A sad post-script to the Papa John final is that the Peterlee supporter (the mother of one of their players) who was taken ill during the game, requiring a long stoppage at half-time, sadly died over the weekend of the game. We have been in touch with the club and have passed on our condolences.

The structure of the leagues has now been announced and our division will comprise the following 12 clubs. There are some familiar names and one new one -Bromyard - who we have not played before. They are a village side located in between Worcester and Leominster and they have been promoted from Counties 2 this season. The next step is for the fixture formula to be applied and we should know the dates of the games within the next week or two

Alcester, Bromyard, Camp Hill, Droitwich, Earlsdon, Evesham, Kidderminster
Leamington, Ledbury, Manor Park, Old Leamingtonians and Worceste

Now that the Rugby Union season is over for the I am compiling the stats for appearances and scorers. The 1st team stats are attached and the other teams will follow. Overall, we won 10 of 25 games which was well down on the previous two years, reflecting that we were usually short of some of our best players and we had to make multiple changes every week. Skipper Joe Kinghorn and Gareth Shuttleworth both played in 23 games and Freddie Spencer was top points scorer with 75, including 9 tries. Connor Chamberlain was top try-scorer with 11 – most of which were spectacular long-range efforts. Playing awards have not yet been decided, pending the club dinner on 1 August. Congratulations to Louis Dunbavin has played for the full Warwickshire side and Jake Dallyn who has played for Midlands Under 20s

The Royals played Telford Raiders last Saturday with a new line up compared to the previous week. With unavailability, due to the bank holiday weekend, the Royals only had 4 players starting from the previous game. With the Raiders fielding a strong team which included a Tonga U20's cap, the Royals know it would be a tough afternoon, and within 20 mins were 20 points down. It didn't get any better. The Royals did have some positive play which ended with young Eddie Atherton scoring out wide. Another positive was the completion sets. In the first half they completed 70% which is the best this season, unfortunately the defence was slightly open! The second half started strong for the Royals with hard yards from Gilks Jones and Rogers. It was a game of give and take into the last quarter until the young Tonga international scored 3 tries. The Royals did finish well with the last try which was scored by Alford and convert by Parsons. Result - Royals 10 Raiders 66

The Royals have a break this weekend but travel to Sherwood on the 7 June. They are still looking for new players. If you fancy having a go, training for senior men and ladies is every Wednesday from 7pm. Any Colts want to join in also, its great prep for pre-season! We have an U15s squad which is made up of school Years 9 and 10. We have a merit league fixture on the 7th also at Sherwood, so if any lads fancy playing rugby league (No experience required) please come along to training every Wednesday from 7pm. Juniors train U7s U8s U9s U10s U11s U12s every Sunday from 10.30am.

Reminder - the Autumn internationals at Twickenham are 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. Applications for Australia and NZ should be made by the closing date of Monday 16 June and will be allocated according to the demand received by that date. Applications for Fiji and Argentina will be on the basis of first come first served. The Fiji tickets are almost gone. An application form showing eligibility and prices is attached

Coming Up
15 July – AGM - 1 August - Club dinner
Johnlizlyons@btopenworld.com