Epilogue of a Season

Last Friday marked the official end of the season with the Players’ Dinner and awards. It has been a hugely important season for Tring in which we have made huge strides forward…despite actually finishing lower than last year! But it has also been a long and relentless season so I’m sure everyone is looking forward to some time off to recharge.

The Players’ Dinner is always a somewhat raucous affair - one last chance for the everyone, from 1^st to U-17s, let off steam before being handed back to families for the Summer. The format has dramatically improved over the last few years thanks the efforts of Sam ‘Professional MC’ Clapham and club guru Derek Newman. We were ‘warmed up’ with a stand up routine from Deborah, the slightly questionable guest comedienne. It must be a painfully daunting task to perform in front of an entire Rugby club in the middle of nowhere. She started confidently enough but soon dried up unfortunately.

Deborah the 'comedienne'!

Claps then introduced the speeches. This is always the highlight of the evening. There is so much fantastic, behind-the-scenes work that is done to make sure the club functions week to week. I felt a genuine sense of pride in hearing the excellent results and performances through the age groups and teams. I must give a special shout out to John Ball who seems to run both the 3rds and 4ths almost single-handedly!

There were two awards for the 1^st team - Most Improved Player and Player of the Season. The first award went to the spring heeled, young-at-heart Mason! At a sprightly 37 years old, you may feel this was an odd choice but I think it would have been unanimous if put to a vote. The scrum was a real issue during the first half of the season. However, Mason has forged a powerful union with Boycy and Jonnobrow in the front row which has really turned round our set piece - so much so that we were winning scrums against the head by the end!

The Player of the Year went to…(fanfare please)…Tommy Newton. He has had a fantastic season, even by his high standards. With a stronger team around him than previous years, Newts has had a bit more space to work his mercurial magic - getting us out of jail on a number of occasions.

John ‘Jim Carrey from Me, Myself and Irene’ Preston won the special Steve Kempster award for Unsung Hero and it was a close call between Jerome and Chris Rose for drunkest person! Mason organised a competitive Naked Mile for all those who hadn’t scored which is always the highlight of any Players’ Dinner!

JP won the Steve Kempster Award

It has been a strange old season of contradictions. The league has been utterly unpredictable and the usual gap between those with money and those without is definitely decreasing. We had by far our most successful season at this level. Compared to last year, we won three more games, scored 120 more points, notched 12 more league points and yet we still finished a position lower in 10^th!

However, when put into perspective, this is an excellent achievement. In January, we were rock bottom of the league so to pull back five wins out of last seven games and be within touching distance of mid-table is certainly encouraging. We’re no longer ‘plucky underdogs’ snatching scraps under the table. We are a genuine and well-established Level 5 team. We no longer rely on a couple of superstars but have a well-rounded team who can compete with the best.

We may not have jumped up the table as we would have hoped - we would be 6^th with the same points tally last year - but the team’s cohesion and progression under the nurturing eye of Jon Lambden has given us all the confidence to power on up the table next season.

Personally, I am relieved to have finished the season in one piece! It was probably the one of the best and most enjoyable in my career so far. I felt those two losses at the end took a bit of the wind out of the sales but it is certainly excellent motivation for the Summer. I have set myself some goals for next year:

• Work on tackling technique - ie, learn more from Radders!
• Keep focused during Games - concentrate and contribute for 80 minutes
• Maintain fitness for whole season
• Score more tries!

Me next year!!!

With these goals and Jonnobrow’s gym routine, I am hoping to force my way into contention for Herts next year.

I just want to play a game at Twickenham during my life…is that too much to ask!!!

So close no matter how far

Well…that was a bit of an anti-climax! The last league game of the season ended in gallant defeat to a Hertford team with just a little to much strength and quality on the day. By no means did we disgrace ourselves and there were certainly positives to take away, but it is a bitter pill to swallow considering we lead for much of the game.

With the sun shining and the pitch rock hard, we knew it would be a quick game. There was a buzz of anticipation to see two explosive backlines take each other on in perfect running conditions. Our main objective in the pack was to disrupt their game as much as we could and make sure the backs had some space to play with.

The last bit of pre-match talk was about stepping up physicality. They are a well conditioned team who would be expecting an easy ride so we would need some Paul O'Connell style 'manic aggression'! 

Shottsy proving his worth!

And we certainly did that. We are traditionally a slow starting team but on Saturday we were determined to start with a bang. Straight from the kick off, we smashed any complacency out of the opposition with some hard early hits.

I don’t think they were expecting such an aggressive start. They opened the scoring with a penalty but we responded with two quick tries, one from Titch Roberts and the other from Tim Loughnan - the result of a spectacular offload from Nathan Lambden.

It was a thrilling see-saw game and the visitors hit back with a try and penalty from full back Stuart Smart. We took a slender 12-11 lead into the break after a tense and enthralling first half. We had spurned a couple of gild-edged chances but we were playing well and deserved our lead.

There was no let up in the second half and again we were flying out of the blocks. Good early pressure lead to a penalty on their line. Quick thinking from fly half Jimmy ‘No Shower’ Fouracre wrestled back the initiative as he took the quick tap and dived over and then slotted the extras.

The turning point came half way through the second half. A controversial yellow card to ‘No Shower’, without any prior warning, put us on the back foot. Hertford were able to establish a foothold in the game and their muscular pack started to take control. Their driving mall proved difficult to stop despite our best efforts and hooker Brett McNamee crashed over. Another score, this time from the dangerous Ian Compton, meant we’d conceded 12 points during Jimmy’s sin bin which was the nail in the coffin.

The mercurial Lambden pulled one back with a sparkling interception but the rot had already set in. Two more tries from the criminally arrogant McNamee and a penalty from Smart left the final score a heart-breaking 38-26.

It was so disappointing as it would have been a fantastic result to end an excellent season. As it is we have to look at the silver lining instead of bask in victory’s warmth. There is no shame in this score line - not many other teams can claim a four try bonus point against Hertford this season - but it is still shattering to be so close and lose.

There were any number of excellent performances in a memorable game. ‘Jonnobrow’ Morgan lead from the front admirably and Nathan Lambden was unlucky not to bag a hat-trick of interceptions. But all were eclipsed by the superlative Tommy Newton. A truly inspirational performance from Tring’s truest servant, showing his undeniable talent in both defence and attack. The most impressive thing is that Hertford know him well and know what to expect but he still slips through tackles like a greased up eel at a disco!

Tommy Newton

We have a second bite at the cherry in a couple of weeks time in the County Cup Final. We’ll be hoping to combine a fresh revenge mission with silverware!

And then there was one...

So it boils down to this last week. 33 weeks ago a seemingly fresh faced and innocent Tring team took the field at Hertford to kick off the 2010/11 National League 3 London and Southeast league. Seven and a half months later, we have come full circle hosting our county counterparts for the league finale.

Our faces are no longer fresh but battle-scarred and hardened by the atrocities we have seen…ok ok so I have been reading too many war novels recently! But this has been a long and hard season and Hertford at home for our final fixture will provide a fitting test of how far we have come this season.

Hertford is always one of toughest fixtures of the season. They have a powerful and intimidating well-drilled pack with hard, aggressive backs. If you give them even the slightest chance, they will cut through you like a hot knife through butter.


Hertford have been in imposing form this season

But we have had some success against Hertford at ‘Fortress’ Cow Lane. The season before last, we played them in the final game and turned them over in front of a boisterous home crowd. Our first season in this league saw us notch a home win as well so history is on our side.

Hertford will not be taking the game at all lightly. As I mentioned in previous posts, a heavy loss to promotion rivals Barnes has put them on the back foot so they will be desperate to win and maintain their title challenge. But we are in something of a purple patch ourselves, winning five of the last seven, scoring 6 bonus points and playing some fantastic Rugby…if we do say so ourselves!

Personally, I can’t wait for Saturday to come. You always want to pit yourself against the best to see where you stand, and Hertford are up there. They have a quality back row and we have had some real battles with them in the past. With so much pressure on them for this game, I am half expecting some kind of fireworks. Myself, Radders and Hicksy will have to be on top combative form if we are to disrupt their game.

The great thing is we have nothing to lose coming into this game - the pressure is squarely on Hertford who must win and hope results go their way to avoid a tedious and totally unpredictable play off game. The possibility of a wasted season hangs over them with looming menace.

The weather forecast looks great and we are hoping for another bumper crowd to fill up the Step End - desperately trying to avoid the inevitability of B&Q and flat-pack furniture for just one more Saturday!

Training has been fairly relaxed this week. We have still done the fitness drills and focused set piece work but there hasn’t been the same intense pressure as usual. Everyone is on the same wave-length and understands what is required of them. It is a huge game against local rivals but the biggest inspiration is that it’s the last match. If we don’t perform tomorrow, we have a whole Summer to dwell on it…and no one wants that!