2012-13: Late Rally Dodges Drop

This was the summer of the London Olympics and our past Youth Chairman, Tony Bobath, carried the Olympic Torch for one of the Leamington stages of its journey to London. Tony is pictured with Emile Midsater, Hugo Ayo, Henry Mortimer, Lewis Clarke, Max Edwards and Frazer Knowles. Summer changes at the club included the appointment of Phil McGaffin as Chairman, with Hugh Smith stepping down after seven years. On the playing side we had a new coaching team, with Tom Greevy and Tom Hoines joining us to succeed Alan Roberts. John Raby was finally forgiven for spending two seasons at Kenilworth and became club captain. The third running of our pre-season tournament resulted in victory for Wolverhampton. Newcomers included Jack Secher and Gavin Grant in the backs, and Chris Dickinson, from Cumbria, in the forwards, but player availability was a problem.

We began with a friendly at Aston Old Eds and there were then 11 changes for the first league game at Newbold, where we lost heavily. There were a further 10 changes the following week when Old Laurentians visited and beat us comfortably. This brought us to the first derby for seven years against Kenilworth, who, following a decision to reduce payments to players, had suffered two successive relegations. The absence of our first-choice half backs did not help our chances and after conceding a soft try mid-way through the first half, Kenilworth piled on the pressure and were easy winners.

Our first win arrived against Upton-on-Severn at the beginning of October and we started strongly on our first visit to Bedworth in five years, but injuries disrupted our efforts and the Bedworth scrum got on top and the game was lost. The home game, against Banbury, saw the return of former skipper Greg Melville, after some years at Harbury and Danny Birks, after long-term injury. Although the game was won it was costly, as Danny aggravated his old knee injury and decided finally to hang up his boots. Injury also ended Gavin Grant’s season and promising new full-back Anthony Comyn transferred to Nuneaton after one game.

We went to Dunlop with a degree of confidence and started well, but once the Coventry side got going there was no stopping them as they put on a brilliant attacking display, to win by a massive 82-17 - the second highest score ever conceded by the 1st XV. Season-ending injuries to Daplyn and Magill did not help, but nevertheless, the performance was disappointing. There was a much-improved display the following week against Droitwich, but the Worcestershire side gradually took control. New wing-forward Danny Kane (from Broadstreet) played in the centre and fellow debutant James Gaynor added bulk in slow-motion to the front row.

It was now clear that we were in a relegation dogfight with Upton, Banbury and Shipston. The away game at Shipston assumed massive importance and when torrential rain made their ground unplayable, we agreed to switch it to our second pitch. It was a pity we did, as the conditions were wretched and we failed to adapt as well as our opponents, who won with a late try. It was a much better performance at Kidderminster, when despite a huge size disadvantage in the forwards, the pack played with fire and set up a number of chances. Unfortunately, we could not finish them off and Kidderminster scored in the corner in the last minute to seal a win. Our inconsistency continued into December when mid-table Earlsdon visited. Things started well with Melville touching down, but our defence then opened up to let in four tries before half time. Despite three tries in response in the second period, we were well beaten.

1st XV v Upton – Matt Dalton, Anthony Comyn, Simon Magill, Alex Carroll, Danny Birks, Nick Maxwell, Ben Ashmore, Craig Smith, Mike Kelly, Tom Greevy (player/coach) – Sam Nunn, Tom Daplyn, Danny Phillips, John Raby, John Holland, Gareth Shuttleworth, Danny Ruyssevelt

Snow, frost and rain, both sides of Christmas, caused considerable disruption the fixtures and our position looked as bleak as the weather with only two wins under our belt and the all the bottom three sides to play away from home. But first we had the return game against Kenilworth. Although we held our own from the start, the confident league leaders took their chances, with three tries, two scored by former Leamington players - Tyler and Renowden. However once Jack Secher touched down, some self-belief came into our game and we dominated the final quarter with Melville (pictured) scoring a fine try. Another 10 minutes and a shock might have occurred.

Encouraged by the performance against Kenilworth we travelled to Upton for the first of the relegation battles and on a cold, damp day we made hard work of a game we should have won comfortably, but two second-half tries to edged us home. After two more weeks off due to bad weather, the next game was at Banbury. The Oxfordshire side had been more active than most in the bad weather and had pulled clear of the relegation places. It was a “must win” game and one that looked likely as we lead at half time. But Banbury came back strongly in the second half to tie up the game and then nick it at the end with a penalty. Danny Kane broke his arm to add to our woes.

Having put 82 points past us in November there was some trepidation about the visit of Dunlop, but the return of Daplyn, Ruyssevelt and Sharman (after a year out) helped galvanise the Leamington play as we built a 15-0 lead in the first quarter. Dunlop had plenty of tread left on their tyres however and gradually reduced our lead before going ahead mid-way through the second half. With the game skidding away, we made a final effort and Raby chipped over the defence to score and the conversion and a penalty sealed a vital win. Unfortunately, Craig Smith was added to the injury list with a broken hand just before the end.

Bedworth were our next visitors and we had another bright start to go into the lead but thereafter it was try-for-try with Jack Secher and Mark Baldwin adding to our total before Bedworth laid siege to our line at the end as we held on to a slender 6 point advantage and secured another vital win.

Suddenly, relegation was looking less likely and our position improved further when, against all the odds, we won at Droitwich. With a much-changed side, we were up against it from the start and when Nick Maxwell was sent off just before half time, and two successive sin-bins reduced us to 13 men for most of the final quarter things looked bleak. But, tries by Charlie Gray and Tarquin Snell clinched an improbable 15-13 win, against a side which had only lost once at home all season. The “reversed” away game at Shipston gave us the opportunity to finally banish any relegation worries and after falling behind in the first half, scores from Daplyn and Dyneal Fessall secured a narrow victory.

After a postponement due to more snow at the end of March we hosted Kidderminster at Easter and with both sides suffering from non-availability of players we fielded a three-quarter line of forwards and went down heavily. We also took a terrible hammering against high flying Old Laurentians the following week but were back to something like normal strength at Earlsdon where it was all-square at 24-all before the home side scored the winner near the end. The season ended as it started against Newbold and in an open game.

In the Cup competitions we went out in the first round of the intermediate Cup to Dunstablians, who beat us comfortably by 31-7 and in the Warwickshire Cup, due to a misunderstanding and some over-zealous bureaucracy, we were ejected from the competition along with Old Laurentians, for not playing our tie on the first available opportunity during the bad weather.

1st XV Apr2013 - Tom Greevy (coach), Sam Nunn, Tom Hoines (coach) Mike Kelly, Phil McGaffin (Chairman) James Gaynor, Tarquin Snell, Ben Ashmore, Peter Blunt, Gez Robinson, Nick Maxwell, Dyneal Fessal, Chris Dickinson, Mark Timson, Patch Northover, Craig Smith, Marl Baldwin, Dick Jewitt (linesman) – Greg Melville, Gareth Shuttleworth, Danny Ruyssevelt, John Raby, Tom Daplyn, Tom Jewitt, Danny Phillips, Alex Carroll, Matt Shakespeare

Overall, the season was a disappointing one, with only 7 wins from 22 league games compared to 11 wins the year before. 50 players were used overall. Apart from the usual sprains and knocks we again suffered badly from long term injuries, with some key players missing most or all of the season. This was also one of the most disrupted and disjointed seasons for many years, with 10 blank Saturdays due to bad weather and the lack of cup games. Danny Phillips and Nick Maxwell were almost ever-present in the front row, with Matt Dalton starting the season and Greg Melville returning to resume duties on the loose head. Coach Tom Greevy proved to be a great asset as a player as well as a coach and touched down 7 times from the second-row, to top the try scorers. Craig Smith was his main partner, but he was injured after Christmas and Ed McKewan, Chris Harrison, Ben Ashmore, Matt Shakespeare and veteran Gez Robinson were all pressed into service on occasions. Mike Kelly, Danny Ruyssevelt and Chris Dickinson formed the back-row with Gareth Shuttleworth and Peter Blunt filling in. Chris was Player of the Season in his debut year and Mike Kelly won the new Players’ Player award. Danny Birks and Alex Sharman both came back for a few games before retiring due to injury.

The backs suffered even worse. Tom Jewitt played most of the season at full back and was the main kicker, scoring 84 points. Alex Carroll and Patch Northover were at half-back with Sam Nunn stepping up several times. Long term injuries to Simon Magill and new centres Gavin Grant and Danny Kane deprived us of their services for most of the season and Tom Daplyn, Johnny Holland and skipper John Raby were also in and out of the side. Jack Secher provided a useful addition and played when home from University and others such as Richard Valentine, Tarquin Snell and Dyneal Fessal filled in at times, but none more effectively than Mark Baldwin who came into the team for the key “relegation” games in January and played brilliantly, deservedly winning the Most Improved Player award.

Seconds v OLs - Warwickshire 2nd XV Cup, Oct 2012 – James Gaynor, Terry Curran, Adam Harris, Paul Troman, Chris [CJ] Wood, Ryan Oliver, Richard Valentine – Alan Dickins, Gareth Shuttleworth, Jack Lambert, Tarquin Snell, Harry Gooch, Jon Winser, Pete Davis – John Cooper, Andy Anderson, Richard Watkins

The season started well for the Seconds with the experienced No 8 John Wheelhouse taking on the captaincy and Bryn Evans again managing. There were good early wins in the Warwickshire League: over Sutton Coldfield, Shipston and Spartans and excellent victories against Broadstreet and Kenilworth. This good form continued up until November when injuries, including a broken neck for Andy Hart and the return of the captain’s jinx, when John Wheelhouse injured himself scoring an unopposed try, depleted the team’s resources. A new hero emerged in Harry Gooch, who took on the leadership of the side and grew into the job despite a difficult second half to the season, when due to the bad weather and player availability he found it difficult to put together a regular or balanced side and only two games were won. Overall, the team won 10 and lost 16, the worst of the losses being a mismatch against Nuneaton Development squad who ran up 91 points without reply, before the referee stopped the game after 60 minutes.

The biggest disappointment was losing to Old Leamingtonians three times, including a Warwickshire Cup tie in October. Warwick and Coventry Universities provided several players, with the pick of these being flanker Alan Dickins and fly-half Richard Valentine. Other players of note, were Mark Baldwin, Sam Nunn and the experienced core of Gez Robinson, Gareth Eastham and John Cooper, who held the side together in the difficult times. Pete Davis was the leading points’ scorer with 48 and Mark Baldwin and Gareth Shuttleworth led the try scorers with 6 each. Goochy was the Player of the Year.

Richard Watkins led the for a fourth season, again supported by his father Alex as Team Manager. Like the Seconds they did well up until Christmas with 6 wins out of 9, the highlight being a 36-10 win over Kenilworth on the opening day. Things were also difficult for the Spartans after Spartans Christmas but

when it was possible to raise a side it was badly weakened and some heavy defeats followed. Still, the spirit did not diminish and the team had a popular tour to Chobham to end their season. Matt Dale and Pete Davis both scored 28 points and player of the year Steve Murphy scored 5 tries.

The Colts continued as a joint team with Old Leamingtonians and the two clubs were evenly represented. Bill Dalton and Pete Elliott provided the coaching support from Leamington and 7 of 16 games played were won. We were able to put together a side on most Saturdays and notwithstanding

Seconds 20 April Ben Ashmore, Chris McKoewn, Gez Robinson, John Wheelhouse, Dyneal Fessal, Jack Lambert, Phil McGaffin, Ali Burr, Paul Troman, Tom Blythman, Bryn Evans (Team Manager) – Mark Lennon, Jamie O’Dwyer,

Serj Padden, Harry Gooch, Sam Nunn, Matt Davies, Johnny Phillips, Gareth Eastham, John Winser

the bad weather, more games could have been played if there had been opponents available. Regulars included Alex Ashington, Jake Ross, Jack Elliott, Sean Stanley, Rich Kelsall, Tom Ley and Mark Lennon. Coming through at under 16 level was prop forward Jake Byrne, who played for England “A” and signed up for the Worcester Academy.

Spartans Apr 2013 Andy John, Ian Oliver, Andy Thomas, Tom Chandler, Dudley Turner, Ian Gascoigne, Peter Davis,

Dave Ward - Simon David, Sam Jenkinson, David Johnson, Richard Watkins (Captain), Adam Leslie,

Steve Murphy, Chris Phillips-Grant, Tilly Pimlott (physio).

2013-14: Double Derby Delight

The Club had its best campaign for several years, boosted by some new recruits and the return of several players after long-term injury, inactivity or spells elsewhere. Tom Greevy and Tom Hoines continued as coaches with Tony Timms, Director of Rugby. For the first time ever, the club didn’t appoint a 1st XV team captain.

1st XV v Bedworth (April 2014) Tom Hoines (coach) Mike Kelly, Simon Magill, Matt Patching, Chris Harrison,

Matt Timlin, Scott Peters, Danny Ruyssevelt, Pete Blunt, Tom Greevy (player/coach) – Nathan Earland,

Craig Smith, Gareth Shuttleworth, Jamie Harrison, Tom Daplyn, Danny Phillips, Tom Secher, Adam Preece

It was not the best of starts. The opening game was at home to Nuneaton Old Edwardians in the Warwickshire Cup. The teams shared 10 tries, but both left their kicking boots at home and the Old Eds sneaked home with the only conversion of the afternoon. It was also an early exit from the Intermediate Cup, when we went down 36-10 at Leighton Buzzard.

The league opener was at Kidderminster, where we came back to score two late tries, but fell just one point short. New prop forward, Scott Peters, scored twice in another close finish, as we squeezed past Stourbridge Lions at Moorefields. A second visit by the Old Ed’s proved much easier for them than the Cup game, and they wrapped up the points by half-time. Things started to come together at Old Coventrians in mid-October, when Tom Secher returned, after three years away and showed what we had been missing with a confident display at fly-half, scoring 20 of our 30 points.

This brought us to an eagerly awaited clash with promoted Old Leamingtonians - our first league encounter for 10 years. Our noisy neighbours had started the season well and they ran up a 13-3 half-time lead, but spurred on by a large and well-watered crowd we turned the game around with tries from Secher and Chris Murphy (in his first game back at the club) to take the lead. OLs stole the advantage again with a late penalty and looked likely to win before a failed kick to touch was fielded by Secher who swept up the field and passed to winger Ryan Byrne who touched down for the winning score.

Long-term injuries to Murphy and Simon Harry left us disjointed and off the pace at Spartans the following week, but following this set-back we began to climb the table with a run of nine unbeaten games. Banbury visited in early November and their normally robust pack was overwhelmed by the Leamington eight. The floodgates opened in the second half and we finished with five tries, the last one being the best, as ex-colt Jamie Harrison ran the length of the field. Bedworth away proved as difficult as always and we had to pull out all the stops to achieve our first win there since 2006. Droitwich then ran us close in a game we should have won comfortably.

Our next game was at Dunlop, the scene of our thrashing 13 months earlier. Although there was no chance of a repeat, we had to come from 10 points down to pull the game around and claim our fourth win in a row. The final game before Christmas was at home to league leaders Earlsdon and in an entertaining match we drew 20-20. The first game after the break resulted in a double over Stourbridge Lions, their first home defeat of the season and the return game against Old Coventrians provided a flowing spectacle as we ran in eight tries including a Ryan Byrne hat-trick and a Patch Northover levitation.

Seven games unbeaten and with Old Leamingtonians having slipped a bit, we went into the return fixture at Bericote Lane as slight favourites. Playing into a strong wind the home side scored the opening try but we recovered with two Harrison touchdowns and were looking good before OLs levelled with a penalty just before half time. The start of the second period saw the wind whip up into a storm, with thunder, lightning, hail and the most torrential rain. We took the lead again in the gloom (as pictured) through a Peters’ try but the OLs fought back and as conditions improved in their favour, they applied heavy pressure in our 22, but we held out and sealed victory and local bragging rights with another try at the end, by Byrne.

The wettest winter in years resulted in the Nuneaton Old Eds return game being cancelled twice and our next match was at home to Spartans in early February which we won comfortably. The result moved us up to third in the table, the top of which was now congested, with five teams in contention. Banbury were going well and they brought our winning run to and end the following week in what was a disappointing performance. Bottom side Bedworth provided the opportunity to get back into winning ways and the team obliged.

An away trip to relegation candidates Droitwich looked to be an opportunity to advance our prospects, but it took a late try from Byrne to save our bacon and secure a draw. The away game against Old Eds was eventually played in the middle of March and we caught them on their best from for months and with two key decisions over forward passes going against us, we slipped to defeat and effectively out of the promotion race.

Relegation-threatened Dunlop proved to be a real handful at home and we had to hold on desperately to secure a win after three first half tries had appeared to set us up for a comfortable afternoon. Moving into the final two games, Earlsdon were now beyond our reach and champions-elect, but the runners-up spot was still just about obtainable when we played them. After a good start we fell away and the Earlsdon forwards eventually took over and secured the title with a 27-15 win. All that was left to play for was 3rd place against Kidderminster in the final game and in another good match we were narrowly beaten and finished 4th.

So, after just missing relegation 12 months earlier, we had challenged strongly for promotion this time, just coming up short in the final few games when our resources became stretched. We won 13 league games, compared to 7 the previous year and only our inability to secure elusive bonus points kept us from challenging even more strongly. The improved performance of the side was undoubtedly helped by more stable availability, without the massive injury lists of the previous few seasons.

From November onwards we were able to settle into a consistent line up. The back division took a while to gel but youngsters Ryan Byrne and Jamie Harrison came in on the wings and topped the try scorers list with 12 and 11 tries respectively. Adam Preece returned at the beginning of December and took over the full–back slot. Chris Murphy, Mark Baldwin and Tom Daplyn were the centres, with Alex Carroll and Tom Secher sharing the fly-half spot. Patch Northover was at scrum-half with Gareth Shuttleworth deputising for him and across the back-row. In the forwards, ex-Warwick University captain Scott Peters was a welcome reinforcement and propped the scrum with Danny Phillips. The hooking duties were shared by Nick Maxwell and Matt Timlin. Simon Harry’s comeback was unfortunately ended by a serious knee injury in October and Tom Greevy and Craig Smith formed the second-row from then on. Danny Ruyssevelt and Danny Kane were the regular flankers with Chris Dickinson and Pete Blunt at No.8. In an expanding list of awards, Ryan Byrne was Player of the Year; Jamie Harrison was Players’ Player; Gareth Shuttleworth was Most Improved Player and Patch Northover was adjudged Best Tackler.

2nd XV 2013-14 – Tom Blythman, Rich Smith, Mike Kelly, John Wheelhouse, Colin Rae, Gez Robinson, Ben Ashmore, Lewis Kelsey, Alan Dickins, Sam Hibberd, Bryn Evans – Alex Simula, Tom Mylott, Gareth Shuttleworth, Gareth Eastham, Harry Gooch, Matt Archer, Jonathan Phillips, Charlie Gray, Callum Henn

The 2nd XV had a very good season winning 18 games and scoring 844 points – the highest club total since 2002. They were captained by Harry Gooch. With a good influx of players and less need to cover 1st team injuries they were able to turn out strong sides and played outstanding rugby – a highlight being a narrow loss to a very strong Nuneaton 2nd team. Gez Robinson and Gareth Eastham provided an experienced backbone to the side and newcomers Rich Smith (until he got injured) Colin Rae, Tom Phipps, Ollie Evans, Ally Keen, Callum Henn and Sam Hibberd were quality recruits. Player of the Year was Sam Nunn, who topped the point scorers with 83, and Most Promising Player was ex-Colts prop Alex Ashington. A number of Colts were eased into the side, with good performances from Gus Gillespie, Jack Hayward, Rhys Corry and Chris John. Mike Kelly topped the try scorers with 10, followed by Rich Smith on 8 and Connor Chamberlain and Simon Mallard with 7 each. We topped Warwickshire League 2, losing only one game, but the the season was blighted by many clubs being unable to field regular sides and resorted to cancelling whichever of their 2nd or 3rd team games was away, to ensure a home match. In the Warwickshire Cup we were well beaten by Broadstreet. Dave Barry announced his retirement from his physiotherapy duties at the end of the season, after many years service.

The Spartans were again run by Richard Watkins and they managed a creditable 8 wins from 14 games, despite problems with fixtures which sometimes left them without a match for several weeks. The individual scorers are not recorded for all the games but Steve Murphy scored 10 tries in between his many injuries and Pete Davis was a reliable kicker. One highlight worth mentioning is the captain’s spectacular try against Old Leams in January, when he raced in at top speed from a full metre out, to touch down and seal a 36-9 win. The cheers were reportedly heard across the fields in Bericote Lane. The final game of the season against Leicester Lions marked the final retirement of Simon David at the age of 50. He had played regularly for the club for 34 years (although 10 years less than his dad) since his senior debut in 1980 and is undoubtably the leading try scorer in the history of the club although accurate figures are not available. Andy Thomas was Player of the Year.

For a third season we ran a joint Colts side with Old Leamingtonians, although our partners provided very little help in making the arrangement work. Despite the addition of players from Princethorpe College, it proved difficult to field a regular or competitive side and after losing all their games before Christmas, it was decided to cancel the remainder of the fixtures and to integrate the players into the second and third teams. Below the Colts, the under-16s were showing some promise but for the usual range of reasons only one or two players made it through to the senior sides.

Under 16s – Andre La Barbera, Nathan Batchelor, Jordan Tamana, Joe Taylor, Aiden Barnfather, Toby Clarkson, Jacob Morris, Hugh Doody, Goncala Almeida – James Rann, Matt Witchell, Aiden West, Will Treherne, Toby Lukehurst (Captain) James Batt, Ned Kincaid, Max Widmer, Tom Jackson

The season ended with the first club tour for four years - to Northern RFC, the oldest club in the north-east. In the only game, the host club won by 32-31, although it was rumoured they might have scored a few more points than stated against a Leamington side which was billed as a second team but in fact was their mothers, as can be seen below.

Off the field, it was a good year financially with the club making a profit. Graham Messenger was elected Clubman of the Year for his untiring efforts in helping with the ground, in particular his adroit use of the pitch marking machine, which occasionally produced straight lines. Sadly, four long-serving or former club members passed away towards the end of the season – Robin Smylie, a regular during the 1960s; Ray Griifiths, a supporter from the time the club moved to Moorefields; John Kane a second-row forward, Club Treasurer and Match Secretary during the 1970/80s; and Keith Ogilvie, an Honorary Life Member and another former Treasurer.