2004-05: New Floodlights

Around this time, the club chose to recognise the outstanding contributions of several long-serving members by elevating them to honorary life membership. John Hodgetts, who had been Chairman and Treasurer as well as Chairman of the mini and junior section and Brian White, a former President, Chairman and first team captain were elected in 2004. This followed the election of John Hibben and Tony Grimes the year before, both of whom had served as President and had played for the club for over 30 years. Howell Roberts, father of Trevor was added to the list in 2006 in recognition of his long service to the game, but sadly he died a year later.

Alex Carroll continued as first XV captain for a third year and Alan Roberts finally arrived as a player and forwards’ coach to support Tony Smith. Dan Law, who made such an impression at full back, with his silky running, unfortunately left us as his job as an airline pilot took him away. Significant arrivals were hooker Marius DeVin and prop forward Richie Evans.

In the opening game in Midlands 2, we entertained much fancied Malvern and played well, but the visitors took control of the game and won narrowly. Our first win came in the second game, at Stoke. The home side chose to play with the strong wind in the first half and were caught out by two interception tries by Murphy and a further try from Renowden clinched the win. The ever-improving Jim Robertson scored two tries against Hinckley, but in a game in which we had more than held our own, the visitors got in front and sealed the points with a late breakaway try. At Burton, we appeared to be heading for victory before another late try rescued the game for the brewers. Old Coventrians, who were promoted with us, were struggling badly and we beat them 47-3. Amongst our try scorers was Phil Muir, who unfortunately sustained a bad knee injury which effectively ended his promising career.

First XV 2004-05 Tony Smith (coach), Neil McMillan, James Pearl, Chris Lahey, Scott Conduit, Alan Roberts, Terry Curran, Danny Birks, Derek Jones, James Robertson, Pete Blunt, Kit Forrest (team manager) Marius de Vin, Tony Bristow, Mark Warrilow, Dave Smith, Gareth Renowden, Dorian Ward, Alex Carroll (captain), Chris Murphy

In the next game we met our old rivals Kenilworth who had been relegated from Midlands 1 and this and our promotion brought us together in a league match for the first time. Played in incessant rain we applied the early pressure but it was Kenilworth who took the lead with a fine individual try from their fly-half and they wrapped the game up with two tries in the second half, before Murphy got a consolation score near the end.

After five years without a home fixture in a cup competition we were drawn at home to Ledbury in the Intermediate Cup. Danny Keogh came in to partner Robertson at half back and they orchestrated a convincing 46-5 win. This brought us another home tie against old cup rivals Bedworth and after the usual opening scraps we began to dominate and scored four tries, to win convincingly. In the fourth round we played away at Grimsby and despite the very long trip we started well and led 13-8 at half-time. Although Grimsby had a man sent off, they came back in the second half with their big forwards battering us around the fringes. This took its toll, with an injury to Matt Dalton, a sin-bin for Neil McMillan and a sending-off for Scott Conduit. Two tries resulted and we lost 13-18, with the winner coming five minutes from time.

Back on the league trail, visitors Aston Old Edwardians fielded a powerful pack and stormed into a first half lead. With seven regulars on the side-lines, it was a tough game for us and although Keogh scored in the second half, we lost 10-18. In a much-improved performance against Newbold we played all the rugby, but the Bold forwards held us in a strong grip with their powerful mauling game and we went down narrowly.

We were now in the relegation zone. We turned the corner with a big win over bottom side Nuneaton Old Eds who were having a terrible season. Another 58 points were added to their points-against total as we cut loose with eight tries. This was followed by a wins over Stafford and Old Laurentians, our first success against them for some time. Robertson kicked five penalties, the last one right at the end, as we were presented with the points. If this wasn’t generous enough, Newbold were our Christmas visitors and, in a see-sawing game, a Robertson penalty in injury time put us ahead by 36-34. Newbold responded with a desperate onslaught and gained two very kickable penalty chances to win the game, but they elected to kick for line-outs. Both moves were repelled and we won our fourth game in a row.

Sutton Coldfield visit Moorefields in the Warwickshire Cup on New Year’s Day and confidence was high for a repeat of our play-off victory the season before, but in a lacklustre display, we came off second best to more determined opponents. There was a more positive attitude when the league programme resumed the following week with a visit to Aston Old Edwardians. We trailed at the interval, but with the wind at our backs Carroll turned things around, scoring himself and setting up a try for Murphy to seal an 18-8 win. Whipping boys Nuneaton Old Edwardians were our next visitors and they were hammered 66-0 with veteran winger Simon David grabbing 4 tries and Robertson 21 points with the boot. In the return match with Kenilworth, we were ahead going into the final quarter before Kenilworth raised their game to produce a late scoring flourish and win by 31-16.

This was followed by a disappointing performance against rejuvenated Old Coventrians, whose experienced pack were able to slow the game down and frustrate our superior backs. There was a further defeat at Burton when we lost in a high scoring game in which the forwards excelled, but tries by Murphy and Hemmings were not enough. Leaders Hinckley proved too streetwise when we visited them in February and they made it four defeats in a row. We were in the game at half-time but our hosts upped the tempo in the second period and romped away to win by 48-15. Stoke were on a winning run of eight games when they visited us. An injury to Fran Hemmings caused an early reshuffle of the forwards but with the new back row of Birks, Blunt and McMillan playing well, we held them to one score before half-time. Hopes of exploiting the elements in the second half did not materialise.

Malvern inflicted a sixth defeat, but we finally eased any relegation fears with a double over Old Laurentians (action left). There was no score in the first half but a try from the irrepressible Renowden set us on our way. It was all Leamington for the final quarter although the score remained close until near the end when a try from Dave Smith eased us home. We ended our campaign on a high note with a narrow win at Stafford, when after falling behind early on, we recovered to play some of our best rugby of the season.

After successive seasons of promotion and relegation it was good to see the first XV stabilise in Midlands 2. In a very competitive league, we had a slow start with difficult early fixtures against the top sides, but it was the six-game winning run in mid-season that consolidated our position and we finished in a creditable seventh place. Chris Murphy led the try scorers again with 13 in the league before leaving to join Rugby Lions at the end of February. James Robertson kicked 133 points, but unfortunately injured his knee towards the end of the season. Pete Blunt was Player of the Year for his dynamic performances at wing forward and centre Dave Smith was selected as Most Improved Player, although as a first team regular for several seasons, he had always been very useful and the award recognised his outstanding season.

A friendly was played against Rugby Lions on 2nd November to celebrate the switching-on of new floodlights by Mota Singh, the Leamington Mayor and Chris Davies, Chairman of the District Council. There were a few nervous minutes after the switch went down before the lights eventually came on. The match ended in an honourable 10-10 draw with Jim Robertson scoring all our points. Other friendly games included Old Leamingtonians and we won a double when overwhelming them by 28-11 at the Crofts in January and later by 34-0, although both teams experimented with their line-ups.

Bryn Evans managed the Extras, who were captained by Simon Parsons. They had a good season, beginning with a winning run of 9 games and winning 17 of their 30 matches overall. Gez Robinson, Richard Dalton, Richard Blunt, and Steve Whyte made up the core of the side along with Matt Davies, who was top try scorer, and Matt Dale who led the points’ scorers. Amongst the highlights was a thrilling 31-31 draw against Nuneaton Old Edwardians, with Lloyd Storey, Gez Robinson and John Raby (in his first senior game for the club) all scoring tries and Matt Dale making a last-gasp kick to share the points. In the Warwickshire 2nd XV Cup, comfortable wins over Balsall & Berkswell and Spartans took us into the quarter-finals against Earlsdon but we lost 13-3 after a disappointing effort.

Gareth Eastham continued to manage the Spartans and Stags, but due to regular call-ups into the first XV he shared the captaincy with Dave Ward and Dicky Davies. Full results are not confirmed but the Spartans appear to have won 14 of 23 games and the Stags, 2 of their 5 matches. Although we were still struggling to turn out the Stags, we were able to field a stand-alone Colts side again, with ex-players Mark Brown and Bill Dalton managing the side. Although they struggled to win only 5 out of their 20 plus games, a number of players began to come through, including Tom Secher, who was chosen as Young Player of the Year.

We had a good year on the representative front with Alex Carroll, Gareth Renowden, Ritchie Evans, Nick Maxwell, Chris Murphy, Fran Hemmings and Alan Roberts all playing for Warwickshire, five of them in the same game against the Army in April. Chris Murphy, James Robertson, Danny Keogh, and Bobby Darbyshire played for the Warwickshire under-20s and Chris also played for the Midlands under-21s. Stu Pearl, who had moved away, played for the English Counties side and is pictured. As holders, the club hosted the second South Warwickshire RFU veterans’ tournament on 3 April, but we lost our crown to Broadstreet, who beat us 6-0 in the final. The end of season tour was to Deyna in Poland and the Under-17s entered the Easter tournament at Carrickfergus for the first time. This was to become a regular event.

Ken Hitchman began drafting some plans for the possible refurbishment of the facility. The cost of the project was estimated at around £500,000 and it was clear that this would only be possible if we obtained National Lottery and other grants. In the course of development, it became apparent that it would be better and no more expensive to relocate the clubhouse as a new-build alongside the first team pitch, which would enable us to carry on our activities in the existing building whilst the new one was being built. Planning permission was obtained but the scheme was effectively mothballed when the 2012 Olympic Games were awarded to London and lottery funding dried up. The Club was approved as a Community Amateur Sports Club by the Inland Revenue in January 2005, with effect from 16 March 2004.