WELCOME Would you believe we are here today for our last home match of the season. And so, for the last time this campaign, I am pleased to offer all our supporters and our visitors from O Brodleians a warm welcome to Acklam Park. Our opponents certainly started the season like a jet train, winning their first five matches. They then had a little hiccup, losing in the Cup (at home) and league (away) to Scarborough in consecutive games, and then losing at Heath. They then had an unsettled period in November, December and January, winning five games (four at home) but losing three away matches. February was pretty disastrous, losing all four fixtures, three of which were at home. After the 'weather break' they lost to Wheatley Hills on 24 March, before winning their first game since January, beating N Ribblesdale 18-10. Last week Brods entertained table-toppers York, losing 22-38.

In our last excursion into Yorkshire 1 three seasons ago we scored seven tries in winning our home fixture against Brods 41-12, but in the return match we didn't manage to score anything at all and lost 15-0. All credit to O Brods, that was the only game all season in which we returned nil points! We rejoined the fray this season and travelled to Halifax in February, where we won 12-27. I hope the sequence of a win and a loss is not repeated today!

LEAGUE RUGBY Last week at Bradford Salem we started with a scare – during the warm-up Baggy aggravated a slight tweak picked up on his skiing trip and consequently took no part in the match. We were already without Pete Homan, who'd had an operation to fix his nose. And we started as though we were conscious of their absence. Despite scoring first when Shaun Kay finished a 20m drive we struggled to find any rhythm and were 14-7 down at half time. But as we've seen so many time before this season we became more dominant as the match progressed and were rampant in the final quarter. Tries from Richie, Clarky and the bonus point-earner from Conner, followed by a brace from Callum, took our total to 115 to date, and within striking distance of the 120 we scored last season.
Our league fixture at home to Moortown rearranged for Easter Saturday was in distinct danger of re-rearranged! After heavy overnight rain there was standing water on both pitches – the cricket outfield was virtually submerged – but all credit to Moortown, despite giving five players their 1st team débuts (three Colts and two second teamers) they were keen to play the game, although I think it was the debutants who were anxious to play 1st team rugby! And so it went ahead. Unfortunately the rain continued all afternoon, made much worse by a strong northerly wind driving the ice-cold rain and sleet with such ferocity that several spectators retired to the bar before half time, and, as soon as the whistle was blown for half time, both teams, the referee, coaches, touch judges and replacements all scampered for the sanctuary of the pavilion.
Conditions certainly didn't favour our usual style of fast continuous rugby. Handling was difficult with knock-ons galore, but nevertheless it was an interesting first half. We scored two tries, the first after only five minutes and finished by Matty Helm after a 30m rolling maul, the other touched down by Shaun Kay; we were denied a third when the referee decided we were held up over the line and a fourth when Euan was adjudged to have made a double movement.

The second half saw a marked change in the structure of play. With the atrocious conditions continuing unabated play was defined by the number of mistakes from both sides and the totally disproportionate number of penalties we conceded. We even conceded a penalty try and a yellow card when Shaun Kay stood up from a scrum which had collapsed on our line. With no purchase from the clarty pitch it was nigh impossible to stop an advancing scrum or maul once a team got moving, and with the 'whistling concerto' keeping us pinned back in defence a three point lead never seemed enough. But it was. The boys worked their socks off to keep Moortown out, even winning a penalty from a Moortown scrum on our line in the dying seconds of the match when a push-over winning try seemed the more likely outcome. The longer the game went on the more it seemed likely that our opponents would triumph. They deserve great credit for turning up with an inexperienced team and so very nearly beating us.

OTHER GAMES The 'A' team again made headlines last week; if their celebrations at beating Northallerton 25-17 seemed a little over the top, continuing as they did well into the night, it was because they merged seamlessly into Richard Booth's stag party. Meanwhile the Wasps managed to get a match at Blaydon, their first since beating Billingham in the CANDY Cup semi final three weeks earlier. Unfortunately they lost 41-10, their first defeat since 2 December, but they did lose six players during the week, resulting, for example, in Jack Wade playing on the wing. Their CANDY Cup final against Alnwick has been arranged at Kingston Park, home of Newcastle Falcons, next week.

We have fielded a Vets team twice in the past fortnight, first in a four-way tournament on Billingham's artificial pitch, where they beat a Hartlepool side and DMP before drawing with the hosts. In an attempt to keep their old bones from seizing up they then arranged to play DMP a week ago, winning 42-17. Reports from Jonno are on pages 5 and 18. After many attempts the Colts finally pinned down Harrogate to play their postponed league match last week (Easter holidays, students back home and available...). And what a frustrating game it was; Harrogate escaped into out half only three times – and scored twice, to win 12-5.

CLUB NEWS Two important Dinners are steaming upon the horizon, both 'outsourced' to the Sporting Lodge. The Sportsmans Dinner is on Friday 4 May, with guest speakers our own Rory Underwood MBE and Kevin Sinfield MBE rugby league super star with Leeds Rhinos and England. The Dinner has been arranged in conjunction with and is supported by some of our major sponsors. Tickets are £40 with all profits going to our Junior Section. The following Friday, 11 May, is the Annual Players Awards Ceremony. Tickets are £20 – please see your team captain or manager, or Richard Ward or Don Brydon to book your place.

We will also have an end-of-season Krazy Karaoke – the trouble is we don't know when when our season actually ends...we have a Cup semi final to play against opponents who have yet to play their quarter final. We will be in touch.

SPONSORS I am delighted to welcome back two of our regular sponsors this afternoon, Charles Clinkard of the Clinkard Group and James Barker of Barker & Stonehouse. They sponsored our match against Gosforth last season, when not only did we win 41-8 but we also had the pleasure of old boys Rory Underwood and Paul Wood paying us a flying visit. They are two of the area's long-established and most important family-run businesses, with national and international profiles. Both are continuing to grow their national profile. Barker & Stonehouse now have 13 stores and outlets nationwide, whilst The Clinkard Group has grown to be the leading Independent Footwear Retailer in the North East and one of the largest Independents in the UK. The group now has 38 stores and ouitlets across the UK. I hope we can serve up an entertaining afternoon for Charles, James and their guests.

REFEREE'S CORNER And finally I am particularly delighted to welcome our referee today, Liam Taylor, who, in his first – and last – visit to us was in charge of our game against Barnard Castle a year ago, although he was appointed for the Moortown game which fell foul of the weather at the beginning of March. Liam has been a referee for 11 years. In his playing days he was in the centre with his home club Thornensians, when they were “a more dizzy club”, he says! He is a highways engineer, and co-incidentally, is the father of Owen Taylor, who has also taken charge of several of our matches in recent years – the only father and son double act I can recall. I hope Liam enjoys his time with us today.