Apologies for last week. Stockwood Park claimed that they withdrew from the Papa John before the previous round, so something clearly went wrong with the organising committee’s spreadsheet which continued to show the fixture. Because of this we are now through to the third round and our opponents are Towcestrians, who we play at home this Saturday – 3 May

We played Towcestrians a few times in the 1990s – 5 matches in total in a mixture of friendlies and league games including a game in Midlands 1 in 1994/95. We lead by 3 to 2 but have had no contact in the last 25 years. They currently play in the East Midlands version of our league (Counties 1) and they finished in third place, one ahead of Bugbrooke, who we beat in the last round.

Leamington Ladies played their final game of the season on Sunday, albeit that they were a bit short on numbers. They teamed up with Five Ways and Bourneville against Worcester MA and in the Spring sunshine were winners by 57-54. Sophie Henry scored 2 tries and Helen McKinty 1. Vicky Merrick added 3 conversions. Overall, the Ladies played 9 games over 7 match days and they won 7 and drew 1. 18 ladies represented the club over the season with Kate Lawlor playing in all the games. Sophie Henry was top try scorer with 5 and Helen McKinty converted 5

With May approaching, the RFU are already looking forward to the autumn internationals. This year, England are playing 4 games at Twickenham – Australia (Nov 1) Fiji (Nov 8) New Zealand (Nov 15) and Argentina (23 Nov). We have a set allocation of 28 tickets for each of the 4 games. Our tickets have been purchased as usual for the Australia and New Zealand games in the expectation that we will have the required demand. The arrangement is different this year for the Fiji and Argentina games, in that previously we have had no allocation for them but we could order as many as we liked, subject to availability. Given the high prices of the Australia and NZ tickets and the more modest prices for Fiji and Argentina, with the option of a reduced price for juniors, there may well be the full demand, but I intend to order them on a first come first served basis. Applications for Australia and NZ should be made by the closing date of Monday 16 June. Applications for Fiji and Argentina should be made asap whilst the RFU still has availability at different prices. An application form showing eligibility and prices is attached

Leamington Royals will be beginning their season this week and their early season fixtures are below. A full fixture list will follow

3 May – friendly at home
10 May – Oxford Cavaliers away
17 May - Bulldogs at home
24 May - Telford Raiders at home
31 May - Sherwood Wolfhounds away

Johnlizlyons@btopenworld.com