New season – new RFU reorganisation – new division…….as Cleobury Mortimer RFC found themselves in Counties 3 Midlands West (North) with hopes of a bounce-back promotion! New Chair Tim Wright was settling into the role as Dave Hinves took more of a backseat and Will Giddings was still guiding the team with efficiency. Jack Samways took over the Captaincy duties with a quiet assurance and confidence. Long-time Club Secretary Adrian Evans decided that it was time to step away from the role and Mark Holbourn was willing to take over.

On the field, a couple of quality sides that should probably have been promoted last season but weren’t, were obviously going to dominate, but the remainder of the division were all quite close in standard, so playing winning away matches was going to be key. As it turned out, 6-wins and 6-defeats, with 1-match conceded to the opposition, during the lead up to Christmas saw Cleobury in mid-table. During the second half of the season 6-wins and 3-defeats with a game awarded against and another for us, meant a close finish for 6th place in the League. That doesn’t quite tell the full story as numerous players were tried in different positions to those that they were used to, and some ideas worked, some less so, but all had more of a team-ethic appreciation and helped when we were short for difficult long away trips. A band of brothers have developed, which included team-bonding events and nights out have added a flavour of how the Club used to operate.

There was also a good Cup-run to the North Midlands Vase final, where a very close 22-20 defeat to Pershore RFC brought an exciting end to the season. Throughout, the 1st XV played 23-matches, 13-victories and 10-defeats, with 674-points scored and 43-tries. The Top Points Scorer was Sid Gittens 102pts (3-tries, 41-conversions and 19-penalties), supported by Alex Sparks with 46pts (1-try, 16-conversions & 3-penalties). As for Top Try Scorer there was tremendous competition for the top-spot, eventually won by Jack Banford (13), Jack Samways (11), Alfie Todd (10 + 2-conversions) and Oscar Bache & George Smurthwaite with 6-tries each, with no less than 24-different players managing at least one try. Unfortunately, we were not able to get a Development or 2nd XV team out again.