Friday 4th October the day that Leamington Vets made their return after a 10 year wait, with an away fixture under the floodlights to Chipping Norton RFC.

After a brief warm up and a vast amount of deep heat the reality of playing again for many was sending the nerves sky high. Being led out by the stalwart Gez Robinson the game got under way. Within a minute the Leamington used their weight to their advantage with a powerful scrum which is was strong threat through out the evening giving a good platform to work off. Whilst the pace of the game might not have been what the players remembered the physicality seemed to have increased with some big hits and carries coming in from both teams.

The deadlock was broken on 8 minutes, after a good set piece lineout Nick Maxwell latched on to the end of a powerful driving maul to touch down in the corner. This was duly converted by Tom Jewitt. For the next period of play it was time for Leamington to test their defence, a good line break from Chipping Norton was halted by the rock at the back Leigh Cleary. Having soaked up the pressure Leamington were back on the ball looking to play wide on what could be the widest pitch in the England. Chris Murphy took advantage of this and with a strong run he raced away to the corner to score. Converted by Jewitt.

Not to be undone Chipping Norton came back quickly to score under the posts at 22 minutes. Taking advantage of the rolling subs Leamington made some tactical substitutions of getting fresh lungs on to the pitch. This was quickly rewarded with a another try from a driving maul which was touched down by Paddy Creevy. As the half time was looming Leamington playing out wide got the ball to Tom Daplyn who raced under the posts. Not to be undone Chipping Norton showed great resilience with there pick and go and after an array of penalties from Leamington, Chipping Norton scored by the post for a converted try.

Half time 26-14 to Leamington.

As half time was welcomed and the physio was put to the test a few more changes were made. Wanting to be a bit more direct of first phase ball it was injected straight away in the second half with Daplyn touching down for his second of the night. It was then again Chipping Norton to have a good period on the ball with Leamington having to soak up the pressure. As the substitutions kept being made to keep the fresh legs on the physicality of the game was taking it’s toll on both sides and having the physios work hard. In this middle section Chipping Norton scored a couple of tries to keep the pressure on. During this period it was Daplyn was the final casualty of the on going penalties and was shown the yellow card. With redemption though and having had his 10 minute break he came back on to score in the corner to round up the hat-trick. Final score 36-26 to Leamington.

The old saying of the real winner here was rugby which is very true. Both teams having not played a vets team for many a year saw returning heads back out on the field playing again. A special thanks to Chipping Norton for hosting us. It was a great turnout with Leamington having played 26 players throughout the evening in front of a 200+ crowd.

What does the future hold for Leamington Vets? We hope to welcome Chipping Norton RFC back to Leamington for the return fixture later on in the season. We will also seek out other opponents with the aim to try and find a fixture a month. If interested in playing then please get in touch

Words by John Raby