After a 20-month “close season” we resumed matches at the beginning of September with a warm-up trip to Barton-under-Neaswood, where we won 32-12. This was followed, a week later, with a double header against Old Leamingtonians to help celebrate their 90th anniversary. The Seconds’ won quite comfortably but the Firsts’ game was a close affair and the lead changed hands several times before a long-range penalty from James Dunne put us ahead near the end. As OLs fought back they were awarded a kickable penalty, themselves but they took a tap penalty and lost the ball and the game - by 22-20.

For the new season. Tom Chandler continued as Rugby Chairman, with Alex Carroll as Head Coach, supported by Phil Evans. For the first time ever, we selected joint-captains, with Gareth Shuttleworth and James Dunne doubling up, although James was injured for most of the season and Gareth took on most of the responsibility. The two-year gap meant that a number of our longest serving players had reached the natural end of their careers and others had drifted away. Therefore, we had to reconstruct the side with some new recruits and the promotion of young players coming through as, well as keeping what we had got.

League Rugby returned to Moorefields at the end of September with the visit of Nuneaton Old Edwardians. The speedy Leamington players swept into a 15-point lead only to be pegged back by the powerful Old Eds pack who ground over from short range either side of half-time, to take the lead. Although Nuns dominated possession, Leam kept coming back and led going into the final moments only to concede a pushover in the final move of the game and lose 29-35. The relatively good performance against Nuneaton was soon forgotten when we played at Old Coventrians the next week and received a 53-7 drubbing in the rain from a team we were expected to beat, but who played at a level they couldn’t get close to again all season. There was a much-improved performance for the visit of Old Laurentians the following week and we matched them three tries apiece - ours all scored by centre Rich McKowen. The lead changed hand several times and after OLs went ahead 27-25 with a late penalty we had the chance to win it at the end with a very kickable penalty of our own, but unfortunately it went just wide and another game got away.

After being pipped at the post twice in three games, it was a relief to come away from Pinley with a 48-0 win. It was 0-0 half time, but a try just after the break opened the floodgates and we ran 7 more scores. As it turned out, Pinley were not competitive and lost all of their 22 games, with our score about par for their course. Another potential win slipped through our hands in our next game at Moorefields when as we went down by 19-25 to Silhillians. We appeared to be heading for victory with three tries either side of half-time, but Sills showed their canny side, scoring from a tap penalty when we thought the ball was dead and then disrupting our flow with long delays for the repair and recuperation of their players. They managed to sneak into the lead and despite a late rally and long pressure on their line we couldn’t get over for the decisive score. Our luck didn’t change at Barkers Butts when a penalty right on the final whistle denied us what would have been a deserved 8-8 draw

Two disappointing losses followed at home, first to Berkswell and Balsall who took control through their well drilled forwards to grind over with 4 tries either side of half time and although we scored two spectacular efforts of our own it was not enough and we lost 17-26. Injuries and non-availabilities hampered our preparations for the visit of second placed Evesham and we were under pressure for most of the game against a strong and remarkably improved side that had finished bottom but one in the previous campaign. We lost by 22-0, with tries on the whistle at the end of both halves making the scoreline look a bit flattering. Youngsters Ollie Boyes and Kofi Miller made their debuts after showing good form in the Seconds. Our availability situation reached crisis point before a vital away trip to Earlsdon and we struggled to field a front-row. But up stepped Simon Harry and Phil Evans to play out of position and Ben Findon, who left his sick bed to sit on the bench but ended up playing most of the game. In awful, conditions, Earlsdon created a 15-point lead with the wind by half time, but a hat trick from Connor Chamberlain in the second half pulled us through by 27-20 and Earlsdon went downhill from then on.

Massive changes had to be made again for our away game at Kidderminster, so much so that we couldn’t turn out a second side at home and the team that travelled was completely changed in the backs, with the usual front row shuffle and we fielded a side with seven players aged under 21, with debuts for Logan Deeley and Josh Lee off the bench. Despite all the changes the team played well and ran Kidderminster very close at 15-22. The final game before Xmas was meant to be at home to Spartans but, frustratingly, with our best availability for weeks, the game was postponed by Spartans under a general Covid dispensation.

The position at Christmas was that we had won only 2 of our 10 league and those wins were against the two bottom two sides. With better fortune we might have won several more games but at least with the games being close we picked up a healthy number of bonus points and had a significant lead over Pinley and Earlsdon. We were aware that the RFU were tinkering with the league structure and there might be more promotions and less relegations than usual but the situation was not clarified until well into the second half of the season when it was confirmed that there would be no relegations from our league.

We kicked off the second half of the season with a well-earned win over Old Coventrians, which went some way to avenging the hammering they gave us at the start of the season. OCs got on the scoresheet first but tries in quick succession from Aaron Hunt and Logan Deeley put us in front by half-time but three more tries finally settled the game with Simon Harry and Rich McKowen (2) wrapping up a 34-19 win. This was followed t was a good game at Old Laurentians, but for the second time we lost by two points to our Rugby opponents. The lead changed several times and we led at half time with tries from Tom Lane and George Jacobs, but the game turned early in the second period when, from an attacking line-out the OLs brought on the giant “Refrigerator”, who fell over the line to score from the tail of an attacking line-out. The game ended with us pressing their line for the winning score, but we ended up inches short.

Spartans seemed to be over their Covid problems for the rearranged fixture and they proved to be very difficult opponents at Moorefields. We opened with a try in the corner by Craig Smith but the game became very static, with the visiting forwards dominating possession and confining us to our own half for long periods, but we defended brilliantly and trailed by only five points as the game reached its finale. A break-out resulted in a siege of the Spartans line and deep into injury time skipper Gareth Shuttleworth got over to square the game up at 13-13 all. Pinley were still pointless when they came to us in February and we had a comfortable afternoon, scoring regularly throughout to win by 48-0, including. some spectacular tries captured on video. The first one, scored by Louis Harvey after a move involving Stuart Chamberlain and Ed Gray was submitted the RFU for their community highlights site and from there it was picked up by ITV and featured as the community highlight of the week in their Premiership round-up programme (see YouTube)
Our run of improved performances came to an end when we went to Silhillians, who had had a makeover and were much stronger than the team which visited us earlier and were on a winning run which they extended at our expense by a whopping 64-3. Our next game was at home to Barkers Butts and in wet and windy conditions it was another close game. Barkers led from early on and although we stayed in the game throughout and pummelled their defence for the last ten minutes, as so often before we could not get over the line and lost 20-15

The return game at Berkswell&Balsall was overshadowed by an incident in their previous home game against Evesham, when an Evesham player died following a collision with a BB player. With the elements in our favour we had the better of the first half but were restricted to a single try by Ed Gray and the game was all square. BB scored a converted try just after half-time but from then on it was all Leamington and although we came desperately close, we couldn’t score and lost a game we should have won, by 12-5.

Earlsdon were on their last legs when they played at Moorefields the next week and we scored 11 tries including a hat-trick from winger, Louis Harvey and 2 for Iain Cameron, winning by 65- 12. It was not so easy the next week when we went to Evesham who were pushing for promotion and went ahead with two early tries, but we recovered and had levelled by half-time with scores by Cameron and John Brear, back in the side for the first time this season. With the wind behind them in the second half Evesham recovered their poise to go well clear at the and win by 38-10, Hoping for a strong finish to the season we entertained Kidderminster at the beginning of April but we started badly and were never in the game as Kidderminster scored 4 tries to our 1 - by Gareth Shuttleworth - to win by 28-7

The return game against Spartans was due to be played at their place but they had hired it out for a wedding party and we were good enough to offer to play at Moorefields again, which they were happy to accept. The venue was the only thing we had on offer to them and on a firm surface we put on one of our better performances and won comfortably by 29-14, with Louis Harvey scoring another hat-trick.

And so, we came to the final game at Nuneaton Old Edwardians, who were in party mood having secured promotion along with Evesham and Silhillians but needed a win with a bonus point against us to clinch the title. In front of a huge crowd the powerful Nuneaton team went into an early lead and the result was never in doubt, but we kept going and put in a strong performance, scoring 4 tries by Louis Dunbavin, George Jacobs, John Brear and Ali Weedon - but lost 24-46

The final table showed that we finished in 9th place (4 places worse than the last season) and we scored 6 wins and a draw, all against the teams level with or below us in the table. The redeeming feature was that most of our games were very close and consequently we picked up a lot of bonus points. It was clear from the start that we were well served in the backs and were able to play an open and effective game, but although we had some good forwards, we were short of numbers and bulk, particularly in the front row and having to play under huge pressure. We changed two of the three starters every week up till Christmas as injuries took their toll. Newcomers included props Ben Findon and Louis Dunbavin and although Ben was unavailable after Christmas, Louis played strongly throughout and was named as Player of the Year by our coaches. Youngsters Jacob and Dan Sennah and Ollie Boyes came through and Aaron Hunt and Mark Warrilow gave us some experience. The back row played pretty much unchanged throughout the season with Gareth Shuttleworth, Ed Gray and Ali Weedon; Craig Smith was in the second row with Tom Lane, Joe Kinghorn, Simon Harry and Greg Atherton. Ali made the most appearances with 22 and he was voted by the players as their Player of the Year.

In the backs, George Jacobs played all season at scrum half and was chosen as our Most Improved Player. Sam Nunn played 21 games either at fly-half or full back and Chris John filled the fly half position in the later games. Harry Johnson, Rich McKowen, Iain Cameron and Toby Bruce played in the centres and Stuart Chamberlain and Louis Harvey shared the wing positions both having some spectacular days. Louis was a clear choice as Young Player of the year. Other young players to put in a shift included Tom Clayton, Logan Deeley, Kofi Miller and Ben Parsons. Louis Harvey was top try scorer with 10 and Sam Nunn was top points scorer with 55, all from the boot

Ross Waterhouse managed the Second team, with the help of Kevin Barkway. It was intended that Danny Ruyssevelt would captain the side but as things turned out he was injured for much of the time or he was wanted by the first team and Anthony Batchelor was the de facto skipper. As always, the second team bore the brunt of the first team’s injury problems and the turnover of players was particularly high in the first half of the season. They took a while to get going but still managed to win half of their autumn games, including a huge 79-0 win over Rugby St Andrews in the Warwickshire Shield, which the referee cut short.

The team had settled down by November, but a month of cancellations by opposing teams in December caused some frustration. But they picked up again after the break and met Barkers Butts in the semi-final of the Shield in February. Having drawn with them earlier, a close game was expected but after a slow start we scored outstanding tries by Kofi Miller, Sam Russell and John Brear to take a 22-point lead which was not threatened.

The final was against Shipston, played at Harbury in March. Fielding an excellent side, the forwards dominated the opening half hour with Ollie Boyes taking 5 scrums against the head and with the back row of Lewis Kelsey, Danny Ruyssevelt and Ant Batchelor causing chaos we were 26-0 ahead by half time and the result was never in doubt as fly-half Jim Robertson controlled the play. Kelsey (2) Robertson and Ruyssevelt scored our tries and youngster Alex Johnson kicked the conversions. Shipston scored a consolation try at the end and the game finished 26-10

The team continued its winning ways until the end of the season and was rewarded with the Warwickshire League 1 trophy, although quite how the results were calculated was a mystery. Ant Batchelor was chosen as Second team Player of the year. The team was built around a core of the Batchelor boys, Mark Baldwin, Josh Jones, Sam Russell, Scott Peters and Chris Morris with a mixture of young players such as Kofi Miller, Ben Parsons and Alex Johnson. Josh was top scorer with 59 points, mainly from the boot, and Kofi was top try scorer with 11, followed by Lewis Kelsey on 10

The Under-16 side also reached their Warwickshire final and took on the long-time unbeaten Silhillians side at Barkers Butts on 1 May. Although they played well and scored three good tries by Ollie Melville, Harry Stanton and Charlie Whorrod, the large Solihull side dominated possession and won by 31-19
The first XV scorers and appearances are summarised below along with the Second XV scorers, although I do not have a full picture of their appearances

John Lyons
May 2022

Ist XV Appearances and Scorers
Apps Sub Tries Cons Pens Points
Atherton, Greg 2 9 2 0 0 10
Batchelor, Nathan 0 2 0 0 0 0
Boyes, Ollie 3 2 0 0 0 0
Brear, John 3 2 3 0 0 15
Bruce, Toby 12 0 2 0 0 10
Cameron, Iain 13 0 6 0 0 30
Campbell, Stu 4 2 1 0 0 5
Chamberlain, Connor 16 1 6 0 1 33
Clayton, Tom 5 1 3 0 0 15
Deeley, Logan 3 1 1 0 0 5
Dunbavin. Louis 13 1 1 0 0 5
Dunne James 10 1 0 16 6 50
Evans, Phil 1 4 0 0 0 0
Findon, Ben 9 1 0 0 0 0
Gray, Ed 21 1 3 0 0 15
Harry, Simon 10 3 1 0 0 5
Harvey, Louis 15 0 10 0 0 50
Homan, Louis 1 2 1 0 0 5
Hughes, Jack 1 2 1 0 0 5
Hunt Aaron 15 1 2 0 0 10
Jacobs, George 17 0 2 0 0 10
John, Chris 8 6 1 0 0 5
Johnson, Harry 13 0 0 0 0 0
Jones, Josh 1 1 0 1 0 2
Kinghorn, Ben 9 3 1 0 0 5
Lane, Tom 14 3 1 0 0 5
Lee, Josh 0 1 0 0 0 0
Maxwell, Nick 1 2 0 0 0 0
McKowen, Rich 15 0 8 2 0 44
Miller, Kofi 1 1 0 0 0 0
Morris, Chris 1 0 0 0 0 0
Morris, Dave 1 0 0 0 0 0
Northover, Patch 3 0 0 1 0 2
Nunn, Sam 21 0 0 17 7 55
Parsons, Ben 3 0 0 0 0 0
Peters, Scott 2 1 0 0 0 0
Phillips, Danny 3 0 0 0 0 0
Robertson, Jim 2 1 1 4 0 13
Ruyssevelt, Danny 5 5 2 0 0 10
Sennah Daniel 3 5 0 0 0 0
Sennah, Jacob 13 3 1 0 0 5
Shuttleworth, Gareth 20 2 7 0 0 35
Sinnott, Drew 2 0 2 0 0 10
Smith, Craig 19 1 5 0 0 25
Thomas, Aled 0 1 0 0 0 0
Weedon, Ali 22 0 4 0 0 20
Warrilow, Mark 4 1 0 0 0 0
Penalty try 1 1 0 7
Total 360 73 79
42 14
521

2nd XV Scorers
Tries Cons Pens Pts
Ano 2 0 0 10
Atherton, Greg 2 0 0 10
Bailey Finn 1 0 0 5
Blakey, Jeremy 2 1 0 12
Baldwin, Mark 5 0 0 25
Batchelor Ant 5 0 0 25
Boyes, Ollie 3 0 0 15
Brazier, Alfie 1 0 0 5
Brear, John 4 0 0 20
Bruce, Toby 0 4 0 8
Campbell, Stu 4 1 0 22
Cameron, Iain 3 0 0 15
Clayton, Tom 0 2 0 4
Dunne, James 0 2 0 4
Gatenby, Peter 1 0 0 5
Gray, Ed 1 0 0 5
Harvey, Louis 1 0 0 5
Jacobs George 4 0 0 20
Johnson Harry 1 0 0 5
Johnson, Alex 0 14 1 31
Jones, Josh 6 13 1 59
Kelsey, Lewis 10 0 0 50
Lee, Josh 3 0 0 15
Main, Alfie 1 0 0 5
McGuigan, Adam 1 0 0 5
Miller,Kofi 11 1 0 57
Morris, Chris 2 0 0 10
Morris, David 4 0 0 20
Northover, Patch 2 1 0 12
Parsons, Ben 0 15 0 30
Peters, Scott 4 0 0 20
Robertson, Jim 4 7 1 37
Russell, Sam 3 0 0 15
Russeyvelt, Danny 4 0 0 20
Sennah, Daniel 1 0 0 5
Waterhouse, Ross 0 2 0 4
Willis, Mattias 2 0 0 10
98
63
3
625