A busy weekend for us with a few friendly games at Reading RFC on Saturday against them and the visiting Gowerton RFC on tour from Wales. Many thanks to all those that turned out at short notice.

It’s always nice to play clubs that you’re not likely to come across. It allows the coaches to judge how our squad are playing compared to other teams. With a real mixed team we held our own in the games, I think most had had enough by the time we played Reading as the rain had now had time to work its way down to your smalls.

Sundays friendly against Bracknell saw the lowest turnout of the squad all season, a combination of people still away and a few who turned out on Saturday looking a bit peaky by the time we had finished.

The sun shone brightly and as normal Bracknell had their own plan in place as they wanted to put their teams through their own training session, it’s always been thus.

After a short training session we got on with a few friendly games.

Our RAMS side had no real problems against Bracknell A, keeping possession and generally putting Bracknell under a lot of pressure, we ran in two wins. Well done to Tomas and Marcus Lampkin for stepping up to the Rams team, Tomas putting in huge effort at loose head, and Marcus as a one man tackling machine.

Our mixed Titan/ Dragons team held their own against a well drill Bracknell B. All of the team played well, but they lacked the team play that is needed to win. Nick played well at Fly Half and team captain, he did a great job in organising the team on the pitch, Finn was fantastic at Scrum Half but needed a bit more work from his forwards to protect him at the breakdown. Rhys put in a huge effort and tackled consistently, gaining his tackle sock this week, well deserved. A good performance considering they don’t play as a team and two of the team are the newest in the squad.

Next week we are at home for the last training session of the season and the end of season awards. The bar and kitchen will be open as usual. If the weather s fine we may have bit of a friendly knock about after the awards.

Please try to make training as I would like to try and get a full squad picture.

We now have two teams entered for the re-arranged St Pats Day festival on the 28thMay, sorry but I can’t enter all of the squad as I am limited on team size. I will email all those selected later this week to check on availability.

For those going on Tour, it is now full steam ahead, the shirts have arrived and the final plan for U10s is being put together. I will send out all the information once I have completed it.

Have a good week.
David