IT is a pleasure to welcome Bishop’s Stortford and everyone here at Old Bath Road for this afternoon’s National One fixture.
They’re a very good club and we’ve had some great contests with them over the years.
Stortford have plenty of local support – when we go away they have possibly the biggest of lunches of anyone in National One – and they’re a fine group of people.
They are also an extremely tough team to play and got a good result against Dings in Week One.
So, I was staggered to see Rosslyn Park, who shipped 60 points against Plymouth, then went to Silver Leys and score 60 of their own last week.
That’s no mean feat, but it reflects the league.
If you’re a little bit off on the day, whoever you’re playing against, they’ll make you pay.
Congratulations to Theo and Isaac
Today is a special one for Theo Pett-Ridge who makes his first start on the wing.
It’s incredibly exciting to see one of our own come through and get a proper start after coming off the bench against Sale.
We haven’t had too many come through from the youth section in recent years, Kieran Leicester the last to come all the way from Minis.
But I’ve watched Theo develop and I hope he doesn’t mind me saying as an early teenager he was quite a chubby chap.
Yet like the proverbial ugly duckling he’s flourished into this extraordinarily talented, skilful and versatile back. He’s now a beautiful swan.
I’m over the moon for him, and also his parents who are life-long supporters of the club.
It’s great seeing any youngster coming into the side, but bearing in mind the famine we’ve had of players reaching the first team, it’s great to see it broken.
Another youngster set for a first appearance is Isaac Tokura.
Again, I’ve watched him improve over the years since he came to us as a student at Reading University.
He’s got better and better and to have the chance to pull the shirt on for the first time is so exciting.
When you see a kid work as hard as he has, it’s fantastic.
‘Slow start but we’ll finish strongly’
We also have Ben Atkins back and sometimes you only realise how much you’ve missed someone when they’re not on the pitch.
He’s extremely talented – and knows it! But he’s a superb National One rugby player with great hands, a fine ball carrier, top tackler and getting him back out there is massive for us.
With much change over the summer, I always knew it could take a while for this side to hit its stride.
But with people like Ben coming back, Dan Swain later in the month and some incredibly talented new players, I believe while we’ve started slowly, we’ll finish strong.
Top talent on show in Brunel double-header
Elsewhere the Development/Under 23s squad have had two games with Brunel University which has given them a chance to show what they can do.
The 24-24 home draw last week was a terrific game and then Brunel were simply outstanding on Wednesday night.
There was so much talent and it’s hugely encouraging for the English game.
We were on the wrong end of it (54-21), but I don’t think it matters. The biggest thing was the boys stuck at it and there were some good individual performances.
Next up and in for the lunch – a pair of happy birthdays to Christiaan and Kieran!
They’ve been around the club quite a while and it’s nice they can come up and celebrate – hopefully the guys can stick a win on for them to make it a special day.
Finally, I want to thank our supporters. The numbers at Dings were amazing last weekend – half of the lunch spaces were Rams. And I’m pleased to say the food was very good!
We have an incredibly loyal group of travelling fans and the boys are immensely grateful.
Hearing those voices in the crowd and a bit of a roar when we do something good means so much to the squad.
We want to keep getting more and more people to come on this journey so do encourage your friends to get down – you’ll meet top people and see some fantastic rugby.
