CRUFC

Get coached by the Springboks!

On the evening of Monday 9th November Old Albanian RFC, Saracens new training ground, will play host to a number of the South African squad touring Europe for a unique coaching experience for local young rugby players.

The session priced at only £35.00, and running from 17:45 - 19:45, is open to all players aged U8 - U16 and will provide an opportunity to work with Springbok players on a number of skill stations alongside Saracens award winning coaches.

Each participant will be issued with a limited edition Saracens Springbok t-shirt to train in under the floodlights of Old Albanian pitches. The session will allow young players to work in fun and enjoyable environment developing individual concepts alongside players form the current World and Tri Nation's winning squad.

In addition to this each participant will also receive a FREE junior ticket to see Saracens vs South Africa at Wembley Stadium on Tuesday 17th November (19:45 Kick Off). The coaching session will be followed with an opportunity to collect autographs and mingle with the select players as they prepare for their autumn fixtures throughout Europe.

For full details or to book this event please click here. Please note to book your place on this event only online bookings will be accepted. Spaces are limited at each age group and it is expected to sell out fast, we recommend you book early to avoid disappointment.

Saracens v South Africa

WEMBLEY STADIUM - 17TH NOVEMBER

Tickets: Adult £10 /  U16 £5 - please let Bob Cullen know by Friday 6th November

Weekend Preview

Chesham 1st XV are back in action this weekend and will hope to get back to winning ways at home to Witney 3rd XV, while the 2nds are also at home, taking on Hitchin 4ths. Both matches kisk off at 2.30pm.

Meanwhile on Sunday the Under 17s travel to Aylesbury in the morning, kick off 10.30am, while Chesham's Women's XV take on Woodbridge at home, kick off 2.00pm.

Good luck to all.

Sponsorship update

The Club is delighted to announce the following new sponsorships which have, amongst other things, allowed us to replace the goal posts on the 2nd team pitch which sadly were recently vandalised.

Silver Sponsors:

Savvis & Co Ltd

Charles Russell and Co.

Bronze sponsors:

The Lemon Rooms

Heritage Landscapes

Charles Murray Accounting Services

Oaklands Gardening Services

PCDS Ltd

Pelham Foods Ltd

Our thanks go out to our new sponsors for their generosity. Please remember to support our sponsors who are mostly local businesses and who have made the effort to support us.

Our Club Sponsors page will be updated shortly.

Foreign fans...

Club President Morris Hogg is attempting to track down former players and supporters who live overseas.

So far he has contact details for:

• Barry Bowd - Australia
• Richie Hogg - Australia
• Mike Saunders - Mexico
• Phil Spivey - USA

He has lost contact with Nick Ray who is in Oz and Mel McKenzie who it is believed is in Canada

 

If anyone has these contact details, or indeed those of any other former players or supporters living abroad, please send details to president@cheshamrugbyclub.com so that we can stay in touch.

Sarries @ Chesham

As as part of their Community Development programme, Premier League leaders Saracens organised a two day coaching session for Chesham Rugby Club's youth section at Chesham Park Community College this month.

After two days of fun, held in ideal weather conditions, Jane Morris Chair of Chesham's mini &youth group commented: "This is a great example of a Senior Premier Rugby Club helping at a local community level. We look forward to participating in other events run by Saracens."

Membership of Cheshams' youth group now exceeds 150 and the Club is actively recruiting in all age groups. Age group contact details for anyone interested can be found here.

For more about the club's relationship with Saracens click here.

2nd XV frustrated by Hackney

Chesham 2nds 12 Hackney 2nds 34

A frustrating afternoon for Chesham 2nds saw a failure to make total dominance in the scrum convert to good possession against a well organised Hackney team.

The visiting defence were always up quickly and arriving in numbers at every breakdown, making the Chesham support look slow and allowing Hackney to win most 2nd and 3rd phase possession. Hackney made the most of Chesham's lethargy around the park scoring 27 points in the first half.

It was not until late in the half that up and coming colt Doug Harden, on as replacement scrum half, made a clever break from the base of a scrum 5m from the Hackney line to score under the posts. Fly half Geoff Sussum converted to make the half time score 27-7.

The pattern of the game continued into the second half. Chesham dominated possession from set pieces even more, but the greater pace and fitness of the Hackney team effectively countered any threat from Chesham out wide. On balance though the half was more evenly contested, with one further try for each side.

Chesham's score followed an unexpected change of direction by Sussum that fooled both defenders and attackers. While everyone else was wondering what was happening, second row 'Yanno' Watkins was luckily still sauntering across from a piece of play in a game some 2 weeks earlier, leaving him in the right place at the right time to provide the crucial link that allowed Sussum to loop and score.

Chesham did at least win the race to the bar (while Hackney's enthusiastic warm down looked more strenuous than Chesham's warm up), and Chesham's man of the match Karl Cross narrowly edged his opposite number with the liquid refreshments.

Chesham: Toby Adams, Matt Mallinson (Pete Wharton), Dom Grey, Ian Watkins, Karl Cross, Trevor Lee, Andy Deane, Colin Hogg (Ryan Lee), Gary Heyward, Geoff Sussum, Tom Hirst (Doug Harden), Jack Davies, Dan Hewitt (Adrian Cattell), Mark Rosser (capt), Alasdair Fleming

Chesham 1st XV - home vs Witney III, Saturday 31st October 2009

The following gentlemen have been selected to represent Chesham 1st XV at home to Witney III on Saturday - Kick off 2.30pm:

1. John Barnes 2. Warren Gillmore 3. Nick Deans 4. Ben Harry 5. Pete Reynolds 6. Don Marshal 7. Gary Szulc 8. Clive Edwards 9. Andy Feber 10. Ross Leek 11. Tom Edwards 12. Chris Marriott 13. Mat Coles 14. Robert Nokes 15. Steve Morris 16. Simon Harris 17. Gareth Wherle 18. James Leek

Please meet at 1.30 pm on the pitch ready to start warm up.

Halloween Fancy Dress Post Match

Under 8s at Sarries

Chesham Under 8 team (with a few Under 7s) played on Sunday in front of 7,500 of its keenest supporters at our second home of rugby - Vicarage Road!! We also allowed that other club, Saracens, to come along and support our game.

Team: Emeka Atuanya, Thomas Burke, Oliver Butterworth, Finnian Cummins, Sasha Edhouse, Cicely Fulford, William Gilling, Ewan Gronbach, Rhys James, Andrew McNaughton, John McNaughton.

This must have been the fastest 10 minutes of the team's lives so far, and despite the distraction of the cheerleaders, Chesham bravely took on a team from Verulamian Chariots on the big pitch in front of a very supportive crowd. The team quickly blotted out the noise and cheerleaders (well most did anyway) and played very well as a team, with great support, much improved passing and superb defensive skills.

John McNaughton ran through to score the first try, however despite some very good and prolonged tagging from Chesham, Chariots soon equalised. Chesham dominated play, with great weaving runs through the centre from a number of players, and some wider sprinting down the wing from others. Sasha broke through towards the line and was keenly supported by Finnian, who once tagged passed right on the line to enable Meka to score.

 
A run away try by Rhys and another from Sasha were only met by 2 responses by Chariots. The whole team were eager to contribute, and it has to be said that they all contributed and played brilliantly - we could have scored many more tries, and actually many of the fans believed we had scored 6, both Rhys and Ewan seemed to get over the line but these were cruelly disallowed.......

 
Final score was 4-3 to Chesham. The whole session was played with enthusiasm and much good spirit, but it was great to run off the pitch having won. Congratulations to all players - you did the Club proud!

 
Thanks to Andy for great leadership on the pitch (his quick play almost allowed him to score a try of his own). Special thanks also to all parents, grandparents, friends, neighbours, first team players, those hidden amongst the season ticket holders, and all other 7450 supporters that came along to cheer us on. Sorry that Sarries did not play as well as we did....

Under 7s/ Under 8s v Hitchin, Sunday 18th October

Belated match reports from the Under 7s and Under 8s against Hitchin...

U7 Report

Team members: Freddie Hodgson, Freddie Ventham, Oscar Bloom, John McNaughton, Amber Grondbach, Nico Mainwaring, Emeka Atuanya, Ellis James, Charlie Harris, Lewis Ellis, Thomas Veall, Finlay Halley, George Chard, Ben Blackburne, Carraig Jones, Archie Bellamy, Charlie Keith, Henry Keith, Thomas Winfield and Abi Blackburne.

Both Chesham and Hitchin were able to field 2 U7 squads so each game played consisted of each squad playing a half. In the first games Chesham lost to Hitchin (Chesham 5, Hitchin 10) but the second game was more evenly matched (Chesham 2, Hitchin 2). And in the final match Chesham won (Chesham 11, Hitchin 9).

Both squads showed fantastic team spirit and the passing improved greatly as the morning went on. Special mention should go to our two prolific try scorers, John and Freddie - who were well supported by the rest of their teams. Abby, John and others achieved some good tags and Nico showed some really good turns of speed. Emeka sustained a couple of knocks but managed to play on.

The newer members of the squads showed really good concentration and listened well to the coaches and are learning the game very quickly. To improve performance the U7s should work a bit more on their defensive line. Well done everyone.

Players of the day - Nico Mainwaring and Charlie Keith.

U8 Report

Match 1

Team: Rhys James, Max Pearce, Sasha Edhouse, Ewan Grondbach, Oliver Butterworth, Thomas Burke and Lincoln Summers.

Chesham 4 Hitchin 6

This was a very close game, with end to end play from both sides. Chesham tagged and defended very well against a team that have obviously practiced their supporting play, - Hitchin players showed us what can be achieved when players run at pace to take passes. Rhys scored his first ever try in a match with great speed and determination. He enjoyed it so much that he went on to score another! The other tries came from Max and Sasha.

Match 2

Team: Andrew McNaughton, Cicely Fulford, Lucas Batt, Archie James, William Gilling and Finian Cummins.

Chesham 4, Hitchin 3

Another close match, with some great tries from both sides. Scorers in this game for Chesham were Andrew (2), Cicely and Lucas. Lucas showed his speed at Hitchin's play off which limited their freedom to attack, and also demonstrated great sidestepping skills to run through defense. The whole team covered ground well to stifle Hitchin's wide attacking game, and tagged with determination.

Match 3 - the 2 teams played half a game each.

Chesham 2 Hitchin 4

The game started with a 2 second try by Hitchin straight from the whistle. We fought hard to make up for this, and went in at half time drawing 2-2, with tries from Rhys and Max. Lincoln unfortunately had a try disallowed for not staying on his feet. Once again great tagging by all. In the second half we allowed them to score 2 tries despite great attempts to stop them by Andrew, who persisted and got the tags, but right on the line! Also great tagging from Cicely, and some very creative running from Finian who was playing up an age group, and came very close to running the full length to score. Archie also had a try disallowed for not staying on his feet - something we will need to work at. Things to work at include trying to stay onside, and passing, which at times let us down today.

Player of the day was Rhys James.