Montage of images from Rams Minis Festival 2019 and Berks U20 v Essex U20 - courtesy of Paul Clark, S2S Photography
Report from Rams CEO Gary Reynolds

As far as English rugby counties go, Berkshire is a small fish in a very big pond. We have 13 voting clubs, 12 of which play in the BBO leagues or higher. One, Crowthorne, having worked hard to develop new facilities will return to playing league rugby next season. Many congratulations to them.

To put our size in comparison, there are over 80 clubs in Yorkshire, and over 150 in the mighty Middlesex. Berkshire, by comparison, is tiny. But good things often come in small packages, and our county punches above its weight.

This season, Windsor stormed Southern Counties North (level 7) and Newbury were run-away winners of South West One East (level 6). Newbury will join Berkshire rivals Maidenhead and Bracknell next season in South West Premier (level 5), Maidenhead just narrowly missing out on a play-off spot.

Well done to everyone at Windsor and Newbury on terrific promotion seasons. It is great to see our friends from the west of Berkshire gaining well-earned success after what has been a tough decade for the Blues.

At representative level, Berkshire under 20s have reached the final of the national cup and take-on Surrey at Sixways Stadium (Worcester Warriors’ ground) on Sunday, 5th May. Rams have a strong representation in the squad and the boys will really appreciate your support.

The cornerstone of Berkshire rugby is the strength of its club youth sections. These highly successful units are run by dedicated volunteers and they provide the opportunity for girls and boys to play rugby locally, and so it was great to welcome teams from Reading Abbey, Beaconsfield, Bracknell, Camberley, Maidenhead, Newbury, Reading and Thatcham to our Minis’ Festival on Sunday, 13th April. The abolition of streaming and tournaments at mini level has been an excellent initiative by the RFU. It allows the coaches and players to have fun and deters overly-competitive parents from an unhealthy focus on tournament success. If the large numbers of smiling players and parents are a barometer for the progress of this new initiative then I conclude that it is working very well. And from what I saw of the matches which, incidentally, are still competitive contests, it is allowing young players to take the field with freedom and demonstrate an abundance of skills. My congratulations to all the coaches, helpers and managers of the teams that made our Rams festival a pleasure to attend.

Moving from minis to juniors, on Sunday, 7th April, Matt Maxwell and I made our way to Braywick Road to watch the under 14s Berkshire Cup final between Maidenhead and Rams. What a game! The skills from both teams were breath-taking. Our short passing game was excellent and Maidenhead countered with some exceptional open rugby and two very good tries from their outstanding centre. In the end, we lost 17-10, but the real thrill for me was seeing youngsters from our county having fun, performing to a high standard, lots of positive support from the side-lines, coaches from both sides able to laugh and joke with each other in the midst of a competitive encounter, and young men showing genuine respect for their opposition after the game was finished. That is rugby at its very best and my congratulations to the coaches and parents from Rams and Maidenhead under 14s, and well done to Maidenhead, deserved cup winners.

Which brings me on to our season.

Winning National 2 South at our fourth attempt is a victory for rugby. It shows that a club can be successful because of, and not in spite of, sticking to the finest team sport ethos in the world. Togetherness, passion, hard work, respect, aspiration and excellent coaching has made us champions in the 2018/2019 season. It seems a lifetime since we were scrambling for points at the bottom of National 2 South, yet it was only 3 ½ years ago, and a lot of those players that battled their way out of relegation in that season are the heroes that secured promotion in this one.

On the Rolling Maul blog recently someone joked that our squad photo has as many non-players as players, and then someone else pointed out that this was a good thing because it recognised the extraordinary work of all those that toil away behind the scenes. Without these unsung heroes winning National 2 South would never have been possible.

So my thanks to our supporters, committee members, managers, medics, physios, the most brilliant coach driver in the world, fixtures secretaries, match day secretary, photographers, the media team who blog, tweet and record games on match day, and a wonderful chef. And a special thankyou to Mike Tewkesbury who provided the blueprint alongside a vision for Berkshire rugby that we have followed and which has put us exactly where Mike said it would all those years ago.

Finally to the coaches and players, you have been remarkable all year. It has been a pleasure and a privilege to share this journey with you. I hope you are all very proud of what you have achieved because we are all very proud of you. #ramily