at full-back and set an individual club record of 148 points.

Given the experience of the previous two years, it was decided to rationalise the number of sides and we fielded 5 teams – Firsts, Extra Firsts, Seconds (who were the 3rd XV) Stags and Tigers each of which would play a full season. There were insufficient numbers to run a Colts side so those colts that were available were integrated into the senior teams and we were to be without the junior side for the next five seasons. Until this year we had started our season on the third Saturday of September and were often behind other clubs in our match fitness in the early games so we decided to start on the second Saturday, which also gave us an extra fixture opportunity.

Results were pretty even before Christmas, but after a narrow and unlucky loss to Stratford, in a typically rough game, under their new lights, we hit top form with a 20-0 win over Old Warwickians on Boxing Day and went on to win 16 of the remaining 20 games. A temporary addition to our strength between Christmas and Easter was Peter Torry, who was an outstanding back-row forward. He joined us whilst teaching at Arnold Lodge School prior to going up to Oxford University, where he gained a Blue. On leaving university he went into the diplomatic service and gained a double knighthood and served as British Ambassador to both Spain and Germany. Another player who featured in a few games was Dave Hardy, who joined us from Coventry, and was a schoolboy international at scrum-half. Highlights included a good double over Nottingham University and we played twice against the Welsh side Mountain Ash, who beat us on both occasions. We won and lost to Stratford and lost both games to Kenilworth, but with regard to our success in this fixture, things were about to change. Colin Barker scored 4 tries in a 15-9 win over Kettering towards the end of the season and this helped him to set a new record of 29 tries in a season. Bill Ward touched down on 22 occasions.

First XV 1966-67 Dick Knibbs, John Walker, Roger Maycock, Dave Grove, John Wheildon, John Thompson, Mick Ward, Guy Nicholls - Howard Blackmore, Bill Wiggins, Dave Rigby, Ray Ward (capt), Brian Montgomery, John Taplin, Trevor Wood.

The Easter tour was to West Wales, where we stayed at Dave Butler’s hotel. We won 9-5 at Neyland, but unsurprisingly the beer took its toll and we lost 13-6 at Pembroke in the second game. One of the stories from the tour relates to the hotel having a huge log fire in the bar. People were complaining of the heat and requested that some windows be opened. Beside the fireplace was a large bucket. Norman David shouted that he would put the fire out and picked up the bucket and poured the content on the fire. He didn’t realize that it was oil for starting up the fire and the immediate result was a massive flame that shot up the beautiful white wall that became black and the language in the room became blue as players checked their singed hair and eyebrows.

The Extras in their first full season did even better than the firsts, winning 28 and drawing 2 of their 35 games, which was the best record of any team in the club so far. Unfortunately, the 5 losses were to Kenilworth (twice) and Stratford and two difficult end of season games against Derby 1st XV and Rugby Wanderers. Colin Hemmings captained the side assisted by Bernard Gallagher. They scored 544 points and their top scorers were Dave Moffatt with 96 points, mainly from the boot, and Jim Drury and Archie Banks who scored 20 and 18 tries respectively. Drury, Mick Pett, Brian White and Paul Brant were newcomers to the club with Brant featuring in the first team by the end of the season.

The Seconds and Stags also had outstanding seasons. Brian Badger captained the Seconds and they won 23 of 32 games. They also scored 500 points, with Terry Pugh on 85 and Brian himself on 68, leading the scorers. Ex-colts skipper Vic Barber scored 13 tries. Lol Smith’s Stags had a similar record with 24 wins from 34 games, Lol topping the scorers with 79 and Max Johansson and 16-year old Jim Beeston scoring 10 tries apiece. The Tigers were the only team in deficit with 8 wins and 16 defeats, but they were well led by Jack Devis and underpinned the other sides. Jack reached the personal milestone of playing 500 games for the club.

Stags circa 1967 - Frank Mogford, Ian Herbert, Roger Philpott, Lol Smith, John Smylie, Tony Grimes, Robin Smylie,

Brian White, Peter Horgan – Tim Beesley, xxxxx, Dave Wilkinson, John Carter, xxxxx, xxxxx

Off the field, Ken Ellis became President this season. He had been a club stalwart, both as a front row forward in his playing days and as a member of the Committee for many years after that and richly deserved the honour. A new non-playing member was John Oxenbould who was to become a major influence in the club. He first became Assistant Secretary, responsible for publicity, at which he was brilliant and kept the most amazing statistical records that he would display for all to see. Unfortunately, much of this work has been lost, but what remains was helpful in producing this history book. John went on to become Chairman of the club.

The Newbold Comyn saga continued and although Leamington Borough Council finally received planning permission for their recreation area, including land for the rugby club, this was subject to obtaining satisfactory access, which meant them building a bridge across the river (which they couldn’t afford) or via Newbold Common farm, which the farmer objected to. In the end it transpired that the costs of setting up and levelling the intended pitches would be of the order of £40,000, which the Council would not meet. So, after seven years of blowing into that particular balloon, it burst. We were already looking at alternative options: an approach to Flavels Cricket club to share their ground in Lillington was rebuffed, but the search went on and by the end of the season we had reached an advanced stage in negotiations for land at Kenlea Market Gardens, Blackdown.

There were many other items to cheer. Keith Savage retained his place in the England side; John Wheildon played for Warwickshire Colts; and both Roger and Tony Landon were now holding their places in the Northampton 1st XV. The Sevens were not so good. We went out of the Oxford tournament in the first round and lost in the semi-final at Lockheed. Inevitably, at the end of a record season, the captain Ray Ward was thrown into the canal.

1967-68: Savage a Lion

Ray Ward was the captain again with scrum-half Roger Maycock as his vice-captain. We lost Colin Commander who joined Leicester but were compensated by the return of Dave Scannell from Coventry, who took over the coaching. Paul Lea, joined the club and soon demonstrated that he could play anywhere behind the scrum, from full-back to scrum half and at wing-forward as well, with equal effect. He had the trick of running with the ball behind his back to confuse the opposition, which he would do several times in a match. It brought quite a lot of tries.

First XV September 1967 – Brian Montgomery, Dave Green, Tony Grimes, Tom Moffat, Norman David, Mike Parkin, Lol Smith – Archie Banks, Paul Brant, John Humphries, Ray Ward, Tommy Tucker, John Wheildon, Colin Barker

The 1st XV had an even record, winning 17 games and losing the same number. Apart from a win against new opponents Wigan there was not much to cheer about in the first half of the season as we had a run of narrow defeats and found it hard to score points. The three-quarter line was struggling despite a strong line-up on paper. We turned things round in mid-December when having failed to score in four games we won 10-5 at Kenilworth and won most of games from then on including the return against Kenilworth to register our first double over our neighbours. Brain White, Tony Grimes and Pete Butler came into the pack but it was basically unchanged from earlier and the forwards played well all season. The local derby games were becoming particularly physical and after the Stratford game in November, which we lost 19-0, the two sides were put on a warning by their respective committees for foul play and the future of the fixture was threatened.

The Extras and Seconds also had even records. The Extras won 15 and lost 15 and in the second half of the season they were without their skipper Bernard Gallagher who made an emergency appearance in the first team and stayed there for the duration. Jeremy Wheeler took over the side. Like the Firsts they scored a double win against Kenilworth. The Seconds were led by Neville Lee from fly-half or centre as the occasion demanded and they won 14 and lost 14. The Stags and Tigers both finished in debit with Lol Smith’s Stags wining 14 and losing 16 and Jack Devis’s Tigers struggling to win 7 of 29. Whilst they could hold their own against other fifth teams they came unstuck when they had to play one or two men short or were playing third, second and even some first teams.

First XV 1967/68 John Regan, Colin Barker, Hugh O’Shea, Norman David, Terry Liggins, Bernard Gallagher –

John Lyne, Colin Hemmings, Paul Brant, Pete Butler, John Thompson, Guy Nicholls, Archie Banks –

Tim Shaw, Dave Grove, Roger Maycock, Ray Ward, Brian Montgomery, Brian White, Pip Moore

Terry Pugh topped the point scorers with 110 followed by Guy Nicholls on 85. In the sevens we went out in the preliminary round of the Midlands Sevens and in the second round at Lockheed, although we were unable to field our best side at either event. Keith Savage held his England place for a third season and won his 13th and final cap against Scotland. He ended his international career with a second Lions tour, this time to South Africa, where he played in all four test matches, one of which was drawn and the other three lost.

The search for a new ground dominated our off-field activities during the season. Although we were able to agree a price to purchase land from Kenlea Market Gardens, planning permission was refused and whilst we were in the process of re-applying we were gazumped by a local builder. However, we eventually found what we were looking for and our current ground, at Blackdown, was purchased from St Bede’s School in April 1968 for £12,250 (plus legal expenses) with the contract signed on the final day of the season.

Above - action from the Kenilworth game Dave Scannell kicking and running, Bernard Gallagher obstructing and Howard Blackmore taking on a big bloke.

Extras 1967-68 - Mick Ward, Norman David, Paul Brant, Terry Pugh, Hugh O’Shea, Ron Elvins, John Webber, John Taplin =

Dave Green, Glynn Morgan, Tim Beeston, Jeremy Wheeler, Fred Emeney, Chris Gandon, Pete Butler

1968-69: New Ground at Blackdown

Pip Moore was elected President of the club and Ken Ellis replaced him as Chairman. Norman David took over from Lol Smith as Match Secretary and thereby ensured he got more games in the first team. Ianto Moody was in his second season as club Secretary, a job he went on to fill for 10 years. Scrum-half Roger Maycock (left) became captain and had a successful season, equalling the 17 games won the previous year, but from 5 less attempts. We were able to field a settled pack for most of the campaign, which gave the whole team an element of stability. It was becoming a very physical and formidable unit and was dominant in most games. The major change was John Wheildon moving into the front row alongside Ray Ward and Dave Grove with Brian Montgomery going into the back row with Brian White and Dave Green. John Thompson and Pete Butler formed the second row to complete the gruesome gang. Monty got a bit carried away in his new role and was sent off along with John Bird of Stratford in the opening game, which we won 11-6. He was banned for 6 weeks.

After this opening success and further wins against Nuneaton Old Edwardians and Cilfynnyd, there was dip in form as we moved into the Autumn and we struggled to find consistency and a way of coordinating our talented backs. Injuries did not help with Guy Nicholls having a cartilage problem and vice-captain Dave Scannell tearing a hamstring. Both were out for the season after just few games. Fortunately, there were some good replacements on hand. Four months after playing in the British Lions test team, Keith Savage returned to action in the Leamington jersey when he re-joined us for five matches in November. However, he didn’t find it easy to adjust to the pace of the junior game and he was a marked man. We won only two of the five games he played, although one of these was an away victory in the local derby at Kenilworth, action from which is shown below. Keith then left to make his new home in Johannesburg, where he had discovered a local attraction whilst on the Lions tour. During this time with us he presented the club with a set of international jerseys which are still on display in the clubhouse.

The pictures show Rger Maycock harrying and dummying to Archie Banks, Keith Savage and Terry Liggins attacking

and Brian Montgomery, Pete Butler and Brian White zooming in on the Kenilworth wing-forward

Another temporary recruit was John Regan’s brother Denis, a full-back or fly-half with a kick like a howitzer. He moved to university in Dublin at Christmas where his promising career was ruined by a knee injury. John also left us to live in London. The magical matelot, Paul Lea played regularly until the end of January, but he was then posted to the Far East by the Navy. He was top scorer for the 1st XV with 60 points and was the only reliable place kicker available. To cover these losses, Mike Welch an ex-schoolboy international took over from Lea at fly-half and Bernard Gallagher and Gordon Mallinson were pressed back into service in the centre. Neville Richardson came in at full-back and Geoff Miller on the wing. Both made big impressions. Another newcomer in the forwards was 19 stone Mike Cornett, who played at No.8 and was a giant in his day. He only played a few games and reports remark on how he leaned on the back of the scrum but didn’t bother to push.

It was very wet winter and the Old Warwick Road pitches were a quagmire for much of the time, so with the new ground at Blackdown now available it was decided to mark out a pitch and play some games there to prevent cancellations. The first game at Moorefields was played by the Extras on 15 February 1969, when we beat Courtaulds 28-3. The visitors arrived shorthanded and we loaned them 4 players, including Dave Green. Seventeen-year-old Graham Miller scored the first try on the ground and went on to get a hat-trick. The first XV made their debut there two weeks later when Archie Banks scored two tries in a 10-0 win over Westleigh. The line-up was: N. Richardson, Geoff Miller, G. Mallinson, P. Lea, A. Banks, M. Welch, R. Ward, D. Grove, J. Wheildon, J Thompson, P Butler, B. Montgomery, B White and M. Pett

The Extras had a highly successful season with 21 wins from 33 games. Jeremy Wheeler skippered the side until he went abroad on business when Tony Grimes took over. There were 11 fixtures against other clubs’ first teams and 10 of these were won. Norman David was top scorer for the side with 82 points and he achieved 92 overall. Geoff Miller scored 13 tries, 3 of which were for the first team.

Ianto Moody captained the Seconds. Their fixtures were badly affected by cancellations and they hardly played from mid-November till mid-February. They won 13 of 23 with Mike Wilson their top scorer with 49 points. The Stags were captained by Malcolm Bloomer and they also had a successful year winning 13 of 22 games. The club’s top scorer, Lol Smith, scored most of his 96 points with the Stags. The Tigers captained by Paul Harrison showed an improvement on the previous year, losing 10 fewer games and conceding half as many points.

1st XV 1968-69 Guy Nicholls, Ray Ward, John Thompson, Pete Butler, Brian White, John Wheildon, Paul Herbert, Archie

Banks - Brian Montgomery, Dave Grove, Dave Green, David Scannell, Terry Pugh, Terry Liggins, Dave Johnstone

The Easter tour was to Jersey and we sent a seriously under-strength squad and did not expect to do well, as in addition to formidable hosts, Ipswich and Aberavon Harlequins were also on the island. However, against all odds we were unbeaten, managing to defeat Jersey “A” on Good Friday and Ipswich on the Saturday. Tony Grimes, Paul Harrison, Jim Drury, Pete Butler, John Oxenbould, Howard Blackmore, Dave Green, Neil Taylor, Ray Ward and Norman David are pictured having a wild time with the local talent following the game. On Easter Monday we played the Jersey first team and after three days of excess and going 9-0 down (and almost out) early on, we miraculously drew 12-12, with Paul Harrison and Dave Green scoring tries and Mervyn Cowley kicking two penalties.

The Ladies Committee which had nearly ceased to function was revitalised this year by Janet Liggins, Sue Gallagher and Val David. Their work, together with that of a lot of others stirred up enthusiasm to raise money for our new home and this was shown in the Fete profit of £588. There were other unsung stalwarts who did a great deal of work to help the club, including Bill Barber and Tom Nicholls, whose sons were playing at the time. Although the new ground was used during the season there was still much work to be done in getting it ready for regular use and work on the clubhouse could not start until the financial, legal and planning approvals were in place. There was lots of red tape to cut through including the requirement for us to allow major water and gas mains to go under the ground (although the Gas Board later changed their plans). We also had to agree to - give up, in the future, a strip of land for road widening; put the entrance where the planners wanted it, thereby lengthening the drive; and the design of the clubhouse was subject to detailed scrutiny and alteration. John Richardson, our club solicitor and Ted Byron, our architect, played the leading parts in dealing with these issues.

Having achieved our ambition of obtaining our own ground we had to find a way of paying for it and in addition to the £12,500 needed to buy it, as much again was needed to design, build and equip the clubhouse, even with the use of the professional and trade skills and physical efforts of our members. A fund-raising committee was set up under Cliff Harrison.

Loans totalling £7,500 were obtained from - the RFU (£3,000), the Middlesex RFU (£2,500) the National Playing Fields Association (£1,000) and the Warwickshire RFU (£1,000). In addition, a grant of £10,000 was received from the Ministry of Education & Science to build the clubhouse, giving us a total cash injection of around £17,500, plus a number of loans and donations from members.

This left several thousand pounds to find, plus loan repayments of £650 per annum. As we had relatively little cash in the bank, our money raising activities had to be stepped up to help meet our new commitments. Existing activities such as Bonfire Night, the summer fete and the Christmas draw continued and new ideas such the Buy a Brick, and the 200 club were introduced. The old clubhouse brought in a bit of money when it was sold to South Leamington FC for £500. During the season members were invited to make suggestions for naming the new ground and the winning suggestion was from Geoffrey Steele-Morgan. He proposed “Moorefields” to recognise the efforts of our President, Pip Moore, in bringing the move about. At the 1969 AGM, Pip’s efforts on behalf of the club were recognised further when he and Cliff Harrison were both elected as Honorary Life Members of the Club.

Extras 1968-69 – Ken Ellis (Chairman) Kevin Hunt, Chris Jackson, John Regan, Glyn Morgan, Mike Wilson, John Lyne, Norman David, Mick Pett, John Richardson – Graham Miller, Geoff Miller, Dave Wilkinson,

Tony Grimes, Chris Gandon, Paul Brant, Bernard Gallagher

Seconds 1968-69 Dick Ashley, John Hibben, Max Johansson, John Chandler, Trevor Roberts, Bob Russell, Merion Lee, Jim Ross, John Lyne, Bob Howe - Charlie Gardner, Hugh O’Shea, Kevin Hunt, Ianto Moody, Vic Barber, Ken Kirkwood

1969-70: Final Season at Old Ground

With the clubhouse now under construction and the pitches levelled, but resting, we continued to play most of our games at Old Warwick Road, but with three fixtures at home every other week we had to make all sorts of ad-hoc arrangements to accommodate the games, often reversing fixtures and playing more games away from home. In this last season at the old ground, Ray Ward returned to the captaincy for a fourth season and he had one of our first Colts, Archie Banks, as his vice-captain The 1st XV improved slightly and won 20 of their 37 games and Ray led a youthful pack with an average age of only 22, relying more on speed and mobility than the more traditional static forward game. Fred Emeney came through from the Colts to stake a claim to the hooker position and Steve Austin played some games in the second row. Pete Butler broke his ankle at the start of the campaign, so 6ft 8ins tall Trevor Roberts became a regular at lock, alongside Mick Pett. Trevor had worked his way up through the sides the previous season.

We made a good start with five wins in the first six games. Mountain Ash travelled up from Wales on the opening day and were beaten 8-6 and felt hard done by when the referee blew for full-time nine minutes early when they were pressing to save the game. Kenilworth were also beaten but we came unstuck against Stratford when conceding a very late try, having dominated most of the game. Our form was inconsistent throughout the autumn and we lost heavily to both Chiltern and Dudley-Kingswinford and we had to scramble a draw against Old Warwickians on Boxing Day with a late Geoff Miller try. A second win over Kenilworth got us back on track and our form improved as the season progressed.

First XV – 1969-70 Roger Maycock, Geoff Miller, Guy Nicholls, Brian Montgomery, Trevor Roberts, Trevor Wood, Bernard Gallagher, Mick Pett, Steve Nicholas - Archie Banks, Dave Green, Ray Ward, Fred Emeney, John Wheildon, John Taplin

Geoff Miller in his first full season was one of the big successes and he led the try scorers with 14. He was also capped for the England fire services team. Barry Davies, who was an excellent fly-half, joined us from Blaina via Old Leamingtonians at the start of the season and made his debut in October, forming a strong half-back combination with Roger Maycock. But he got a new job after Christmas and moved away to be replaced by ex-colt Trevor Wood, who was equally as effective. Another defector from the Old Leamingtonians was Pete Romback who joined us at Christmas and added speed and guile in the centre alongside John Taplin. Guy Nicholls was top scorer with 141 points but despite this good total he had nightmares with his kicking at times, missing many easy chances and was dropped for a spell to help him try and recover his confidence. We entered the South Warwickshire Floodlit Cup and beat Newbold and Sutton Coldfield before losing to favourites Solihull by 3-14 in the semi-final. We beat Kettering 16-8 in the last match at Old Warwick Road with tries from Miller, John Lyne and Paul Lea and afterwards there was a glorious party to mark our leaving. The team was - G Nicholls, G Miller, P Romback, J Taplin, A Banks, T Wood, P Lea, R Ward, D Grove, J Wheildon, J Lyne, P Butler, P Brant, B White, H Blackmore.

The Extras under skipper Tony Grimes also won 20 games and like the first team what could have been an outstanding record was spoiled by a mid-season slump when they lost 6 games in a row. John Quick scored 177 points to raise the club individual scoring record, mostly for the Extras, but he did have a run in the first team in place of Nicholls around Christmas. Billy Harris scored 16 tries and Jim Drury chipped in with 14. Ianto Moody led the Seconds for a second season and their form was much improved with 22 wins from 31 games. They scored an impressive 535 points. Malcolm Bloomer led a good Stags team which won 16 and lost 8, which may have been bettered but for cancellations by their opposing sides. Despite the limited number of games Lol Smith managed to notch up 155 points. The Tigers were even more badly affected by cry-offs and their season didn’t really get underway until the end of October and ended in February. Skipper Mervyn Cowley was injured early in the season. Paul Lea brought a team form his ship, HMS Decoy and they played two games against the Tigers. In Sevens we lost 8-16 to the hosts in the Stratford event in September fielding a social side. The first seven reached the quarter finals at Worcester the same day losing 3-11 to Old Dixonians. We reached the semi-finals at Lockheed in May.

Extras 1969-70 Mick Pett, John Quick, Neville Lee, Trevor Roberts, Paul Brant, Chris Jackson, Pete Romback, John Taplin –

Colin Hartwell, Jim Poynter, Glyn Morgan, Tony Grimes, Bill Brooks, Jim Drury, Dave Grove

The last game to be played at the old ground was on 29 April 1970 when Norman David’s “Out of Towners” drew 8-8 with Ray Ward’s “Socialites”, with Jack Devis appropriately scoring the final try. Meanwhile construction of the new clubhouse took shape over the season with Pip Moore laying the first brick, assisted by Ray Ward, Tim Shaw, Cliff Harrison, John Richardson Fred Emeney, John Oxenbould and Ken Ellis. The finished look is from 1973-74 with the addition of the patio doors leading from an extended lounge.

Moorefields Takes Shape