1985-86: Bucharest are Diamond Visitors

The club’s Diamond Jubilee was celebrated this season. The club dinner was held at the Lord Leycester Hotel on 31 January 1986. The guest of honour was Brigadier Dennis Shuttleworth, President of the RFU and he and the other main guests are shown in the photo below. This was followed by a dinner-dance at the Chesford Grange on 8 May.

Also, as part of the celebrations, the club hosted a 15 a-side tournament in October. Eight clubs were invited but only five turned up. The competition was played in two groups, with games lasting 20 minutes. Leamington beat Kenilworth 10-0 and Walsall 12-0 to reach the semi-finals. Banbury and Sutton Coldfield came through from the other group, narrowly putting out a second Leamington side. Unfortunately, we went down 12-4 to Banbury who in turn lost 13-0 to Sutton Coldfield in the final.

The other major celebratory event was a floodlit fixture against Romanian champions Steaua Bucharest. In November. Steaua was the Romanian army sports club and at the time it was probably as close as you could get to a professional rugby union team. They provided the backbone of the national side, which was pushing hard for a place in the then five-nations tournament. Peter Payne organised the match, which was sponsored by Carrick Travel. The Leamington XV was originally selected as a mixture of Leamington and other local clubs but ended up as mostly the regular team, plus a few home-bred players now playing for first-class clubs and a couple of external reinforcements.

The line-ups were - Leamington - Huw Bevan, David Jenkins, Peter Preece, Dean Rawlings, Andy Davies, Derek Larmour, John Williamson, Steve McGee, Bob Mallinson, Paul Gisbourne, Trevor Roberts, John Lyne, Barry Crawley (Warwick Univ), Dave McGee, Adam Warby (Rugby). Replacements - Peter Elliott, Tony Philpott, and Paul Ackerman Steaua - Liviu, Sorin, Vasile, Dimitru, Ghoerghe, Laurentiu, Teodor, Gheorghe, Mircea, George, Laurentiu, Marin, Raduleascu, Costica, Marcel

The game was played in the most appalling conditions with constant rain throughout, although a crowd of 600 turned up to watch. BBC cameras were also there and brief highlights were shown on Midlands Today. Leamington took a 3-0 lead with a Huw Bevan penalty and it was only on the stroke of half-time that the visitors, fielding 11 full or U21 internationals, took the lead. Inevitably their immense physical strength and superior fitness told in the end and four second half tries gave them a 25-3 victory. A sad post-script to the match was that in January 1990, news trickled through from Romania that two of the touring party - Florica Muraira and Alex Radulesku - had been killed in the fighting during the Romanian revolution of December 1989.

Second-row forward John Lyne who, on and off, had been a first team regular since the 1960s was elected as captain for the Diamond Jubilee season. It was clear from the start that he had inherited a very difficult situation. Attendance at pre-season training was abysmal and it was clear, once the season got underway, that some of the older players were not showing the same commitment as in previous years. We had good backs and there was a supply of promising forwards coming through from the Colts, such as Phil McGaffin, Mike Hein, Steve Harris and Tim Byford, but they needed time to build up their strength, stamina and experience. To add to our problems, Tony Philpott and Peter Gray decided to test themselves at first class level.

We were overpowered by Fullerians on the opening day but things didn’t look too bad when we came back to dispose of Newbold in the second game. However, it went downhill from there with only two wins in the next 12 games and those against relatively weak opposition in the shape of Warwick University and Coventry Welsh, in the opening round of the Warwickshire Cup. Desperate measures were needed and in mid-October, in an attempt to stabilise our forward effort, we fielded a “Dad’s Army” of John Sturley, Dave Reeve, Ray Ward, John Lyne and John Faulkner in the front five (with an average age of over 40) against Hereford. This didn’t provide an instant cure but finally things did start to pick up with successive wins against Dudley-Kingswinford and Hertford.

Then, the inevitable finally happened - we were drawn against Old Leamingtonians in the Warwickshire Cup, the first game between the clubs for many years. The timing could not have been much better for OLs, who were on a winning streak and we were having our worst run for years. Played at Moorefields on a murky December afternoon, in front of a crowd of around 1,000, it was a tense and tight affair. OLs took the lead with a penalty, only for Leamington to hit back with an Andy Davies try which John Williamson converted. Martyn Rawbone cancelled this out with a converted a try to put OLs into the lead again and thereafter increasingly desperate attacks by the superior Leamington three-quarters were repulsed by the disciplined visitors and a penalty by fly-half Nick Barrow sealed the game at 6-12. The OLs went on to reach the final where they lost to Solihull. There was a temporary reprieve for the Boxing Day games against Old Warwickians, which had been formally ended the previous season and Leamington won 24-0. The OLs then took over the fixture for the following two years, but perhaps this was too competitive a diversion from the Christmas festivities and the games did not continue.

First XV – 1985-86 Ray Ward, Andy Poole, Dean Rawlings, Lester Turner, John Sturley, Bill Dalton, John Faulkner,

Paul Ackerman, Derek Larmour, Peter Preece, Alan Newbold, Stuart Mallinson, John Lyne (captain)

John Williamson, Dave Reeve, Peter Payne (linesman)

The Cup defeat against OLs proved to the watershed of the season and fortunately our form began to improve after Christmas, with a lot of changes in the side due to injuries and unavailability. Steve Harris, Kevin Oliver and Geoff Walker formed an all new back-row. Brian Taylor came in at hooker and John Kane into the second-row. In the backs, Tim Moore returned and played outstandingly well at full-back and Stuart Mallinson became a regular at centre or fly-half, replacing Derek Larmour, who moved away to join the Metropolitan Police. Despite their speed and talent, the backs began to struggle and it was the now the forwards who started to play well and dominate games. But after a three week break for bad weather in February we hit another difficult patch with four Saturday defeats in a row, one of which was to an outstanding West Park side, paying their first visit from Lancashire. Five wins in April meant the season ended on a high note and an even record. In the Merit table we were only able to play 7 games due to the bad weather, but we won 4 and drew 1.

1st XV 1985-86 - Peter Payne (linesman), Mike Hein, Paul Ackerman, Peter Marshall, Trevor Roberts, Kevin Oliver, Lester Turner, Phil McGaffin, Derek Larmour, Phil Marsland - Simon David, Dean Rawlings, John Williamson, John Lyne (captain) David Glasborrow (Chairman) Alan Newbold, Dudley Turner

Bill Dalton captained the Extras and their fortunes mirrored those of the first team. They had their worst season for many years. A poor start was followed by a mini revival in mid-season, but following the break for bad weather their form nose-dived with no wins in ten, although they did halt the run in the final match. There were victories in the derby games against Kenilworth and Stratford, the latter being abandoned on 60 minutes after a major punch-up, fuelled by the behaviour of drunken spectators.

The Spartans also had an even record and the Tigers and Stags were both well in credit, although the Stags had their programme decimated after Christmas, with nine games cancelled. Norman David led a Tigers tour to the Isle of Man over Easter, which attracted a number of tour junkies from the up the club, as well as Norman’s regulars and some enthusiastic social drinkers. One of these was past-Chairman John Oxenbould, who went into a local pharmacy and asked if they had anything for giddiness, splitting headaches, acute sickness and diarrhoea. “When did the symptoms start?” asked the concerned pharmacist. “They haven’t yet, but I’m expecting them around midnight” John explained. Both games were won, with Tony Barton scoring twice in the opening match and star-turn Dean Rawlings touching down in both games.

Winger Andy Davies was elected Player of the Year and Matt Round was the most improved player. John Williamson was capped by Warwickshire, to add to his earlier caps for Cumbria and we were well represented in the county sides at under-23, 21 and Colts levels. Another feather in our cap was being awarded the Whistlers Trophy by the Society of Referees for showing the best hospitality in the County.

Spartans (December 1985) – Mick Brain, Geoff Walker, Brian Pocknee, Brian Taylor, Sean Price, Trevor Roberts,

John Kane, Chris Shoesmith, Roger Maycock, Peter Payne - Chris Murray, Phil Cowans, Pete Forrest,

Brian White (captain) Chris Tudge, Steve Johnson, Simon Lee, Steve Rigg

The full record of the Colts games is not available but they won around 15 of their 24 matches. In the Warwickshire Colts Cup we played Stratford in the quarter-finals and with the game heading for a draw, which would have put us through, a very late penalty put us out. Dicky Davies played for England Colts, becoming the first player from the club to be capped at this level. He played against Wales and France. Nick Brembridge narrowly missed out on joining him, but he made it through to the final trials and was elected as the Colts player of the year.

The second year of the U-21 floodlit tournament again attracted a strong field - Solihull, Northampton, Coventry, Nottingham, Lichfield, Moseley, Rugby, Burton, Stourbridge, Derby, Walsall and Leamington. In our opening group round we lost to Nottingham. Rugby then conceded their game against Nottingham which put them semi-finals and made our game with Rugby a dead rubber. Nottingham went on to beat Walsall, before losing 16-4 to Northampton in the final. Although we failed to repeat the triumph of the year before, we had a very young and much changed side, with captain Steve Harris, Nick Brembridge, Stuart Mallinson and Nick Gardner providing the backbone

In the end of season tournaments, we were finalists in the Old Warwickians veterans’ 15-a-side event and won both the Alcester and the Warwickshire Sevens, which was played at Old Leamingtonians. Our magnificent seven was never really fully extended and we breezed past Kenilworth, GEC and Barkers Butts in the group stages and Lanchester Polytechnic, Sutton Coldfield and finally Warwick University (32-6) in the knock-out rounds. Andy Davies, Laurence Boyle, Phil McGaffin, Andy Poole and Stuart Mallinson scored the tries and John Williamson the conversions. Maurice Goymer, who did so much to develop the colts and under-21 sides, was made an honorary life member of the club at the AGM in 1986.

Our record-breaking juniors continued their magnificent run at under-16 level, sweeping all before them. The highlights of their season were a 34-6 win over Portadulaiis from Swansea, who themselves had been unbeaten for four years, and in their final game a 24-8 win over Swansea and District, who included eight Welsh schoolboy internationals. In all they played 14 games and won 13, with just one draw and they scored 528 points against only 23. The success of these young players was increasingly being recognised at international level. Lawrence Boyle and Neil Griffiths (pictured) both played for England under-16 schoolboys on their Easter tour of Italy. Neil had played mini rugby at the club since he was eight, although he had since moved to Stamford. Lawrence was following in the footsteps of his brother Simon, who had played for England under-16s two years previously.

Tigers (Isle of Mann) !985-86 - John Warner, Matt Round, Chris Watkins, John Lyne, John Hibben, Tony Barton,

Norman David, Hugh Smith, John Sturley, Bernard Gallagher, Les Rogers – Richard Armitage,

Nick Oxenbould, Chivvy Bywater, Fred Emeney, Stuart Mace, Dean Rawlings, Tony Grimes

1986-87: End of the Friendly Era

Flying winger Andy Davies (right), who was player of the year in 1986, stepped up to captain of the first team. Past-skipper Bill Dalton became coach. Peter Gray and Gary Taylor returned after spells with Rugby and Northampton respectively and were welcome additions to the side. We also recruited ex-Old Leamingtonians winger Dave Jenkins from Moseley. Players to leave were prop-forward John Sturley, who hung up his boots after six years, and Tim Moore, who after injuring his ankle in the opening game moved to OLs.

The team got off to a promising start with wins against Wolverhampton, Newbold and Kettering and an unlucky midweek loss to Solihull. We then came down to earth with a 40-9 defeat against Coventry Extras and, after a week off, with many of the players attending Tim Byford’s wedding, we lost all five games in October. This culminated in a second defeat against Solihull, this time in the Warwickshire Cup. Leading 10-3 at the break and on top for most of the second half, we lost Phil McGaffin and Andy Davies to injury and the game began to swing Solihull’s way. Going into injury time we were still hanging on to a 3-point lead but a penalty with the last kick of the game levelled the scores. This meant extra-time and it was Solihull who got the vital score, with another penalty, near the end.

The strong performance at Solihull turned things around and thereafter the team settled down for a fairly good season with an overall record slightly in credit, pretty much as it had been for the previous four or five years. 10 wins out of 12 were achieved from the beginning of December to the end of February and thereafter results were about even, with good wins against Leighton Buzzard and Stockwood Park. The only significant blots on our record were a heavy defeat at home to Berry Hill and a second defeat by neighbours Old Leamingtonians, in the Boxing Day game. John Williamson took on the kicking duties and finished as top scorer with 133 points. Andy Davies led the try scorers with 12, closely followed by Tim Byford who scored 11 from the back of the scrum.

First XV 1986-87 Tim Byford, Maurice Goymer (Chair of Selectors) Rob Jenkins, Steve McGee, Dennis Brown, Steve Harris, Lester Turner, Paul Ackerman, Kevin Oliver, Pete Marshall, Bill Dalton (coach) Andy Davies (captain) – Simon David, Stuart Mallinson, Dicky Davies, Gary Taylor, Dudley Turner, John Williamson, Marcus Greenway

A quietly spoke Irishman called Frank Wilson rang the club after Christmas asking whether we could fit him up with a game, although he explained that he hadn’t played for some time and might not be up to much. After a few games for the Stags, he looked quite good and people became curious about him when he dropped out in conversation that he knew Mike Gibson and that he had played for CIYMS, a top club in Belfast. Maurice Goymer happened to be leafing through his Christmas rugby annual when he saw that Frank had played three times at full-back for Ireland in the 1977 Five Nations. Frank arrived with impeccable timing as Gary Taylor injured his shoulder against the West Midlands Police and he came into the side at fly-half and played there for the rest of the season and half of the next.

Prop-forward Chris Shoesmith was captain of the Extras, but as often happened to second team skippers, he spent most of the season in the first team. They defeated Warwick and GEC Coventry in the early rounds of the Warwickshire 2nd XV Cup, but lost by a massive 61-6 at Newbold in the quarter finals. They finished with a similar record to the first team but their form was patchy throughout with short winning runs followed by similar sequences of defeats. The other sides we were having real problems. The Spartans won only 11 of 36 games and finished with a run of 8 defeats. The Stags under Richard Armitage had a very similar record and at one stage of the season lost 11 in a row. Their low point was a record 104-0 defeat at Berry Hill in February. Norman David’s Tigers fared even worse. They had difficulty in raising a side or getting opponents early on and only five games were played up to the end of November. Thereafter it was a disastrous season which finished with 1 win out of 13, during which time they scored only 36 points, failing to trouble the scorer in 8 of their games.

Fortunately, the Colts, captained by Simon Boyle, were strong all season and won 21 games, with a dominant pack and a talented three-quarter line. Alistair Moffat, Graham Wilcock, Nick Gardner, Lyndon Sinnett, Simon Boyle and Andy Howard (pictured) all played in the Warwickshire Colts squad that won through to the final of the NatWest Shield at Twickenham, with Moffat playing at full-back in the final.

In the Warwickshire Cup, victories over Newbold, Silhillians and Nuneaton took them into their fourth final, at Coundon Road, where they lined up against the holders, Barkers Butts, who had beaten them comfortably a few weeks earlier. This time our forwards dominated the game and we went ahead with a try from scrum-half Nick Gardner. Barkers scored an equalising try against the run of play, mid-way through the second half, but we were not to be denied and a break by Laurence Boyle was finished off by speedy winger Neil Wilson and converted by Miller Crockhart to secure the Cup. The picture right shows Alex Nathan lifting the trophy. They fell just short of a double, losing in the final of the Warwickshire Colts Sevens, played at Solihull.

Colts Seven – Warwickshire Cup finalists 1987. Nick Gardner, Glynn Edwards, Guy Pattinson,

Laurence Boyle - Niall Griffiths, Guy Stanton, Neil Wilson

The Guinness Record breaking junior squad bowed out as they completed their progress through the junior ranks as under-17s and won their 6 games in a limited season, mostly by big scores and conceding only one try. The photo below shows them about to play Kenilworth. When they didn’t have a game, they assimilated into the Colts and 8 of them featured in the Cup Final squad. Having begun as Under-10s in 1979-80, they played 155 games over 8 seasons, winning 147, drawing 5 and losing only 3. They won every tournament they entered and scored a total of 4,820 points and conceded only 224. Future first team players to come through this side included Laurence Boyle, Guy Stanton and Peter Griffiths. Their overall record is below

1986-87 Under-17’s Terry Liggins, Patrick Wegerdt, Guy Stanton, Laurence Boyle, David Standbridge, Mark Colebrook, Matthew Bailey, Neil Wilson, Mike Heelis, xxxx, Niall Griffiths, Guy Pattinson, Mark Ridgway, Jamie Cooper, Phil Jackson – Millar Crockhart, Matthew Burton, Ian Oxtoby, Richard Croft, Tim Liggins, Adam Wiltshire, Colin Dick, Peter Griffiths

The third year of the Pottertons under-21 floodlit competition attracted the usual strong field. We were in an extremely difficult group and the opening game was lost to Nottingham. In a much-improved performance we comfortably beat Burton, but a defeat against Coventry, in the final group game, put us out of the running. In the semi-finals, Nottingham defeated holders Northampton and Coventry overcame Lichfield, to set up a repeat of their group game, which had been won easily by Coventry. This time the well organised Nottingham side prevailed, winning 9-4 to take the trophy.

In the end of season festivities, we fielded an over-35 side in the second running of the Old Warwickians’ veterans tournament, which we won, beating Stoke Old Boys and Old Yardleians on the way to the final where we defeated Broadstreet (18-0) thanks to a hat-trick of tries from Peter Preece.

Under 21s (October 1986) – Brian White (Team Manager), Darren Bird, Simon Lee, Tim Owens, Richard Smith, Dicky Davies, Alistair Moffat, Stuart Mallinson, Jim Casey – Matthew Bolton, Simon Boyle, Mark Turner, Mark Harvey, Steve Harris (captain), Bruce Grant, Richard Messenger, Lyndon Sinnett

Old Warwickians Vets winners 1987 Brian White, Jim Poynter, Mick Brain, John Kane, Tony Evans, John

Wheildon, Bob Hickman, Rod Philpott, Kit Forrest, Peter Preece (In his England socks), Fred Emeney,

Phil Marsland, Chris Shoesmith, Bill Dalton

This season was the end of the “friendly era” in rugby union. The Mercia Merit Table was run for the last time, as the RFU announced the introduction of an integrated league structure from the top to the bottom of the game, to commence in 1987-88. Over seven years the merit tables had provided a useful introduction to competitive rugby but had had little impact on the game, with no relegation or promotion, nor the absolute necessity to fulfil all the fixtures. We were fortunate that with the availability of floodlights we were able to play more games than most, by accommodating teams against whom we did not have a Saturday fixture and by rearranging games lost to bad weather. In this final season we had a creditable 6 wins out of 10.

And so, as we entered the era of league rugby, the Firsts and Extras were holding their own against our traditional opponents, but our usual strength throughout the club was on the wane, with the Spartans, Stags and Tigers all having had poor seasons – almost disastrous by comparison with previous years. On the other hand, the future progression of players through the club was looking bright, with a strong cohort of ex-Colts already making their reputations and the Colts side back to its best after three years of rebuilding. Behind them the invincible under-17s were coming through into the Colts and promised great things.

Tom Commander died in January 1987 aged 73. He joined the club in 1930 and had the distinction of captaining the first XV either side of the war. He played mainly as a second row but was a strong all-round forward and was thought good enough to have gone first class. Brian Griffin, a modern stalwart, was elected as an Honorary Life Member at the 1987 AGM. He continued to attend the club every day to look after the ground and clubhouse for the next 30 years, until his death in 2017.

1987-88: Leagues begin…Down we Go

The summer of 1987 was a watershed for the game of rugby. The inaugural Rugby World Cup was held in New Zealand and England played so poorly, the RFU came to realise that if we wanted to compete effectively, we had to take a more professional approach. It followed that if the national side was to become more competitive, then club rugby had to change. The decision had already been made to introduce a league structure in England and this began in 1987-88, following several years of national and county cups and merit tables.

The RFU established a top to bottom league structure for England and clubs were placed in this according to some magic formula relating to their status as first class or junior clubs, the strength of their fixture lists and their results. The first-class clubs were accommodated in three national and two area leagues, covering the north and south. Below this there were four regional divisions, including the Midlands. Our ambition was to be included in the top league in the Midlands, but we were placed in the second one (Midlands West) along with Burton, Bromsgrove, Dudley-Kingswinford, Evesham, Hereford, Newbold, Sutton Coldfield, Tamworth, Worcester and Dixonians. Our main local rivals - Kenilworth, Stratford and Old Leamingtonians - were in the Warwickshire & Staffordshire League which was the next one down. Below this there were Warwickshire Leagues 1 and 2 which accommodated the smaller clubs. Teams played each other once (either home or away) so with only 10 games in total, the league matches made up less than a third of the fixture list. Most of the traditional fixtures were therefore retained but it was the beginning of the end for the pattern by which clubs would play six games against each other, all the way down the sides. Gradually, more fragmented and localised fixture lists came into being. Clubs could no longer choose (or avoid) their opponents, and league rather than historical status was to become the key to better fixtures.

In preparation for the brave new world, there were big changes on the Club’s committee. Maurice Goymer took over as President, supported by Roger Maycock as Chairman and Peter Payne and Dave Scannell as Secretary and Treasurer respectively. There was a determination to exploit the advantages of competition and to maximise the opportunities that a successful town club could achieve by obtaining sponsorship. The club signed up with Cartransport Ltd [later to become BRS] as our first main sponsor. Over the next few years, the practise of sponsoring pitch-side boards, programme advertisements, shirt logos and lunches prior to games became an important feature of the work of the club.

First XV – 1987-88 (at Kenilworth) Dave Jagger, Phil McGaffin, Hugh Morgan, Tony Philpott, Steve Chesterfield,

Peter Gray, Tim Byford, Peter Elliott, Andy Poole, Bob Mallinson (coach) – Nigel Brembridge, Bill Parks,

Andy Davies (Captain), Stuart Mallinson, Steve Harris, Simon David

Andy Davies continued as skipper, but inspirational scrum-half John Williamson had moved on to try his luck with Coventry. Otherwise, our side was more or less as before and with a supply of good young players coming through. However, despite this promising position we entered league rugby in a state of some disarray. Seven of the ten league games were played in a concentrated period of nine weeks during September and October, so a good start was vital. No-one told Phil McGaffin that it was not a good idea to have his wedding on the opening week of the league programme and to invite half of the first XV. We therefore fielded an under-strength side against Dudley-Kingswinford and although we took an early lead with two Frank Wilson penalties, we were overhauled late in the game and went down 10-6. The team in our first league match was - Alistair Moffatt, Dave Jenkins, Rod Philpott, Stuart Mallinson, Tony Philpott, Frank Wilson, Colin Aston, Pete Read, Brian Taylor, Dennis Brown, Ian Oliver, Pete Marshall, Eamonn Atkinson, Alan Reeve and Steve Chesterfield

Two of the next four games were won: against Evesham and Burton, but by the end of the opening series of league matches we were in deep trouble with only two wins from seven and one place off the relegation zone. Things got worse when the Warwickshire Cup got underway in November. After a comfortable opening win over Shipston, we drew GEC Coventry at home and faced the usual dilemma of whether to play the Saturday fixture or not. In the event we played Hertford on the Saturday and won and then fielded much the same side the next day. We led 16-3 after an hour and were well in control, until the visitors rallied as we faded and they scored three late tries to knock us out by a point.

Major changes were then made to the side, with Bill Parks, Nigel Brembridge, Peter Elliott and Chris Jagger coming in. Stuart Mallinson moved to fly-half and Steve Harris into the second-row. The changes did the trick and we were unbeaten for the remainder of the calendar year, including local derby victories over Kenilworth, Stratford and Old Leamingtonians. It wasn’t to last however and a league defeat to a strong Bromsgrove side at the beginning of January ended our run and our form dipped badly with only three wins in eleven, leading up to a vital league match at home to Newbold in mid-March. The Bold were doing as badly as we were and the result would decide which of us would go down with Evesham. In a tight contest, our forwards were dominant in the set pieces but Newbold were better in the loose and we could not control the game. A penalty by centre Bill Parks put us ahead, only for Newbold to take the lead with a try. A converted try by Parks put us in front for a second time but again Newbold came back to go 10-9 up at the break. Despite going close on a number of occasions we could not turn the game around and an exchange of penalties left Newbold as winners by 13-12 and down we went.

Extras v Berry Hill, Feb 1988 - Tim Byford, Neil Hulme, Alan Reeve, Paul Mullis, Lester Turner, Paul Ackerman, Brian Taylor, Dave Jenkins – David Payne, Dave Pearce, Tony Philpott, Denis Brown, Richard Nuttall, Mike Cleary, Ade Cleaver

Although we had not played well when it mattered, the overall record was only slightly less than even and we were still capable of good performances in the friendly games. We lost narrowly at high-flying Berry Hill and we had excellent wins over Paviors, Peterborough, Barkers Butts, Wolverhampton and Stockwood Park, who were all playing in Midlands 1. Maybe we would have fared better if we had played in the higher league, or perhaps teams were beginning to take their foot off the pedal in non-league games. Looking to the future, Peter Gray was outstanding in the second-row and was player of the year and we could anticipate his future partnership with Guy Pattinson, who made his debut in January. Guy Stanton and Richard Nuttall, also made their debuts and Stuart Mace came into the front row after Christmas.

The Extras under Denis Brown had another good season, winning 31 times and lifting the Warwickshire Second Team Cup for the first (and still the only) time. Their matches were hard fought and in a 12-game winning streak in mid-season most were won by less than 6 points. In the Cup, we had wins over Keresley, Newbold, Manor Park and Trinity Guild, in a close final at Keresley, where tries by Mike Cleary and Paul Ackerman clinched the game 8-3. The winning line-up was: Dave Pearce, Mike Cleary, Dave Jenkins, Tony Philpott, Dave Payne, Adie Cleaver, Richard Nuttall, Dave Limmer, Brian Taylor, Dennis Brown, Guy Pattinson, Paul Ackerman, Kevin Oliver, Lester Turner and Alan Reeve, with Bill Dalton and Chris Miles on the bench. Promising fly-half Mike Cleary was elected as the Club’s most improved player of the season for his performances in the Extras.

Steve Johnson captained the Spartans, who had a season of contrasting halves - a dreadful run up to the end of October with only one win, but a strong finish, ending up slightly in credit. The Stags skippered by Richard Armitage had a similar overall record but they started well and were more consistent throughout the season. There was a welcome return to form for Norman David’s Tigers who were able to field an experienced pack, with veterans John Lyne, Dave Green, Bob Hickman, Ray Ward, John Hibben, Geoff Challis and Pete Read all featuring during the season. They won 20 matches and enjoyed another good tour, this time to Devon, with their usual guest star Dean Rawlings scoring most of their points.

Tigers on tour to Devon – Jeremy Byers, Chris Watkins, John Hibben, John Lyne, Rod Philpott, Dean Rawlings,

Dave Limmer, Tony Barton, Les Rogers, Simon Chandler - Hugh Smith, Mike Fairbotham, Stuart Mace,

Richard Armitage, Chivvy Bywater, Norman David, Rob Hickman

After their Cup winning success the previous season it was rebuilding time again for the Colts, under skipper Ian Oxtoby and they won only 12 games, although this included a 16-12 victory over a touring side from the Far North Zone of New South Wales. The defence of the Warwickshire Cup ended at the first hurdle when an injury-hit side lost 4-14 to Nuneaton. As a consolation they finished the season with another success at the Warwickshire Colts Sevens. The line-up of Guy Stanton, Richard Caldicott, Guy Pattinson, Ian Oxtoby, Dave Standbridge, Peter Griffiths and James Cooper beat a strong entry, finishing with Barkers Butts in the final. Stanton and Caldicott were the stars of the tournament.

On the representative front we continued to do well. Neil Griffiths won further caps for England, this time at under 18-level and Laurence Boyle played for the Midlands. Peter Gray won his first senior cap for Warwickshire and others represented the county at under-21, colts and junior levels.

The Pottertons under-21 floodlit competition was held for the fourth season. We played in a group with holders Nottingham, Lichfield and Nuneaton and again failed to make the semi-final stage. Northampton won the trophy, putting out Nottingham in their semi-final and defeating Lichfield in the final.In the end of season tournaments, our Veterans retained the Old Warwickians trophy and we hosted the Warwickshire Sevens, but unfortunately went out 16-12 in the quarter-finals to Old Leamingtonians.

Under 21s 1987-88 – Carl Mace, Guy Pattinson, Alan Tucker, Andy Howard, Lynden Sinnett, Nick Brembridge,

Nick Gardner, Richard Smith, Adam Griffiths, Brian White (Rugby Chairman) – Laurence Boyle, Adrian Cleaver,

Mike Cleary, Richard Nuttall, Bill Parks, Phil Miles, Peter Griffiths

Old Warwickians Trophy winners 1988 Kit Forrest, John Kane, Frank Wilson, Dennis Brown, Tony Evans,

Wranga Reeve John Lyne, Jim Poynter – Rob Hickman, Archie banks, Phil Marsland, Chris Shoesmith,

Mick Brain, Rod Philpott, Brian White

Local clubs Southam and Harbury both celebrated their silver anniversaries during the season, but sadly AP Leamington (formerly Lockheed) folded after 43 years, due to the company deciding to sell their sports field for redevelopment and thereby making them homeless. The club was founded during the war and many of our players appeared for them once we suspended our activities in 1943. In recent years they had provided a rich source of recruits to Leamington. As part of their farewell programme, we played a fixture against them and a strong team won narrowly by 13-12. Another end of season game was against Warwickshire Referees Society who won 42-30, proving that at least not all of them were blind.

1988-89: Young Stars Shine

After a disastrous first season of league rugby, the Club’s ambition was to bounce back as soon as possible, which we knew would be difficult, but not beyond us. Relegated to the Warwickshire & Staffordshire League we were to come up against a number of Staffs clubs we had not played before, as well as Stratford and Old Leamingtonians. Kenilworth had gone down to Warwickshire 1. Dicky Davies moved to Coventry during the summer and Dave Jagger joined Worcester. Newcomers included fly-half Richard Miller, a Welshman who had been playing in New Zealand and Steve Malling a wing forward from Old Reigatians. Jim Freeman, who was a Cambridge Blue the previous year, also played for a short while during the autumn. Peter Gray (right) was the new captain and he was one of ten former and three current Colts in the side which opened the season - Guy Stanton, Simon David, Dean Rawlings, Laurence Boyle, Dave Jenkins, Richard Miller, Richard Nuttall, Phil McGaffin, Pete Elliott, Dennis Brown, Guy Pattinson, Peter Gray, Tim Byford, Pete Harris and Kevin Oliver

First XV 1988-89 Dave Jenkins, Dean Rawlings, Lester Turner, Dave Jagger, Andy Poole, Guy Pattinson, Guy Stanton, Steve Harris - Stuart Mallinson, Chris Shoesmith, Denis Brown, Peter Gray (captain) Peter Elliott, Richard Miller, Simon David

Solihull cancelled our opening game, so we played against GEC Coventry, the side that had put us out of the Warwickshire Cup the previous year. We gained our revenge comfortably. It was then straight into the league programme and a run of four convincing victories over Trentham, Newcastle, Stoke Old Boys and Willenhall, playing open and attractive rugby. Warning bells then began to ring as we suffered a bad spate of injuries and in addition we were forced to do without Stanton, Pattinson and Boyle, who were on representative duty for most of the next four months. In the Warwickshire Cup we went through the first round with a comfortable win over Claverdon and then drew Stoke Old Boys, who we had already beaten in the league. Deciding to give the league priority we fielded our first string on the Saturday and nine reserves for the Cup game. After leading 6-0 at the break, we folded in the second half, conceding 28 points without reply and another chance of lifting the elusive Cup was gone.

In our next league game, we played a strong Leek side and we were struggling with suspensions and injuries at hooker. Pete Elliott and Mike Hein were both unavailable, so Brian Taylor was called out of semi-retirement. He lasted 20 minutes before he too was injured and substitute Brian White had to come on and take over. Thereafter we struggled for possession and were lucky to sneak a 10-9 win. The next week we were away at Keresley, who were also unbeaten. Chivy Bywater was the next one to fill in at hooker, but the curse struck again and he went off, to be replaced by student John McCullough, who had been brought home from University as emergency cover. We went down 16-9 and the next week suffered a loss to Stratford, which almost put us out of contention for the league and promotion.

In the mid-season break between league fixtures, our early season form ebbed away and our fixture list was wrecked by rearrangements. The problem was that our traditional fixture list was stronger than our league one and many of our listed opponents were trying to catch up with league postponements or were involved in county cups and were cancelling on us. Consequently, we were regular visitors to the “fixture pool” and picked up an assortment of clubs, including some relatively easy ones and some very strong ones, including Birmingham and Stourbridge. Having ended the traditional Boxing Day game with Old Warwickians, the replacement against Old Leamingtonians was also cancelled after just two years and instead, a domestic game between a Leamington XV and the President’s XV was introduced as a way of providing a suitably friendly fixture and the opportunity to include former players who had moved away and were home for Christmas. The first game ended in a 23-18 win for the Leamington side. The Colts arranged to play the “Academicals” on a similar basis.

Leamington v President’s XV Andy Howard, Dave Mortimer, Mark Shimwell, Jim Freeman, Bob Mallinson, Stuart Mallinson, Chris Jagger, Richard Smith, Tim Byford, Steve McGee, Dave McKowen, John Lyne, Jamie Blackburn, Pat Callaghan, Alistair Moffat - Brendan O’Sullivan, Lester Turner, Pete Elliott, Bruce Grant, Steve Harris, John Moffat, Malcolm Fry (ref) - Dave Ward, Dean Rawlings, Dicky Davies, Laurence Boyle, Adam Griffiths, Dave McGee, Richard Nuttall, Nick Brembridge, Simon David

When the league resumed in March, with three rounds of games left to play, Keresley led by two points from Stratford, Old Leamingtonians and ourselves. Although we were to beat Nuneaton Old Edwardians and Old Longtonians, Keresley crushed OLs and with two relatively easy fixtures to play and the best points’ difference they were more or less home and dry. Our final game was against Old Leamingtonians, who had been narrowly beaten in the Warwickshire Cup final. We lined up against them knowing that second place was secure but there was little chance of promotion. Local “bragging rights” were there to play for however and in another tight game at the Crofts we went 7-0 up in the first half with a Rawlings penalty and a Byford try under the posts. The conversion was charged down which proved crucial as the OLs scored three second-half penalties, to win 9-7.

Overall, it was not a bad season, with a record point total of 704, but possible promotion was lost over two weekends in November when we were disrupted by injuries and our star Colts were on representative duty. Peter Gray was outstanding at second-row in his first year as captain and Simon David was another leading performer and top try scorer. We were very much strengthened by the constant stream of colts coming through. Richard Nuttall, Leigh Cleary, Ade Cleaver, John Moffat, Lynton Sinnett and Richard Smith all had runs in the side.

The Leamington Courier for 1988-89 (and for other seasons in the early 1990’s) has a number of gaps where results, other than those of the first team were not reported and the usual summary of results was not included in the AGM report. Therefore, it is not possible to give a full picture of the season. Hopefully, someone has kept the results in their fixture card and these might eventually come to light. What is known, is that the Extras under Dennis Brown, had another good season, starting with 7 victories on the trot and winning 24 of the 30 games for which scores are available. To support the first XV, the decision was taken not to enter the Warwickshire Second XV Cup and the Extras were denied the opportunity to defend their trophy. The Stags and Tigers appear to have had close to fifty-fifty records. The Spartans, led by Chris Shoesmith, had a spectacular season losing only two games and winning around 30. Masquerading as a veterans’ side they also won the Old Warwickians’ tournament for the third time in a row, beating Banbury 8-0 in the final. Their typical late-season line-up was - Hugh Morgan, Ed Jessamine, Steve Johnson, Jim Poynter, Des Dillon, Kit Forrest, Richard Nuttall, Pete Read, Pat Riley, Richard Croft, Brian White, Paul Regan, Stuart Mace, Tom Tucker and Rob Hickman,

Guy Stanton, Guy Pattinson, Lawrence Boyle and Neil Griffiths (pictured) all played in the Warwickshire Colts side which reached the final of the county championship. John Moffat also played in the early rounds. They then went forward into the Midlands side which won the Divisional championship and all four were picked for the final England squad, although, unfortunately, only Griffiths was capped. He played in all the games. Also on the representative front, Adam Griffiths and Miller Crockhart played for the Anglo-Scottish under-21 side and Adam played at under-21 level with the Combined Services.

With their best players on first XV duty the Colts were left weakened and found it difficult to raise a side. They had a torrid start to the season, losing seven of their first eight games by an average of over 40 points. In the Warwickshire Cup, a strengthened side went down narrowly by 6-7 to Kenilworth who had put 44 points past the regular team the week before. There are no further games reported after this point and it is thought that the remaining fixtures were abandoned. With their stars in the side, the Colts fielded a formidable sevens team and they won the Warwickshire Colts event in September, beating Kenilworth in the final and they represented the club in the senior event in April, getting through to the semi-finals. The seven were - Guy Stanton, Laurence Boyle, John Moffatt, Chris Pritchard, Glyn Edwards, Richard Croft, and Neil Griffiths.

The Pottertons Under-21 floodlit competition was held for a fifth a final time. The proliferation of representative rugby, coupled with the demands of the new league structure had stretched clubs’ resources to the extent that they could no longer commit themselves to the competition. Only five teams entered – Walsall, Northampton Nottingham (who dropped out), Lichfield and Leamington. With the reduced entry the teams played each other on a round-robin basis with the two top sides contesting the final. After three years of rebuilding, following our success in 1985, we opened with a 6-6 draw against Walsall and lost 6-11 to Northampton. The other results are not known but we ended up in the final against the Saints and in an exciting game reversed the first result to win the Trophy for a second time, by 23-19, with two tries from Nick Gardner and one from Laurence Boyle.

Mini and junior rugby was continuing to flourish with about 150 youngsters participating regularly in coaching and matches throughout the season. However, recruitment was not easy and there were signs that demographics, alternative leisure activities and the demise of rugby in local schools was beginning to have an effect on participation. Due to lack of numbers, we were unable to field an under-15 side and the long-term impact of this would be an interruption in the supply of players graduating to the Colts in future years. Things were healthier at under-16 level where the side had a good season and toured Ireland where they defeated Greystones 33-8 and lost narrowly by 9-12 to Palmerston de la Salle. They also came out on top in an early season tournament to find the Stars of Tomorrow, organised by Stratford. We defeated Stratford and Kenilworth and guest side Doncaster to lift the trophy.

Under 21’s 1988-89 (Floodlit Cup Winners) Dominic Coker, Richard Smith, Laurence Boyle, Lyndon Sinnett,

Nick Gardner, Guy Pattinson, Jamie Cooper, John Moffatt, Mark Shipley, Karl Mace - Steve Vaughan, Ade Cleaver,

Peter Griffiths, Guy Stanton (Captain) John McCullough, Adam Griffiths, Nial Griffiths, Ian Herbert

Winners of Stratford “Stars of Tomorrow” Tournament Peter Payne, Rod Grinnell, Simon Payne, Simon Grinnell, Tim Cowley, David Machin, Stephen Moorhouse, Nick Ingram, Peter Broome, Adam Clarke, Stephen McCluskey, Derek French, xxx - Mark Long-Leather, Justin French, Jeremy Payne, Kenny Johnson, Paul McGreevy, Alex Everard, Andrew Sheridan, Vishal Kundi, Danny Sparks

1989-90: Staffs & Warks League Winners

After gaining the runner-up spot in the Staffordshire & Warwickshire league, the previous season, it was hoped to go one better this time. In order to provide some help, an advertisement was placed for a new club coach, but we failed to attract anyone. Instead, we managed to come up with an in-house solution by recruiting Dave Reeve and Rob Hickman to take on the role between them. Reluctant and hesitant at first, they quickly grew into it and with their drive and determination, became a huge success. An important tool at their disposal was a new “state of the art” scrummaging machine which was purchased at a cost of over £4,000, with the help of donations from club members. This was to prove invaluable in developing the forwards’ scrummaging technique, as opponents were soon to find out.

Guy Stanton, Guy Pattinson and Laurence Boyle moved en-bloc to Moseley in the summer to progress their promising careers and Stanton and Boyle were to play regularly in their first team. Boyle, who had played for England at Under-16s, made tremendous progress and was rewarded with selection for England Under-21’s. Replacing them was to prove difficult and we were generally short in the three-quarters, but Tony Murray came in at full-back after several years playing down the club and we were pleased to welcome back Simon David and John Williamson. Both proved to be prolific try-scorers, with David’s speed, strength and elusiveness on the wing and Williamson’s sniping behind the pack

The opening game was a friendly against newly merged Birmingham & Solihull and we were the first club to play them in their new guise. A photo of the event is shown below. A narrow 6-10 defeat put us in good heart for the opening league fixture against Handsworth, in which former colts Neil Griffiths (who had also just made the England under-21 squad) and Jon and Alistair Moffatt all played. Three tries by Williamson helped us get off to a 32-12 winning start and this was followed by a victory over Newcastle. In the third match we went down 11-12 to Tamworth, when despite scoring the only two tries of the game through Richard Nuttall, four penalties were conceded, the last of which was given controversially when a Leamington player retrieved the ball from touch and kicked it back to the approximate position of the line-out only for the referee to rule that he was trying to delay the restart and award the vital kick. According to Bernard Gallagher, our press correspondent at the time, there was hardly a penalty given against us all season that anyone other than the referee saw and hardly a try conceded when everyone, except the referee, saw an obvious forward pass. But he recalls this as being the worst decision against us that he ever witnessed. It was true that our high penalty count was a major weakness and cost us in many games. Ironically, for the second time, the club won the Warwickshire referees Whistler Trophy as the most hospitable club, but this was all they gave us and less penalties would have been equally welcome.

With this early defeat in a league programme of only 10 games, we expected that we would have to win all our remaining matches to be promoted. Willenhall were next up in what in the end proved to be the decisive game. A pushover try scored by Williamson clinched a tight game by 9-3 and further wins against Leek, Coventry Welsh and Stratford left us in a triple tie at the top with Tamworth and Willenhall at Christmas, with three games to go. The scrum had now bedded into a formidable unit and was pulverising the opposition, with pushover tries rapidly becoming its trademark. Tim Byford scored three tries from No8 in the Coventry Welsh game.

First XV 1989-90 Bob Hickman (coach), Dave Mortimer, Stuart Mallinson, Dave McGee, Phil McGaffin, Tim Byford,

John Lyne, Kevin Oliver, Geoff Walker, Peter Gray (captain), Dave Reeve (coach) - Dudley Turner, Simon David,

Richard Miller, Richard Nuttall, Mike Hein, Tony Murray, John Williamson, Stuart Mace

In the Warwickshire Cup, the Saturday games were cancelled, so we didn’t have to play two games in a weekend. This meant forgoing some strong traditional fixtures against Kenilworth, Burton, Sutton Coldfield and Mansfield. In the opening round we came through a surprisingly tight game against Manor Park and then we were paired with GEC Coventry, who had put us out two years earlier. This time we went through 7-6 in a game which was not as close as the score suggests. Dave Jenkins scored a hat-trick against Rugby Welsh in the third round which brought us up against Old Warwickians in the quarter finals and resulted in a 37-0 victory, with Richard Nuttall scoring a hat trick. In the semi-final in February, we played holders Bedworth at Sutton Coldfield in appalling conditions, with a gale force wind driving icy rain down the pitch throughout the match. We achieved a 10-0 lead with the wind, due to a Peter Gray try and two penalties from John Williamson, but in the second period Bedworth turned the game around to win 11-10 as the weather worsened in their favour.

Dicky Davies returned from Coventry at Christmas and took over the hooking duties, but unfortunately wing-forward Steve Malling was forced to retire due to injury. Kevin Oliver was pressed into service to cover the absence of skipper Peter Gray, who was sent off twice and served two suspensions of six weeks each. This put great pressure on the second-row position with others out injured and veteran John Lyne had to play continuously. Another newcomer to the side was fly-half Richard Caldicott pictured) who had come through the mini and junior ranks and was re-writing the record book for Warwickshire College’s team. A strong and clever runner and an excellent kicker he made his debut in December and by January he was a regular in the team. Tragically, with a potentially glittering career in front of him, he was killed in a road traffic accident at Stoneleigh at the beginning of March, on his way to training at the club. This put a damper on things but made us all the more determined to finish the job and win promotion when league games resumed the next week.

A league record 48-6 win over Nuneaton Old Edwardians set us on our way, with the pack coming together to devastate the opposition and John Williamson taking advantage to score five tries. A nervy victory followed against Old Longtonians, when from 15-0 up at half-time we were pegged back to 15-9 and were hanging on at the end. With Willenhall having completed their programme with only one loss (to us) we needed to win against Old Leamingtonians in our final game to clinch the title on points’ difference. The game was played at Moorefields on a sunny afternoon and the old boys, who had beaten us in our only two previous competitive encounters, were keen to deny us promotion. Although it was nervy, we controlled the game throughout and two Stuart Mallinson penalties and a converted try from John Williamson saw us home and we were promoted to Midlands 2, from where we had started from three years earlier.

The final day line-up was - Tony Murray, Simon David, Dudley Turner, Richard Miller, Dave Jenkins, Rob Mallinson, John Williamson, Phil McGaffin, Dicky Davies, Stuart Mace, Kevin Oliver, Peter Gray, Tim Byford, Steve Harris and Simon Boyle with Matt Colin and Richard Nuttall as replacements

Our prospects looked good as we had developed a balance between backs and forwards and in friendly games, against teams from higher divisions, we had acquitted ourselves very well, including narrow losses to Bromsgrove, Birmingham-Solihull and Barkers Butts and good wins over Hinckley, Wolverhampton and Newbold. The coaching team of Dave Reeve and Rob Hickman had proved to be a great success and they were rightly chosen as joint clubmen of the year. Scrum half John Williamson effectively became the third man in the coaching team and he was elected as player of the year. Stuart Mace was the most improved player.

The Extras had a mixed start, but more than held their own and finished on a long winning run. Like the first team they lost to Bedworth in the Warwickshire Cup. The Spartans and Stags had fairly even records. Norman David stood down as Tigers captain after nearly a decade in the job. This role was vital to maintaining playing numbers and by ensuring that the Tigers played each week, irrespective of availability, injuries or cry-offs, the risk of the Stags and Spartans being short-handed was minimised. Norman’s determination to play at all costs led him to adopt some interesting tactics to ensure he got a side together. The situation on Saturday morning was often that there were only six or seven players available. Norman would hunt down any potential recruits unwisely shopping with their wives in town, armed with a response to any excuse. No boots - “I’ll lend you a pair”. He always seemed to know who was in town visiting and they were kept away from the match secretary or listed under false names. New players were held back by less than enthusiastic reports of their abilities. Tony Grimes was persuaded to take over the captaincy but the Tigers struggled all season to get a side out and didn’t play until November when they beat Old Leamingtonians, fielding 10 men against 11. The availability of players did improve after the Colts disbanded and it was no problem at all when the Tigers toured Dorset at Easter and found first team players falling over themselves to claim honorary Tiger status. Weymouth were beaten on Good Friday with Simon David getting a hat-trick, a feat he repeated the next day against Dorchester. Bridport proved a match too far, but Steve Harris scored his fourth and fifth tries of the tour.

After their collapse the previous season it was intended to revive the Colts and although three games were played in October, there was still a lack of players, particularly forwards. It was decided therefore to cancel their fixtures and allow the players to move into the senior sides and to focus on the under-17 junior colts, to rebuild our strength for the next season. The team had begun to show its promise as under-16s and under the coaching of Peter Payne, his “Poppets” had a spectacular season, sweeping all before them in brilliant style. In 20 games they won 19 and lost only once, going down 15-16 to Nuneaton after having led 15-0. Paul McGreevy was their top scorer with 197 points and Kenny Johnson topped the try list with 23 and was colts’ player of the year. On a tour to Holland before Easter they were due to play the Dutch national team, but this was cancelled and they played two local clubs, scoring 70 and 100 points without reply. Two weeks later they took part in a national invitation tournament at Vale of Lune and defeated Otley, Clevedon (named by Rugby World as the best junior team in the country), Saracens, Moseley and Vale of Lune to reach the final, where they lost 11-0 to Pontyllanfraith, a side drawn from several top Welsh clubs.

Vale of Lune 1989 Nick Ingram, Glynn Halford, David Ogden-Wetherall, Steve Moorhouse, Justin French, Dan Sparks, Alex Everard, Steve McCluskey, Alan Dent, Simon Grinnell, Andy Sheridan, Paul Farmer, Peter Payne - Jason Standbridge, Jeremy & Simon Payne, Paul McGreevy Kenny Johnson, Steve Hawkins,

Tim Cowley, Matt Davis, Vishal Kundi, Peter Broome

There is no record of how we did in the end of season sevens, but the Veterans turned up to the Old Warwickians tournament without the pot they had won for the previous three years, presumably because they thought they had won it outright. They went out in the group stage. The leagues were clearly having an impact on the traditional start and end of season tournaments and invitation and representative games, due to the need to focus on league success and avoid unnecessary injuries. South Warwickshire RFU was forced to end its participation in the Six-Counties’ Championship due to lack of commitment by clubs. Rod and Carole Grinnell took over the running of the bar in the summer of 1989 and achieved a major increase in turnover and profitability. Alison Payne had done the job briefly the previous season.