The coaching set up remains the same, with myself, Greggy, Jimmy Tyrell, Robbie Morris and Dave Phillips all continuing this season, with Liam O’Hara still taking care of the strength and conditioning.

Dave Hynard has moved on to Luton Rugby Club and is replaced by Tom Webb, who has taken over the 2nd XV head coach role. Webby has coached at Epping Upper Clapton and at Harlow as well as being a teacher at Leventhorpe School, and he has done a great job so far.

Matt Hankin, who was with Saracens before being forced to retire from professional rugby prematurely due to injury, has also been lending a hand with the breakdown area throughout the preseason.

There has been a lot more movement in the playing group:

Players left:
CHRIS JOYCE-HENLEY
HARRY MORGAN-OAS
SEAN TAYLOR -HONG KONG
LOUIS CASTIGLIONE-STORTFORD
BEN CREASEY-STORTFORD
WILL GOODMAN -UNI -LOUGHBOROUGH
DAN KIRWIN-MOVED AWAY
WILL STACEY-LUTON
KOPOKU-AMPTHILL-SARACENS
JAMIE PRINCE-BRAINTREE
CONOR O TOOLE-BARKING
LIAM BATTY-BRENTWOOD
AARON LOWE-ETON MANOR-PLAYER COACH

Players joined:
GABRIEL BUTE-OAKLANDS-CENTRE
ZACH-SCOTT GREY-NO.8
CASEY MORGAN-BRIGHTON-PROP
ETHAN RENNY-BACK ROW
DYLAN RICE-DATCHWORTH-FULLBACK
ALEX LEO-STORTFORD-BACK ROW
CHRIS LARKIN-LOUGHBORO-CENTRE
LUKE AUSTIN-PROP
LIAM ROGERS-PROP
MATT HODGSON-EALING-HOOKER
RED NEWBERRY-SHELFORD-BACK 5 OF SCRUM
MAX RABEY-CHINGFORD-OPENSIDE
HARRY BARKER-CENTRE/FULLBACK
MIKE RUGELEY-EALING-CENTRE/FULLBACK

Players returning:
SAM BUCKNALL -BEEN PLAYING IN NEW ZEALAND-OCTOBER
JACK MANN -YEAR AWAY FROM RUGBY
SAM EMERY-INJURED FOR A SEASON
THOMAS HAMER-BEEN PLAYING RUGBY LEAGUE
JOE LARNER-UNIVERSITY

Players going to uni signed on dual contracts:
TOM LAMB-CENTRE
HARRY HOLMAN-FLY HALF
STEFF JONES-HOOKER
JOSH RUDLING-WING/CENTRE/FULLBACK
SAM MALONEY-2ND ROW
BEN GILCHRIST-CENTRE
WILL MCKENNA-PROP

There are 4 more who have been away and we have not yet caught up with and they are Josh Wood,Ewan Dawes,patrick eveleigh Sam Glossop and Sean Harris.

As you can see there has been a fair bit of activity over the summer. The pre-season fixtures we chose have been deliberately tough and a number of lads have shown up well. We played Cambridge at home who proved to be a very good side and we had a number of players who have not played above 2nd XV level or academy level who acquitted themselves well.

We also had a live forwards session against Stortford 1st XV which was a great exercise for both teams and we will repeat later in the season.

We then took two team to Bury St Edmunds and both teams were well beaten but there were positives from both games.

Our last friendly was against a mixed Stortford side, which we won.

The new guys have fitted in well and have been made to feel more than wecome by the lads. As you can see from the team sheet we have 3 debutants on Saturday. Selection is always a hard task but it is better to be in that position than the other way around. It is a squad effort and there are a few guys who will feel hard done by not to be in the starting line up. As always, selection is based on form in the run up games.

Saturday sees us going up to Tunbridge Wells, who play a good style of rugby and are a good hospitable club. We are looking forward to the challenge as we kick off a new campaign!

Cheers,

Baz

1st XV to play Tunbridge Wells this Saturday 1 September, kick off 3pm

1 Tim MATTHEWS
2 Luke ELLIS
3 Geoff HUGHES
4 James KEENS
5 Red NEWBERRY
6 James KINSLEY
7 Josh CORCORAN
8 Torran MACDOUGALL
9 Jack MITCHELL
10 Ben LLOYD
11 Lewis STEADMAN
12 Richard STREETS
13 Sam WALKER
14 Kyle LEMON
15 Jack MANN

16 Josh HEWITT
17 Dave ARCHER
18 Mike RUGELEY