And in the second of a four-part interview reflecting on an extraordinary 29 years at the club, Tom – who was picked in the National League Rugby website Team of the Season last term – talks about his move into adult rugby, a mentor in Mike Tewkesbury, and the club’s progression from where he first started.
He began: “My first ever men’s game was for the 3s or 4s, I can’t remember, but Rob Jones was alongside me and we both got hat-tricks, then later that year I’d come back from Birmingham Uni, played one game we lost and then next week Rams were promoted (from National Three South West).
“While I was at Uni I’d kept in touch with Tewkes and he had me playing Berkshire Under 20s and we had a great run until losing to Gloucestershire in a Golden Try moment. Then I came back to Rams and in my first game back I was part of Andy Saunders’ 2nd XV, he had me on the wing, and I got another hat-trick, then Tewkes called me up!
“He was fantastic and the king of the one-liners. ‘You can be as big as Bengal Tigers’ is one which sticks in the mind, along with ‘If you don’t want to play just go and join Old ****tonians.’
“He was great for my career, an outstanding bloke who I’ve always had huge respect for – I owe a lot to him.”
National Two South champions
Further success followed as Rams won National Two South in 2018/19, Tom stand-in captain for the second half of the season as his great back-row colleague was sidelined with injury.
And Vooghty shared his feelings on a memorable campaign when stating: “I remember feeling that season we weren’t going to be stopped. We lost our fourth game at Old Albanians and in the huddle I said ‘remember the feeling and let’s not have it happen again.’
“Then there were some times when we had to buy into that and Taunton away, we were down at half-time, but there was no panic, a sense of calm where we knew we’d been there before and we were able to turn it around and do the job.
“Everyone knew what they had to do and how to do it, and we’d get the job done.”
Sensational start at Level Three
Promotion to Level Three of English rugby followed but there was no let-up, Rams well in contention for the title before Covid halted the season and left them runners-up.
Tom continued: “We came into the season maybe with a bit of impostor-syndrome – we were a small team from Berkshire who’d never played a higher level like Championship, or anything above that.
“Then you’re coming up against teams like Rosslyn Park, Chinnor, who were packed full of guys who had Premiership/Championship experience, but for me personally one of the biggest motivation was always to try and prove other people wrong.
“You could feel a sense among the guys we’d always keep going to the last five minutes and get the win.
“The game at home to Chinnor with Birdy going over in Clubhouse Corner, Rosslyn with the two pushover tries, we had an attitude we weren’t going to be pushed over. We wanted to prove we were good enough and belonged there.”
