There were no senior games this week other than the Veterans who played under lights on Friday night against Stratford. The visitors had a very young-looking set of players, compared to our more mature selection and tore into us from the start, scoring 20 points in the first quarter. We managed to bring them down to our pace after that and in the end lost by 47-17 – tries were from Jim Robertson, Lewis Kelsey and Chris Morris and a conversion from Tom Jewitt.

This week the first team are away at Bromsgrove (2.15) and after 8 losses on the trot this is a must-win game. The Colts are at home to Keresley on Saturday (1.00). On Sunday, the U16 are at home to a Stratford/Old Leamingtonians side (10.00) and the U15 are away at Harbury. The minis are all away at Broadstreet. Also on Sunday, our women’s team are playing at Pinley (2.00)

The draw for the Papa John knock-out competitions has been announced. This is the third year of the competition which pairs clubs at the same league level on a regional basis. We reached the semi-final of our group in both previous years, before losing to Manchester opposition. The draw is as follows.

April 12 – in the first round we are drawn away against Bugbrooke , near Northampton, a club we have not played before
April 19 – If we win, we will be at home to Stockwood Park from Luton who are old friends from the pre-league days
April 26 – If we beat them, we will go into the quarter finals against the winners of Evesham and Towcestrians
May 2 – the semi-finals will be against one of Droitwich, Old Coventrians, Loughborough or Southwell (who are located between Nottingham and Mansfield)

Johnlizlyons@btopenworld.com