After 9 changes last week, we made a further 11 this week, including the whole back division. This became 12 when Danny Ruyssevelt was substituted by Ed Gray in the centre after a few minutes. Against Camp Hill, a strong side, equipped for life on their muddy pitch, it was not surprising that we suffered our heaviest defeat of the season, going down by 62-19. After a bad start we mostly held our own and scored a penalty-try plus two others from Jake Dallyn and Freddie Spencer, but just missed out on the bonus point. See John Warner’s full report on the website

We fielded a mixed Seconds, Colts, Veterans team and Ross Dewey at Alcester on Saturday and came away with a 14-0 win, which but for the conditions and a lack of cohesion would have been more. James Winnett and Ant Batchelor (after repairing my roof in the morning) scored the tries, both of which were converted by Josh Tockley. Ollie Spearman, Jamie Loffman and Syd Harvey all came up from the Colts and played well.

The juniors didn’t play as it was half term and there are no games this week as it is a free week in the fixture list. The clubhouse will be open for the international games

I have two spare tickets for the Wales versus England game on Saturday 15 March kicking off at 4.45. Tickets are £115 each. If you are interested get in touch with me asap - first come first served

Things get underway again on Saturday 1 March and from then on kick offs will be at 3.00 .
The 1sts will resume with a home game against Old Coventrians. They are always a difficult team to beat and we lost narrowly away in November after two very close games last year which we shared. Old Covs have strengthened their team this year and have moved up the table into 3rd place. We badly need a win to settle our nerves and we hope there will be plenty of support on the touchline.

This should be the case as we have our final VP Lunch of the season, prior to the game. Charlie Gardner is organising it and we have comfortable numbers although there is spare capacity. If you are interested in coming along, contact Charles.n.gardner44@gmail.com. 12.30 for 1.00.

The Seconds and Colts are also listed as being at home that day so there might be a bit of tinkering with the times.

A significant step forward is that, following approval at the AGM last July, we are now in the process of admitting Leamington Royals Rugby league side into the club and it is planned to be formalised on 1 May. They will operate in a similar way to Neball, which is that their members will become members of Leamington RFC Ltd and they will run their day-to-day activity through a sub-committee under the authority of the main Committee, including finances, which will be part of the accounts. We look forward to this venture adding to our appeal.

Another significant thing is that the Club celebrates its 100th birthday in March 2026. Our President Dave Ward is putting together a range of activities to celebrate the event over a 12 moth period. He is looking for ideas and people to help him put the programme together. If you would like to be involved, speak to Dave or reply to me and I will pass your interest on.

Leamington Ladies are holding their own take on a VP lunch with a Ladies Day on Saturday 12 April (day of Papa John Cup game) This will cost £20 and will comprise 3 courses (vegetable tart, chicken in Champagne sauce and chocolate gateau) plus coffee and a complimentary bubbly or Pimms starter drink If you would like to attended please get in contact with Cath Lyon lyoncatherine94@gmail.com. The limit is 10 per table and the dress code is to impress

Johnlizlyons @btopenworld.com