Category: Front Page

Memoirs of a Lino – Part II

“I woke up that day full of hope and expectation.  With our Twickenham suits on, Dad and I joined the Tunbridge Wells team on the bus to Twickenham. I had my Lions tour flag (a Union Jack with the Tunbridge Wells RFC crest on it) made up but sadly it was too thick to hang on the bus. After a quick stop at the hotel, arriving at Twickenham was exciting seeing it up close and knowing we would enter through the famous gates.


After assisting the team with the allocation of passes, we entered the gates and what we saw was something that only international players experience usually. Having the 9,000 Intermediate Cup record TWRFC fans clapping us all in was absolutely amazing, and I will never forget them calling us all by name.Even though I didn’t have a pass to go to the changing rooms, I said to Dad “keep going” and helped take kit into the changing room and had to say to our New Zealand born players that they were sharing the same dressing room that the All-Blacks had won the World Cup in a few months prior in an attempt to try and inspire them. I considered hiding in the toilets during warm-up so I could sneak pitch side using a borrowed pass, but remembered Dad and I had Royal Box tickets courtesy of our excellent chairman. 


Heading out with the players and being invited to be in the team photo was unforgettable and that photo holds pride of place in the hall. While the players went to warm up, Dad and I headed upstairs to sample the excellent facilities Twickers had to offer. I was tempted to hang the flag off the edge of the Royal Box but realised I had left it on the bus and realised the RFU board members probably wouldn’t have appreciated that!  


The game got off to a bang with Lee being yellow carded without warning for a seemingly innocuous tackle, to which I couldn’t control my anger with some very un-Royal town behaviour of shouting “WHAT?!” several times. Thankfully my anger subsided as TWRFC took control and completely dominated with every player playing the best rugby I’ve ever seen them play in my 11 years as Touch Judge. Tries from Docco, Alex Maynard, Lee Campion, Fred Tila and Chaz Spence, excellent kicking from Hayden Pope and a drop-goal from Charlie Harding (which I couldn’t help but laugh when he did it). 


The lifting of the trophy was the icing on the cake and watching it back again and again with me in the background cheering always gives me butterflies knowing I was there and a part of the most successful season in the club’s history. It was also touching at the end of the post-match function where our captain Sean O’Connor paid tribute to the team and also singled me out for thanks, which I was almost moved to tears for his graciousness.”


Paul “Lino” Robbins

Home Nations Lockdown Challenge

As we move towards the sixth week of lockdown, TWRFC wanted to something as a club to support a local charity close to many hearts, Hospice in the Weald. Like many other charities, the lockdown has meant that vital sources of funding have stopped with shops closed and fundraising events cancelled for the foreseeable future.

Hospice in the Weald is also dealing with increased demand to support patients but also to do so under strict Covid-19 controls requiring PPE. Like all Hospices, Hospice in the Weald is not part of the NHS and although they do get a small amount of funding from the government the vast majority of the running costs are funded from charitable donations.

With the impact of increased demand, increased costs and reduced donations the club wanted to help Hospice in the Weald as they work on the front line of the pandemic giving patients a dignified death and supporting their wider families.

To do this we are throwing down the “Home Nations Lockdown Challenge”. The aim is to walk, run or cycle the equivalent of driving from our St Marks Clubhouse to “virtually” visit all four home nations stadiums – that’s 877 miles.

Volunteers will be asked to start their miles from Friday 8th May and encourage friends and family to sponsor them via our Just Giving page:

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/twrfchomenationschallenge

To help the competition along we will be tracking the number of miles each age group/squad do – so sign up and see if you can get your team to the top of the league. Please don’t forget that if you are covering your miles outside, to only do so with members of your own household within the recommended time within lockdown restrictions.

Anyone who wants to volunteer should send the following details to Drew Raine at drewraine@hotmail.com:

  1. Name
  2. Age
  3. Age Group/Squad
  4. Mode: Walk, Run or Cycle
  5. Target miles you are setting yourself (this will help us see how close to the 877 target we are getting)

Sign up now and get ready for Friday 8th May

#oneTWRFC

Chairman’s update

Members and friends of TWRFC,

I thought it timely to provide an update on the club and the progress made this year. It’s a long update because we are a big and active club!

However, let me start by saying the world is presently gripped in a fight against Covid-19 which has had a significant impact on everyone’s lives. It puts many aspects of our lives into perspective and raises levels of appreciation for things we take for granted. We are truly in unprecedented times.

The Board have remained focused on the Club throughout the year, both its day to day operations and of course the longer-term future of the club. Below is a detailed update on all parts of the club before I look to the future:

The Youth section: Another very successful year for the Youth section with record membership numbers (621) and a great spirit across all the age groups. Some notable highlights: A very successful Mini’s festival held; Beamo (Under 6 Head Coach and present senior player) gets up and running with a huge 105 players in his U6’s age group;  First team player Ben Whale takes on Head Coach role of Under 14’s (#oneTWRFC), Despite the weather we KEPT training with new 3G locations sourced; Age groups keep the spirit alive in lockdown with remote sessions and fun videos.

To all the players: We are sorry the season ended prematurely but keep active, keep wearing the clubs colours with pride, we will be back before you know it!

The Thank-you’s are endless here, we have over 100 volunteers in this section (from coaches to DBS to Fixtures, parent helpers, to Refs etc etc). Thank-you one and all you are keeping the future of TWRFC very much alive and growing. Thanks to Laurence and Alex for Chairing the Youth and the Minis.

The Academy: As we started the season we had high hopes for the Academy and wanted to revamp it. It would be fair to say the revamp had a tricky start but ended on a real high.

Andy Child has taken on the lead role here and led the squad to stats of Played 7, WON 7 the last one taking them to a Kent Cup Final. It was also great to see Tui, Agy and Max Douch (First team players) playing such an active part in the training and supporting on match days (#oneTWRFC). Our DoR was also very active in supporting this success demonstrating his breadth of role. Well done to all the players, you are the future of the senior section and we look forward to seeing you at training soon.

Some good news for next year, we have a new sponsor for the Academy who is keen we invest further in this important transition into senior rugby.

Thank you to Andy and all the coaches, Jim, Tui and Agy.

The Ladies section: We are really keen to grow the ladies section and make sure TWRFC is the ‘Go-To’ club for ladies’ rugby. We have challenged Simon and the team to grow our Ladies membership and confirmed we are happy to invest to get that growth. So, to the successes: U18’s equalled last year’s national cup run and came 2nd in the County league; U15’s saw numbers grow and got on a good winning streak; U13’s won the county plate against stiff competition; U11 team created to expand the section; and membership numbers rise to 80.

Well done Simon and all the coaches. But also well done to all the players, you have a real sense of community and are the fastest growing section of the club.

The Senior Section: We have three very divergent parts of our Senior club: The Elite squad; The Social side; and of course the Vets.

The Elite squad has clearly had a good season, with a very honourable 6th position in the league. We were light upfront all season but Simon and Aston got the team working really well together and ground out some fantastic results. There was as-ever the odd game that slipped away from us but ‘The Wells’ way of playing was exhilarating to watch: Strong defence, well organised team structure and hugely exciting with ball in hand. Well done guys a fantastic effort and a pleasure to watch.

The second XV struggled this year for players, fixtures and results and is an area of focus for us. Also on that list of focus areas are player-retention and player-recruitment.

The Social side under the leadership of Andy Cunningham has operated well all season winning half their games. The number of players representing the 3rd XV was north of 50 which shows the depth of squad at this level. If everyone wanted to play every week we’d have a 4th XV back before you knew it!!

The Vets…….shall be remembered this year for their activities off the pitch! The lockdown videos have been amazing. Thank-you to Tommo and Tom for your hard work they have kept the spirit of the club alive in these hard times. Awesome.

Thanks to all those that pulled on the Blue and White shirts this year, thanks to Jim Scully and the coaching team, the Captains, the organisers, the helpers, the ref liaison/refs, the caterers, the bar staff etc etc and thank you to the one and only Lino. Thanks to Stu Montgomery for leading this area for the Board.

So lastly to the running of the club and the area I have focussed a lot of my time and effort upon to get us financially and structually on an even keel.

The Commercial team: All major sponsors are now contracted and most on multi-year agreements. They are regularly engaged with to ensure they feel part of our club. We have two new ‘tier 1’ sponsors for next year on multi-year contracts which help build our diversity of revenues. We are under no illusion that our ability to get new sponsors next year will be harder. Thanks to Simon Hughes, Steve Webb and Andre Van Zijl

The Events: After a hugely successful summer ball at the High Rocks we have lost our last two fundraising events to Covid-19. The Youth Ball is postponed to early October and the Player’s end of season dinner will now be delivered virtually. We also lost our VP’s lunch at the Spa. We did however have a hugely enjoyable ‘Brave the Shave’ event run by the Senior section with lots of monies raised for an incredibly worthy cause. Thanks to Sarah Raine, Fran, Michelle and many many others.

The Operations: As mentioned most sponsors are now contracted, all our 1st team players were contracted, our major supplies are actively managed with terms renegotiated, and we are doing some work to tidy up our Board structure. Martin Croker, Michelle Greenall and Tony Pawson have been immense here.

The Clubhouse: Alan and Kathy have kept the Bar well stocked, the match day lunches organised and the volunteers at hand, Martha has kept the Bacon cooking and Charmaine has kept the match teas consistently good. But Nick has overseen not only the maintenance of an ageing old clubhouse but also lots of small but important investment:

  • The new combined gym and physio room invested in and refreshed. Including new equipment.
  •  The interior sound system and external PA system has arrived (Thanks to Pete Gould for sponsoring)
  • The first XV changing room has been refreshed with shelving. The ground floor TWRFC street art arrives soon (Thanks to Countryside Properties).
  • The Café has arrived! A real improvement to the ground floor and to the feel of the Clubhouse.
  • Nick has recently had the ground floor completely painted and is working up some more decking outside the café.

Marketing/Press: An area awash with volunteers from Graham/Roger on match reports, to Drew/Michelle on marketing, Fran on programmes, Mac on videos, Michelle on instagram (so hip!), and Martin on the website. Not to mention Bruce’s brilliant photography each week.

The Future of the Club: You will all have seen our recent posts on how we wish to focus our attentions on future ground improvements. We have started to progress plans in this regard and will continue to keep you fully appraised as we reach key milestones.

Lastly and perhaps at this present time most importantly

The Finances:  Don has continued to keep us on the straight and narrow this year. We have added cashflow forecasts and forecasting tools to our armoury as we look to ensure we are financially tight and resilient to blips. Thank goodness we did and thank goodness we ended the year in a far stronger position financially than we started. We will provide a full update at our (Covid-19 delayed) AGM when we get to it but in the meantime I wanted to reassure all the members we are in a stable position. We ended the season with cash resources in the bank, with our reserved funds safely set aside, with no debt and with sufficient cash to see us through to next season despite the early finish. We have availed ourselves of all Covid-19 grants/support that is available to us but we have not taken any funds from the various debt facilities offered from either the RFU or elsewhere. We are financially resilient at present but our planning shows any persistent delay to the restart of the rugby season will have an early impact.

So in summary:

  • The Club is in good shape on the playing side
  • We have a growing youth and ladies section
  • We have a successful academy
  • We have a performing 1st XV
  • We have a socially active club
  • We are ever closer to our #oneTWRFC ambition
  • The number of volunteers are growing and making a difference
  • We are financially stable and operationally organised
  • We have direction and purpose for the future of St Marks.

Thank you to all our many volunteers and to everyone who keeps TWRFC at the heart of our Community.

COYW

Mike
Club Chairman
#oneTWRFC

TWRFC Families Step-up to Help Nourish Community Foodbank

TWRFC has a long standing partnership with Nourish Community Foodbank but with the “Lockdown” hitting our community hard members have stepped up to volunteer to support the team at Nourish.

“We were busy before the lockdown supporting over 7,000 people in crisis per year across the borough of Tunbridge Wells and Tonbridge” said Operations Manager Dawn Stanford. “Since lockdown we have seen over a 100% increase in referrals and we have also been asked to be part of TWBC’s Frontline response team to COVID-19. At the same time as demand has increased, we have lost a lot of our usual food and monetary donation locations e.g. churches, schools and businesses plus we have had to work around many of our existing volunteers self-isolating due to age.”

Families from TWRFC have come forward to help weigh-in and sort donations, stack shelves, pack and deliver food parcels. Nourish are restricted to the number of volunteers that can be in the packing unit due to social distancing requirements. Volunteers have worked in household groups so they aren’t limited by social distancing and Nourish supplied gloves, aprons and sanitiser on site. Deliveries are managed by knocking on clients doors without the need for contact.

Here are just a couple of examples of TWRFC families supporting Nourish

The Weaver family have been out delivering food parcels:

“I’ve always had massive respect for Nourish Community Foodbank and the support it gives our community so when Dawn asked the parents of the U12s for drivers to help with deliveries, I was really pleased to be able to help out a couple of times a week” said Tam Weaver. “It is fantastic that Nourish were able to turn to the club for help to continue with their essential work during lockdown”

The Dexter family have also been out and about supporting deliveries:

Ele Dexter commented “We want to support our community in any way we can and volunteering for Nourish Community Foodbank seemed like a great way to do something good on a regular basis.”

The Raine family have been supporting weighing-in, sorting stock and deliveries:

“I was amazed how busy the team are, it’s easy to forget that even in an affluent area people are struggling and need support from organisations like Nourish” said Drew Raine “With lock down presenting even more challenges we wanted to help as much as we could and it’s great to see the wider TWRFC family supporting a community in need.”

For more information about the work of Nourish Community Foodbank and how you can donate or help, please go to:

www.nourishcommunityfoodbank.org.uk

or follow them on facebook @nourishcommunityfoodbank

A trip down the TWRFC memory lane – Part One

As we all continue to navigate the uncharted waters that is the Coronavirus pandemic, it is time to pick ourselves up by reflecting on the anniversaries of the two greatest days in the modern history of the club.


Next week I shall be reflecting upon the 4th anniversary of that incredible day when we won the Intermediate Cup and successfully managed to #turnHQblue in the process. 


In Part One, though, we go back three years to Saturday 29th April 2017 and the promotion play-off at Chingford. This game was to decide who would take the final spot at Level Five of the RFU pyramid for 2017/18 in the newly re-named London Premier division. To do this I have spoken to several of the people who were at the heart of the match – the player, the coach, the physio and the linesman (and this conversation has led to a “spin-off show”) and will re-play the match report too.


Firstly, let me provide some context. Having been promoted to London One South following our majestic, unbeaten, 2015-16 season, the objective at the start of the campaign was a credible showing with the hope (and a genuine ambition to go with it) of a top four finish. Indeed, this was where we looked like finishing as we sat 3rd with five games to go ahead of a trip to the impressive champions-elect Sidcup, who were still unbeaten at this stage after 21 games. Havant were ahead of us in 2nd and still mathematically catch-able but we felt we needed to win 4 of our remaining 5 games at least and even then the Hampshire team had only to win three of their remaining games to be out of reach. 


Defeat at Sidcup was not unexpected but what we hadn’t anticipated was the good news of Havant losing 15-7 at Chiswick, and to a side that were eventually relegated. However, when our worst performance of the campaign saw a home 12-17 loss to Brighton and news came through that our play-off rivals had secured a last minute 31-30 victory over CS Stags the pressure now seemed to be off. All we could do was ensure we won our last 3 games with full bonus points to maintain some pressure and hope that Havant slipped up twice…and we did know that their last game was likely to be a very tough trip to Sidcup.


To be fair, our run in was pretty straight-forward as we had two relegated teams to play before a home match against old rivals Maidstone. First up we thumped Gosport 5-52 and the coach journey home was made the much more enjoyable by the news that Havant had gone down 33-31 at Cobham. When we later heard they had missed a winning penalty with the last kick of the match we could be forgiven for wondering could the stars be aligning in our favour?


On the penultimate weekend we did what we had to do with an 85-0 win over Dover and even with Havant comfortably beating Chobham we knew we had a chance still to make the play-off match. April 22nd came with Havant on 98 points and the Wells on 95. We needed 5 points and for Havant to gather less than two at Sidcup…….and so it came to pass……Maidstone were demolished 46-14 at St Marks and our “contact” in South London gleefully relayed the news that Sidcup had beaten Havant 43-30 and planning began for the trip to Essex to play Chingford, runners up in London One North.


Saturday 29th April


As I was at St Marks running the Whiting & Hammond Sevens, Roger Clarke’s match report takes up the story:-

Whatever the result both Clubs had produced a great season and in the Wells case this was at the first attempt.

The away side saw Charlie Harding replace ever present Frank Reynolds (playing in trials to make the England Counties U 20 ‘s side) and saw Josh Crickmay added to a bench of 4.Within 8 minutes playing against a significant breeze Wells had conceded a penalty to go 3 points down and had lost second row Owain Withers to a twisted knee with Charlie Dagwell added to the back row and flanker Mike Hathaway moving into the engine room. Hayden Pope put Wells on the board with a well struck penalty as a result of an infringement when Withers was injured. 3-3.

With Wells finding the Chingford line speed giving them little room they then scored a fine try after good hands on the right- despite the narrow pitch – giving skipper Lee Campion the chance to stand- up his opposite number and score the try in the corner with Pope grazing the post against the breeze. 3-8 after 12 minutes.

It took Chingford another 2 minutes to claw back some of the deficit as despite parity or better in the scrummage and the edge through Christian Earle at the line out Wells continued to give a string of penalties away predominantly for offside for the rest of the half. No further score took place until the 30th minute as ferocious defence was the winner. However, on 30 mins Wells conceded another simple penalty converted by the Chingford full back who then a minute later, using the breeze slotted one over from inside his half to restore Chingford’s lead at 12-8. This remaining the score until half time.

The Wells halftime talk was all about composure and patience but Head Coach Matt Cook in his last game in charge would have been happy enough with this score against the wind.

The second half started with no changes and the first 20 minutes was characterised by a complete failure of the home line out being able to function to their advantage. Wells enjoyed better territory with the breeze and after a penalty to the corner and a maul Harding brought back memories of Twickenham 2016 with a well struck drop goal to bring the score to 12-11 48 minutes. At this stage the game was tense and tight with very few openings for either side as the defences dominated.

Wells continued to incur the displeasure of the referee and on 63 and 65 minutes the unerring boot of the Chingford full back put the home side 18-11 up.

The mood on the pitch had changed though and with the ‘pick and drive ‘ being employed and with Crickmay on the pitch the Wells build ups looked more solid. It took the pack until the 72nd minute to get the break they were looking for as Crickmay launched himself between legs and feet to get the touchdown which was converted by Pope 18-18. With full time close at hand and with Harding and Pope using the breeze to the corners Pope nudged Wells further in front on 77 minutes after a scrum infringement and at 18-21 the Wells supporters dared to see the win. Yet again after a Wells handling error in midfield Chingford broke away and were awarded another penalty to even the score in the 80th minute to level the scores at 21-21 Wells having conceded 7 successful penalty kicks most of which had been simple kicks and so to Extra time of two ten minute halves.

Wells got off to a flyer facing the wind yet again as within a minute of the start Hooker Jake Thompson latched onto a passing movement 30 metres out to twist turn roll and get over the line for a brilliant 3rd Wells try converted by Pope 21-28.

With the centre pairing of Dylan Barkas and Fionn McLoughlin making inroads in the middle gaps were opening up which Chas Spence was sending the backs into. Chingford had also lost a flanker to a yellow card for an offence on Thompson as he scored. Wells were dominating and after a penalty to the corner their rolling maul was used – not for the first time in the afternoon- to great effect as No 8 Nick Doherty was propelled over the line for Wells’ 4th try converted from the touchline by Pope for a fourteen point lead 21-35 at Halftime of extra time but by then Crickmay had been binned as well for a knock down in midfield.

If the crowd thought Chingford were finished they weren’t yet as they charged into Wells pinning them in their 22 and after 4 minutes of the second half after a long period of defence from Wells they drove over the line for a converted try 28-35.

There was still time for the two yellow carded players to return but it was McLoughlin’s turn to see a yellow as Wells went one down. As the second period of extra time was coming to an end Chingford forced themselves over the line in the corner. The fullback could not convert and it was all over. Had the conversion gone over Wells would still have been the victors on try count but all agreed this was the way to end a brilliant game from both teams and the right result for Wells as they now look forward for the first time in the Club’s history to National League Rugby next season and celebrate back to back promotions.Squad: Kyle McGarvie, Jake Thompson, Nick Blacklock, Stuart Nicholls, Josh Crickmay, Christian Earle, Owain Withers, Hayden Pengelly, Mike Hathaway, Charlie Dagwell; Chas Spence, Charlie Harding, Jake Jones, Adam Webb, Dylan Barkas, Fionn McLoughlin, Lee Campion, Hayden Pope.

Promotion secured to great celebrations at Chngford and back at St Marks. It made me wonder what memories some of the protagonists had…..

The Player – Owain Withers

“This was to be my biggest game in a Wells shirt as I was in my final year at university and playing rugby in Nottingham for the Twickenham season. I wasn’t surprised that my dad kept his word to run the Sevens rather then watch this game but my sister Eirlys was there representing the family. I was gutted to get injured so early after a dominant performance lol (my words… Ed!) . My memory isn’t amazing and I am a dreadful watcher of Wells games when I am not playing, but I think it was probably one of the most entertaining games the team played. The game was swinging both ways throughout and was very physical on a very hot day. Quite a narrow pitch so a lot of contact but we still played good expansive rugby.”

The Lino – Paul Robbins
“That match was one of the best I’ve ever seen because it had all the competitive things that make community rugby great but had the tactical play of an international.” Paul has quickly earned his place in TWRFC folklore and for more from Lino please see:-

https://twrfc.com/news/memoirs-of-a-lino-part-i/

The Physio – Russell Shingles

“The game was physically and mentally tough. The boys played to every ounce of soul they had. I can still see them becoming more and more fatigued as the game was going, hanging on the side line hoping no major injuries would happen. Unfortunately Owain’s was one! 
As the game went in to extra time I was helping to make sure the players were hydrated and focused on what they could do, to look after themselves. It seemed like the game went on for an age and then when it got to the end I felt so proud of the team, honoured to be a part of the day and definitely had a little tear and lump in the throat! So proud. They gave everything.” 


And the last word goes to the man who made it all happen……


The Coach – Matt Cook

The season until this point had been a bit of a strange one, and the conclusion of it against Chingford was to prove no different to the madness that had been unfolding around us each week. Throughout the season we were in with a chance of promotion one week and then out of it again the next week. To say the ‘run in’ really didn´t go our way would be an understatement. However, somehow, against the odds a battered and broken squad managed to defy it all just one more time with a match that was surely the perfect microcosm of the season.

For me, this one match summed up perfectly how the team and indeed the club had evolved over the previous few seasons. No longer were players content to take second place on match days, no longer did club members and supporters turn up expecting the team to put up a good fight before losing, no longer did anyone associated with the club think we were just a small town rugby club.

The match and subsequent victory against Chingford, as glorious as it was, was so much more than just another win or promotion. It was the day the club to a man stood up and said, “we are good enough and we are here to stay”. Ambitions had changed and rightly so! Vamos Wells. Cookie.

Graham Withers 28th April 2020

Memoirs of a Lino – Part I

Chingford 

I remember approaching that game with optimism. I had my Lions tour flag that I had made earlier for the Intermediate Cup final the year before, which I made sure to hang at a place where the players could see it as they came out and know that the whole of TWRFC were here. It was frustrating not being able to run the line for this game but I remember hanging all the shirts in order before the match and had a quick prayer for victory. 


That match was one of the best I’ve ever seen because it had all the competitive things that make community rugby great but had the tactical play of an international. Chingford made good use of their home advantage and short pitch with their kicker kicking every penalty in our half with Hayden Pope and a try from Lee Campion just keeping us in touch with them.  I remember thinking with 20 minutes to go, things weren’t looking good especially having lost the inspirational Owain Withers to injury but through a Pumba try a few penalties and a drop-goal from Charlie Harding we pulled it back to draw at full-time. 


I recall no-one around knew what the extra time rules were. No-one except me……. having been the 4th official for the Intermediate Cup Semi-Final the previous year, I knew the extra time rules were 2 10 minute halves with it being decided by try count, then conversions if it was still level, and then the away side wins. I fed the information to Alex so he knew we had the advantage. Seeing us take the lead with 2 quick tries was exhilarating but worrying when we let them back in with a try in the second half of extra time. When Fionn was yellow carded with 30 seconds left. I knew the lads just had to hold them up for long enough, which we were able to do due to the excellent defence that had been our trademark for the previous two seasons. 


Chingford scored shortly after but I knew they didn’t have time to kick off again after the conversion. So I was excitedly saying to the coaching staff “it doesn’t matter if he gets this conversion, we’ve won, we’ve won!” Chingford’s coaches and fans didn’t know why I was celebrating so I had to quickly tell them TWRFC had won 4-2 on try count. The feeling afterwards when the final whistle was so overwhelming, I grabbed the flag and engaged in a pitch invasion to celebrate with the lads. Embracing all comers was fantastic as everyone in that team played their part brilliantly.

I especially remember at the end after a few beers, I quipped to John Crees “We’re going to Guernsey!”


Paul “Lino” Robbins

Countryside Kent Sevens – Update

This weekend would have been the Countryside Kent Sevens at TWRFC but with the current lock-down in place the event was postponed.

“The Kent Sevens is a major event in the club calendar both for the teams that come from all over the county to play in the mens and ladies competitions, but also the families that come to enjoy the rugby and community spirit of the event” said Mike Rigby, Chairman of TWRFC. “Of course it’s a shame we’ve had to postpone the event but we are looking at options to stage an invitational competition early next season as we get guidance from the RFU and our colleagues at Kent RFU”

Simon Hughes, Head of Commercial said “We really want to thank our sponsors, in particular our headline sponsor Countryside Properties, for their on-going support in these unprecedented times. We are working closely with all our sponsors on re-organising the competition and look forward to a weekend of showing casing Kent rugby.”

Watch out for news of new event here and on the clubs social media:

Facebook: @twrfc

Instagram: @tunbridge_wells_rfc

Twitter: @tunwellsrfc

#oneTWRFC

Brave the Shave – Update

In what turned out to be the last social event of the season the club held a charity “Brave the Shave” event in March in aid of the Lewis Moody Foundation, a charity that supports people of all ages battling brain tumours. The event was organised after first team player, Chris Brown’s 19 month old son, William, was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive cancer in the form of a brain tumour.

“The Club wanted to come together to support Chris and his family” said Stuart Nicholls, a fellow first team player who helped organise the event. “Chris and his wife Faye asked for any funds raised to go to the Lewis Moody foundation, a charity run by the ex-England and Leicester Tiger player”

 25 brave souls took on the challenge to have their heads shaved – the team from Gallery Hair & Beauty, in Southborough, manned the clippers. Once all the heads were shaved, the evening continued with a quiz, raffle and some excellent food supplied by The Raj Pavillion.

The event was given an additional boost courtesy of Tonbridge Juddians. Earlier in the day TJs had run their own charity match that TWRFC players and supporters attended. When TJs heard about the Brave the Shave they held and extra collection that raised over £750 – a great example of how rugby is a real community sport.

Donations continued to come in after the event and we can now confirm the event raised over £2500 for the Foundation, with a donation also made to the family to help with William’s on-going care.

A huge thank you to the team that organised the event, those that attended and everyone that donated #oneTWRFC!

Jim steps down as director of rugby

Jim Scully has stepped down from the role of Director of Rugby at Tunbridge Wells RFC.

As a club we would like to take this opportunity to thank Jim for everything he’s done for the club. The 2019/20 season has been a challenging one, impacted by the British weather and COVID; despite this, and due in no small part to Jim’s efforts, the Wells continues to thrive both on and off the pitch. The first team finish 6th in the London & South East Premier league, having played 21, won 10 and drew 2. Youth membership has once again grown, and we now boast a youth membership of 621 children; and (after a rocky start) the Academy has has a particularly successful season, winning all 7 of their matches, with a number of players graduating to senior rugby. The academy Alumni now includes 3 internationals and a Sarries U 18’s player plus 3 other Kent U 18’s.

Jim will replaced in the interim by Stuart Montgomery who will be taking on the role of DoR on in addition to his existing role on the TWRFC board, I’d like to thank Stuart for stepping up, and am sure he will shortly be looking for volunteers as his gets to grips with his expanded role.  Simon Whatling extends his role and will continue as head-coach for 2020-2021 season, and, following this year’s success, Andy Child continues to manage the Academy.

Mike
TWRFC Chairman

A round up of the 2019/20 season

So that was the 2019/20 Season. Covid-19 might have brought it to a sudden and shuddering halt but it cannot take away the memories…..and more of that later….


“How were the final tables calculated?”, I hear you ask. To use the language of Eurovision, as a homage to the devastating cancellation of this iconic event too (and in your honour Bruce), the votes have been counted and verified and here are the results of the RFU Jury……

……..well actually it wasn’t a voting system that has been implemented. Instead, the final standings for the Greene King IPA Championship and men’s and women’s community game have been calculated on a “best playing record formula maintaining promotion and relegation for those leagues”. 


In essence, the league positions have been determined by awarding points for a team’s outstanding matches based on using that team’s average points per game total for home and away fixtures completed. I believe this to be an eminently sensible approach as the RFU took soundings and quickly discovered that just as there were inevitably teams who were very keen to achieve the promotions their performances had merited to test themselves higher up in 2020/21, there were also a lot of clubs who would just as happily accept relegation so that they could re-group and play next year at a more appropriate level. This average has then been applied to all outstanding fixtures and added to a team’s league points as at 14th March. The RFU’s example of how the maths works is a good one:-


If a Team gained 40 points in 10 home fixtures they would receive 40 divided by 10 i.e. 4 points for all remaining home games.Also, then assume they achieved 20 points in 8 away fixtures this would produce an average of 2.5 points (20 divided by 8).If they had one home and three away games left (to make 22 matches in total) they would receive 4+2.5+2.5+2.5 points (11.5 points).I trust this makes sense…..


Consequently, Rochford Hundred win the London & South East Premier title by the small margin of 0.31 points from Guernsey. The Channel Islanders have the compensation of promotion too though as they had a better points average than the South West Premier runners-up Weston Super Mare. Barnstaple have been a bit of a yo-yo team between levels 4 and 5 in recent seasons and it is they that won the South West league and join Rochford and Guernsey in National Two South next season. Whilst third-placed Wimbledon might disagree, these two sides were, to my mind, evidently the best teams in the competition and thoroughly deserve their promotions. 


After Wimbledon, Hertford and Dorking came a distant 4th and 5th whilst we just leap-frogged Sevenoaks into 6th. After two cracking drawn games it would perhaps have been fitting had we ended up tied but we just secured “bragging rights” (LOL) by 0.95 points – 67.25 against 66.30. Our friends at Knole Paddock should be rightly proud of a more than solid first season at this level and we look forward to rutting antlers again in 2020/21. Sidcup and the resurgent Brighton came 8th and 9th.

It would have been an intriguing “run in” for the bottom five sides as they sought to avoid the three relegation slots. However, the points formula has perhaps come to the rescue of Tring (10th) and CS Stags 1863 (11th). London Irish Wild Geese (12th), in particular, will rue the number of close games they lost. In fairness Bedford Athletic and Guildford have occupied the bottom two places for most of the season  – I am sure Guildford will wish they had found the form the showed in the last few games a shade earlier.


It takes a little conjecture at this stage to predict how the LSE Premier might look next season…..but why not!? Havant and Westcombe Park (a cracking effort give the strength of Camberley, Medway and Cobham in London One South) are promoted to join us, as are London One North runaway winners North Walsham. Sutton and Epsom were relegated so will re-join us after just one season at Level Four. The final place is the one that is open to speculation. We could be asked to travel to Bournemouth who were also relegated from the league above, or there might be a sideways move for Oundle who would be the closest Midlands Premier team as “the crow flies”. However, this would be a tough ask given that they have only now been promoted into that league, so my money, if I were a betting man (who am I kidding – “I am” a betting man) and if it is not Bournemouth, would be on a sideways move for Maidenhead. Considering they came third in the South West Premier, the 2020/21 London & South East Premier League is looking like it could be even more competitive next season. Given the current rugby embargo I suspect my cry of “Bring it on” will be echoed by most.


Elsewhere within the region, I was thrilled to see that Tonbridge Juddians have finally secured promotion to Level Three and the hugely competitive National One after finishing runners up to Taunton Titans. A huge amount of work has gone into this and they will maintain Kent’s representation at these heights in joining Old Elthamians, with Canterbury relegated after an extremely tough season. Looking below us, two Kent teams were relegated from London South One as Dartfordians and Beckenham return to a very Kent-heavy London Two South East Division, with Haywards Heath going in the opposite direction. They will be joined there by Ashford and Folkestone who dominated London Three South East, so with one likely sideways move for a Sussex side (Hove?) they will replace relegated Dover and Maidstone to have 10 Kent sides out of 12.


So finally, a few personal thoughts on the season….nothing too controversial I hope! It was great to see some more of the fine running rugby that we have become used to from the men from St Marks. Mike Doherty and Max Hobbs were exciting finishers and the whole back-line marshalled, by Frank Reynolds and skipper Ryan Taylor-Dennehy, played some exhilarating rugby at times. This was, as ever, based on having the ball and the likes of Tui Tauaika, Agy Eukaliti and,in particular, Ben Whale were exciting acquisitions.

However, a word must go out to the yeoman front row. Against habitually bigger packs we were often under significant pressure in the set piece so my final accolades go to Stuart Nicholls and Carl Straeche. Club men through and through who never gave anything less than their all. Well played fellas.

Graham Withers