2014-15: Best left till Last

Peter Gray completed his journey from mini rugby player to club President, when he was elected into office at the AGM in July. Also at the meeting, Kit Forrest, John Lyons and Hugh Smith were made Honorary Life Members, in recognition of their long service to the Club. The highlight of the summer was the reunion of Leamington’s famous mini-junior team of 1979 to 1987 which took on and defeated all the best of its age-group sides in England and Wales and established a world record of 92 games unbeaten. Pictured below is chairman Phil McGaffin receiving a newly obtained Guinness certificate of the record from Chris Adams.

Tony Timms, Tom Greevy and Tom Hoines continued to lead the coaching team, for a third season, although the latter moved away in the autumn. John Raby and Alex Carroll were drafted in to help and Danny Phillips captained the side on the field. After promising trial games against Stratford and Kenilworth, we suddenly seemed short of players when the new season opened with the first round of the Warwickshire Cup. As usual we drew Nuneaton Old Edwardians and as usual we went out of the competition: by a score of 12-24.

The league season began with fixtures against the two promoted sides and after a disappointing loss at Old Yardlieans we entertained a very physical Pinley team and looked to have snatched the game with a very late Mark Baldwin try, only for the Coventry outfit to score twice through 15-man pushovers in injury time. After a disappointing loss at Banbury, our first win came at home, in a tight game, with Droitwich.

Unfortunately, we were unable to build upon this and disappointing losses followed at Spartans and Malvern, with the Worcestershire side rattling up 52 points. Newbold were our next visitors and they were moving into top form. By half time we were 3 tries to 1 up, but the Bold came back strongly and with two Leamington players in the sin-bin they levelled the score and snatched the game with two late penalties.

We then entertained Bridgnorth in the Intermediate Cup. They were the best side we met all season and although we played with great determination, their huge pack controlled possession and they went through by 32-8, on their way to reaching the national final at Twickenham. Things began to pick up in mid-November and Jim Robertson’s return provided a welcome boost at Old Edwardians, where he kicked 15 points to help secure a rare success against the Nuneaton side. This was followed by a home win over table propping Old Coventrians and a defiant performance against table topping Old Laurentians, whose line we battered in the final minutes, only to come up just short.

Old Leamingtonians was our next home game and after our epic encounters the previous season, a big crowd turned up. The result was never in doubt this time, as four tries and a 22-8 win ensured maximum points. The return fixture against Pinley was a high scoring affair and although we touched down 4 times and picked up bonus points, we conceded 50 points. After the Christmas break, we were at home to Banbury and after scoring first half tries through Harrison and Robertson we held on to win 12-3 and inflict only the third loss of the season on the Oxfordshire side.

Our league position was now looking much better, with five wins to our credit, but our fortunes were to take a turn for the worse with a run of seven defeats on the trot. A not unexpected reverse at Droitwich was followed by the visit of Spartans, who were out of form and had slipped below us in the table. For half an hour we were the only team in it, but we fell foul of the referee’s whistle and Spartans scored two tries in a matter of minutes to win the game. It was a similar story when we dominated a scoreless first half against Malvern, only to hand the game to them with an interception try.

Newbold had been putting everyone to the sword since narrowly squeezing past us in November, but we held them until the break, before falling away as their powerful forwards got on top and cruised home. Our disappointment was added to with the news that fellow strugglers, Old Coventrians and Old Leamingtonians had both won. We were now in very serious risk of relegation, with both of them still to play away. Nuneaton Old Eds were also struggling and when they visited at the end of February, we had the chance go ahead of them but after a good start we faded in the second period and lost in the most disappointing fashion. The crucial game against Old Coventrians followed and both sides scored 4 tries, with the OCs completing their tally in the final minute to clinch the game by 28-22. Although a bad result, we did at least collect 2 valuable bonus points. With three games to go we were in the relegation zone. The visit of unbeaten Old Laurentians did not offer much hope of us improving our position and although we led at half-time we faded away again and our visitors took their chances to win comfortably.

1st v Old Coventrians in November – John Raby, Joe Walton, Clive Jackson, Matt Patching, Danny Kane, Nathan Earland, Mark Baldwin, Craig Smith, Scott Peters, Tom Greevy – Danny Ruyssevelt, Danny Phillips, Matt Timlin - Patch Northover, Gus Gillespie, Gareth Shuttleworth, Jim Robertson, Nick Maxwell, Ryan Byrne

For the penultimate game, we crossed the field to OLs. Our neighbours needed a miracle to avoid relegation and it wasn’t to happen as we hit top form and swept them away. An early try by Craig Smith was followed by efforts from Harrison, Byrne, Earland and Robertson in a 34-10 win. With Old Coventrians losing heavily to Newbold, our destiny was again in our own hands, with two points needed from our final home game the Old Yardleians were mentally in the close season and in the Spring sunshine we battered them from the start and wrapped up the game by 33-13.

Although our season was much worse, the team was more or less the same, with Scott Peters, Danny Phillips and Mark Warrilow propping the scrum and Nick Maxwell and Matt Timlin competing for the hooker position. Tom Greevy and Craig Smith made up the second-row and Gareth Shuttleworth, Danny Kane, Danny Ruyssevelt, Matt Patching and Peter Blunt shared the back row duties. Matt Shelton, Matt Archer, and Mike Kelly also made important contributions.

In the backs, Patch Northover, Nathan Earland, Mark Baldwin, Ryan Byrne and Jamie Harrison played in most of the games. Tom Daplyn, Adam Preece, Alex Carroll and John Holland all contributed, but were injured for significant periods. Ex-colt Gus Gillespie made his debut at fly-half and newcomers Ross Waterhouse, Clive Jackson and Joe Walton all had games. Harrison and Byrne were top try scorers again with 11 apiece and Nathan Earland was top points scorer with 72, and was Player of the Year.

Tom Greevy, Nathan Earland and Danny Kane played for Warwickshire. Jamie Harrison and Gus Gillespie played for the under-20 side and Gus was our Young Player of the Year. Other end-of-season awards went to Craig Smith as Players’ Player, Matt Shelton, as Most Improved Player and Danny Kane as Best Tackler. The trophies were presented by Brian Noble, ex-Great Britain Rugby League captain and coach and BBC pundit, who was guest speaker at the club dinner.

Harry Gooch’s 2nd team had another good year with what was effectively a different team each week. They topped the newly reorganised Warwickshire League 1 at Christmas, losing only once, but a series of narrow losses meant they finished in third place. Playing against stronger sides than the previous season they had an almost identical record, winning 17 out of 28 games and notching up 726 points. Some of their best wins were home and away doubles against Old Laurentians and Old Leamingtonians and a 57-4 victory over Kenilworth. In the Warwickshire Second XV Cup we went out to Earlsdon by virtue of two late scores after we had led throughout the game. Player of the Year was Lewis Kelsey, who topped the try scorers with 13, from a similar number of games in the back-row. The most improved player was Jeavon Clark. Tom Phipps topped the point scorers with 100 and proved to be a steady kicker, as did Joe Walton, who notched 54.

Second XV v Old Leamingtonians Amber (Physio), Chris Morris, Paddy Creevey, Simon Orr, Tom Blythman, Joe Walton, Ed Slegg, Matt Shelton, Bryn Evans (Manager) – Dave Cotton, Luke Beverley, Harry Gooch (Captain) Jeavon Clarke, Rich Mullis, Tom Phipps, - Ben Lavelle, Sam Nunn, Matt Archer, Mark Bray, Lewis Kelsey, Ali McKee

We were one of only a handful of clubs in the County still fielding three regular sides and as usual, our popular captain Richard Watkins (supported by his father, Alex) did his best to ensure this happened, despite having to cope with late cry-offs and the growing practice of some clubs to field their second string against third teams if they were below strength or needed a home fixture. The Spartans finished about third in Warwickshire League 3, although the final table was not produced. Some of the best games included Copsewood 1st XV and Old Laurentians at home and the two local derbies against Old Leamingtonians. With all unattributed scores being credited to the skipper, he topped the try scorers with 6, his best ever season’s haul for the club. Olaf Kampingo, in his first season in the game, scored 5 times. Player of the year was Andy Knight and Marcus Pask and Gez Robinson provided experience in the forwards.

SpartansGeorge Chandler, Tom Chandler, Andy Thomas, Andy Knight, Nick Wilson, Clive Jackson, Gez Robinson, Dan Arnold, Chris McKeown, Greig Matthews – Jamie O’Dwyer, Ian Gacoigne, Aaron Hunt, Nick Waters, Gareth Crandon, Dean Harris, Richard Watkins, James Mann, Olaf Kampingo - Marcus Pask

After three years of playing a combined side with Old Leamingtonians, we fielded a stand-alone Colts team again, based on the previous years’ under-16 side. After an early success against Newbold our very young squad was generally out-muscled by more physically mature sides and suffered a string of defeats thereafter, although we were often forced to take the field with less than 15 players, a handicap which cost us several wins. Despite these difficulties the players stuck to their task and fulfilled all their fixtures and played some excellent rugby. Jonathan Williams looked after the team for much of the season before Matt Blay, an ex-colt himself, returned to the club and took over their management. Nathan Batchelor captained the side and the players’ awards went to Ned Kinkade, Jordan Tamana and Max Binnie.

Colts - Seb Knight, Josh Orr, Max Binnie, Ben Aweyard, Matt Witchell, Jack Parker-Allen, Kevin Batchelor, Toby Clarkson – Ned Kincaid, Kid Tamana, Tom Jackson, Jonathan Williams, Nathan Batchelor - Hugh Doody, Victor Mulimakwenda,

Jordan Tamana, Toby Lukehurst

After entertaining two visiting tourists – Stanford le Hope and Anselmians - we went on tour ourselves, by ferry from Fishguard to Rosslaire (via Mexico) to visit Wexford Warriors over the May bank holiday. The only fixture was lost, by about 7 tries to 3, in typical Irish weather.

2015-16: Leamington versus Leamington

As the club entered its 90th year, Ray Ward was elected as an Honorary Life Member at the AGM in June. Ray, joined the club as a raw 18-year-old in 1956-57 and played over 600 games as a second-row or prop-forward and captained the club for 6 seasons. His final first team appearances were in 1986, when nearly 50 years of age. Apart from his outstanding service on the field, Ray was also very active in running the club and developing mini and junior rugby in its early years.

Our main project over the summer was the building of a disabled access and toilets on the front of the clubhouse and the refurbishment of the showers. The project was designed by Ken Hitchman and the cost of around £94,000 was met by grants from The Sports Council (£50,000), Warwick District Council (£36,000) and Leamington Town Council (£500) plus the balance from club funds. The facilities were opened by John Richardson on 19 September, the first night of the Rugby World Cup. John Hibben, who had put the package together, decided to retire from the Committee after many years of more or less, continuous service, including 7 years as Chairman, and during which time he had secured funding for a number of major capital projects.

The autumn was dominated by the Rugby World Cup, held in England for a second time. Alas, for home supporters, our interest ended at the group stage. Over here on tour and to support the All Blacks, were Leamington RSC from Cambridge, New Zealand, who brought a 21 strong party. We played them under lights, fielding a rotating cast of 1st, 2nd and 3rd team players and in an exciting game we went down 15-14 - but at least it was a win for Leamington. Although a few members had visited Leamington RSC whilst on holiday this was the first formal contact between the clubs and it was a great success. Pictures show the Leamington RSC badge, a version of the Haka, an exchange of mementos between Phil McGaffin and their tour leader, Dave Peters and the two squads together.

Our new captain was Danny Phillips (pictured) who had come through the mini and junior ranks and established himself in the senior side in 2007. We said goodbye to Danny Kane but welcomed a number of new recruits, mainly employees of Jaguar Land Rover, Warwick University students or members of the Warwickians Club, which sadly folded during the summer.

The season got underway with a Warwickshire Shield tie against Old Coventrians. Having failed to complete the Cup competition the previous two seasons, Warwickshire RFU decided to change the format so that only four teams played in the Cup, with the rest playing in the Shield, in the hope of having more competitive games. It worked on this occasion as we won 34-22, in an exciting game. The League season began with a visit to Droitwich and we came away with a good win. The second match was at home to promoted Dunlop and fielding a much-changed side, with new fly-half Dale Glover controlling play, a 3-try burst either side of half-time saw us home. Unfortunately, just after scoring two spectacular tries in two minutes, Patch Northover injured his knee which put him out for the season.

After this good start, we then started to go downhill, beginning with a heavy defeat at Earlsdon, followed by a string of losses to Spartans, Malvern, Nuneaton Old Edwardians, Pinley and league leaders Banbury, during which run we never really looked like picking up points. We were suffering badly from injuries and the lack of availability of key players. Nathan Earland and Dale Glover joined Northover on the long-term sick list and other players were in and out of the side. During the middle of this run we also went out of the Warwickshire Shield in an exciting match against Rugby Lions under the lights at Webb Ellis Road.

Things picked up in December, when we started to get a more settled side together. In an exciting game against Barkers Butts, the lead changed hands several times, but unfortunately, we were pipped by a point, blowing a great chance to win at the end. Our third win arrived the following week with a comfortable victory at Bedworth, who were propping up the table along with Droitwich and were well adrift of ourselves and Dunlop. The final game before Christmas was at home to Berkswell & Balsall who were a very impressive outfit and left with a 40-point win. The first game of the New Year was against Dunlop, who had begun a winning run, which they extended at our cost, although we were unlucky as we outscored them in tries and struggled against a penalty count of 24-3. At home to second placed Earlsdon, we were level at half-time, but three second half tries resulted in a comfortable win for the visitors.

1st XV Feb 2016 Hayley White (Physio) Scott Peters, Simon Harry, Aled Thomas, John Brear, Craig Smith, Ed Boxall, Luca Illing, Ben Shelton, William Fievet, John Raby (Coach) – Gareth Shuttleworth, Ryan Byrne, Toby Bruce, Danny Phillips (Captain) Alex Carroll, Danny Ruyssevelt, Tom Greevy (Coach) Jake Andrews

Third-placed Spartans visited at the end of January and after we had led for most of the game, the visiting forwards got on top and they moved ahead with 2 tries in the last 10 minutes. But, with defeat looming, Ryan Byrne ran the ball out of defence and slipped it to new centre, Ed Boxall (as pictured) who sprinted the length of the field to score a spectacular last-minute try. Will Fievet held his nerve to kick the conversion and secure the win. Our improved form was taken to Malvern the following week and in an open game, it was our turn to suffer a last-minute score to concede a draw, as we failed to hang on with only 13 men. A comfortable home win over Nuneaton Old Eds maintained our improvement and although we lost our next three matches: away at Pinley and Barkers Butts and at home to champions-elect Banbury, we played well and were very competitive.

The final games, after Easter, resulted in a 60-point win against already relegated Bedworth, our biggest win for some time, a narrow defeat at Berkswell & Balsall and to complete our programme, a demoralised Droitwich side were put away by 56-0. Overall, it was another disappointing season and for the second year running we were just one place above the drop zone. After a bright start, injuries to key players took their toll and nearly 50 were used by Christmas,

The forwards were reasonably stable throughout. Danny Phillips played at hooker in place of the unavailable Nick Maxwell and Scott Peters, Mark Warrilow and newcomer Aled Thomas, provided a strong and stable front row ahead of Tom Greevy and Simon Harry. The back row changed throughout the season with Craig Smith at No.8 and John Brear, Matt Shelton, Ed Thompson, Mark Symmons, Luca Illing and Matt Patching all putting in shifts alongside him.

The three-quarter line was in a constant state of flux, particularly early on, as the injuries to Northover, Earland, Glover and others left us short-handed. Things began to settle down from December onwards, when Gareth Shuttleworth moved out of the pack to scrum-half to team up with Alex Carroll. Danny Ruyssevelt moved into the centre and was joined by student Ed Boxall, a very tall and powerful runner, who made a big difference. Ryan Bryne returned on one wing and our latest French connection, Will Fievet, took the other one. Joe Walton, Jake Andrews and Ben Jenkins all made good contributions and home-grown Sam Nunn ended the season at fly-half.

Will Fievet was top points scorer with 52, followed by Dale Glover with 36 (from only 5 games) and Ryan Byrne with 35, which made him top try scorer with 7. Gareth Shuttleworth was Player of the Season, with Ed Thompson the Most Improved Player and Craig Smith the Payers’ Player for a second season. On the representative front, Ed Boxall and Jamie Harrison (who moved to Broadstreet during the season) both played for Warwickshire and Midlands Under-20s and Tom Greevy played for the Warwickshire senior side.

Harry Gooch was captain of the second XV for a third season, but he was injured and Bryn Evans managed the side again. The team started well with a 97-12 win over Old Coventrians and enjoyed comfortable victories in their first six games. Thereafter they struggled more as the continuity of the side was disrupted and it was hard to field anything like a typical team. Wins over Spartans and Old Laurentians took us into the semi-final of the Warwickshire 2nd Team Cup but unfortunately, we went down by 18-19 to Sutton Coldfield. Victories were hard to come by in the second half of the season and the final record of 12 wins from 29 games was well down on the previous two years. Sam Nunn was top points scorer with 55 followed by Ben Jenkins with 51. Jonno Harris and Lewis Kelsey topped the try scorers with 5 each. Chris Morris was player of the year and Sam Nunn the Most Improved Player.

2nd XV Feb 2016 – John Raby,Calum Sharp, Luca Iliing, Simon Harry, Nathan Batchelor, Sean Peters, Scott Peters, Ali Keen, Mark Walton – Ali Higgins, Roger Moorehouse, Joe Walton, Brian O’Longaigh, Sam Nunn, Rich Mullis, Jake Andrews, Mark Baldwin, Bryn Evans

The Spartans didn’t get underway until the beginning of October and although they played regularly through the autumn, after that, they were constantly frustrated by lack of players, or opposition cry-offs when we had a side. Captain and team icon Richard Watkins fractured his eye socket playing against Old Leamingtonians at the end of November which put an end to his season, although he continued to manage the side. A late-season highlight was a return tour by Wexford, who played the Spartans under lights and achieved a 26-26 draw. Overall, the Spartans won 3 and drew 2 of their 14 games. Player of the year was Ian Gascoigne. The Seconds and Spartans combined for their final game of the season at Newbold and retiring Director of Rugby, Tony Timms bowed out with a cameo appearance to celebrate his 70th birthday and thus became the oldest player to have turned out for the club - by half a decade. He was made an Honorary Life Member at the end of season AGM.

2nds//Spartans at Newbold Jonathan Davies, Andy Hart, Richard Watkins, Andy Knight, Dave Cotton, Simon Williams, Harry Gooch, Jake Andrews, Callum Sharp, Jamie Anderson, Lewis Kelsey, Gordon Jackson, Nick (Olds) Waters, Jake Buckingham, John Holland, Joe Midgely, Bryn Evans, Rich Mullis – Nathan Batchelor, Kenny Kwok, Alfie Smith, Chris Timms, Tony Timms, Jonno Harris, Brian O’Longaigh, Anthony Batchelor, Jack Webber (Physio)

After a promising pre-season the Colts were unable to raise a side and the players we had were assimilated into the senior teams. Continuity through the junior age groups was again becoming a problem, with the under-15 side also breaking up, but fortunately the under-14 and 16 sides had good seasons. The under-16s were managed by Kevin Barkway and they won 7 and drew 3 of 15 games. They ended the season with a tour to Dublin and did well against Irish and American opposition from older age groups. The under-14s also enjoyed a successful tour, playing in an international tournament in Madrid. They lost to Caldas, the Portuguese champions, in the semi-finals and won the third-place play-off against Ordizia from the Basque region.

Under 14 Drew Sinnott, Max McCrickard, James Usherwood, Archie Newbery, Charlie Wiggin, Ebon Walton,

Henry Allerton, Kleem Cox, Xavier Adkins, Robert Sharpe, Killian Cable – Robbie Foster, Morgan Broadaway,

Pablo Tituana, Alex Geaves - Thomas Griffiths, Fraser Knowles, Oliver Milner, Stuart Stephenson,

Harry Lummis, Sam Biggs, Harvey Adams, Jamie Wollaston, George Timms