C L U B N O T E S

A HUGE WELCOME TO EVERYONE on this very special day. We are not only kicking off our Dazzling December festive celebrations with our Christmas lunch we are taking the opportunity to pay tribute to those of our members who died but whose lives national restrictions prevented us from properly celebrating. To this end we are delighted that our special guests include the families of former players Phil Horrocks-Taylor, John Seymour and Jim Jardine. We are also pleased to see several of our major sponsors here today, as are representatives from the White Feather Project, a scheme to help eliminate food deprivation in our local community. Donations by our members to the project were organised by the Micklewrights for the scheme's Christmas distribution, and I thank them and all of you for your generosity. Lunch will be followed by a (hopefully!) cracking game of rugby, and we warmly welcome the players and supporters of O Rishworthian to the occasion. An evening Disco and live music will conclude what should be a truly memorable day.

And so to the match. With a nod to the past and just like the Good Old Days (groan!) we are delighted to entertain not one but two O Rishworthian teams, our visitors from Halifax – in return our Wasps will travel with our 1st team when we play Rish at Halifax in April. Over the years we've played one another on five occasions, last meeting in Y1 three years ago. We won both games, 29-14 (A) and 29-21 (H), finishing in eight spot whilst our visitors were relegated; the following season we returned to DN1 and Rish bounced straight back into YI.

Like us, Rish lost out to the weather on Saturday, and therefore have played ten matches, sitting in sixth place. Of these they have won six – at home to Bradford Salem, Dinnington, Bridlington and, in their last outing, to YMCA, whilst beating West Leeds and Goole on their travels. Their only home reversal was against Selby, whilst Beverley, Leos and Pontefract have also beaten them. At home in the Silver Trophy they fell to YMCA. After last weekend's dreadful weather I hope we see a scintillating display of rugby today, and above all a game everyone enjoys.

LEAGUE RUGBY Only three matches were played in our league last week, but second and third placed O Crossleyans and Pontefract were both in action. We could easily have lost top spot to Crocs, but they were beaten by Huddersfield YM, who were 3-0 up half time, points which proved crucial as both teams scored seven points after the break. With that bonus point they are now one point behind us. Note that our game at Goole has now been rearranged for Saturday 5 February.

But praise our fearless warriors in the 'A' team. Led by Mick the Mighty they battled the elements and Darlington IIs to win their Tees Valley league match last Saturday by 35-5 in a match that was much more competitive than the score suggests. Well done boyos.

We entertained Roundhegians the week after posting one of the best halves of attacking and defensive rugby we've ever witnessed from our boys, when we scored 36 unanswered points in the first 40 minutes of our game at high-flying Selby. Could we keep it going in front of our home supporters? Well, not quite. We didn't quite match the supreme standard of that breathtaking performance – and yet we scored ten tries, against our six at Selby, to win 64-34. Don't get me wrong, there was some excellent and determined approach work and some devastating finishing, with nine of the tries scored by our threequarters – a hat trick from Charlie (the first two in five minutes whilst I was still on gate duty with Paul – never was I more grateful for Adam Cotterill's video highlights!) and a brace apiece from Brendan, Aedan and Pete. The solitary exception, the tenth to be scored, was a barnstorming finish from prop Dean. I must say that one of the most heartening sights of the whole afternoon was Colin Hill, Brendan's father, coming in his wheel chair to watch his lad.

Meanwhile, across the river the Wasps added icing on the cake by beating Stockton 52-5 in the CANDY Cup. I'm assured the game was not as easy as suggested by the scoreline. Stockton were experienced, tough and grizzly opponents and certainly made our boys work hard for their victory. Unfortunately the Wasps trip to Rovers on Saturday was one of the many victims of Storm Arwen, but they're eagerly looking forward to meeting Rish today, visitors outside their usual circle of opponents. They are due another home game next week against Acklam.

As you know our next Silver Trophy cup tie will be at either Thornensians or Bradford Salem, but NOTE it will not now be on 26 February, more than likely on 19 March!

JUNIORS One of our teams to escape Storm Arwen was the U13s. Fortunately their match was at Redcar, where the Baltic sea air, although making the conditions bitterly cold, kept away the frost. In only their second ever game together the youngsters played some outstanding rugby and thoroughly deserved their hot chocolate afterwards. The week earlier at home to West Hartlepool our U14s enjoyed a fantastic game, winning 8-4, with tries from Ethan, Oscar, Mo, Saul, Max L and Liam, who scored the last try in his first game for the team. There was great defending by Max G, Ben and Logan. Well done to all the youngsters.

CLUB NEWS It gives me great pleasure to wish Ian Ford a very Happy 71st Birthday today; he organised the tins of Anniversary sweets available for you to buy from the bar (proceeds to the Juniors). I'm sure a refrain of “Happy birthday to you” would really embarrass him!

Bear with me while I return to that masterful performance against Broughton Park, mentioned in the tributes to both John Seymour and John Sturman. The Man of the Match? The clue is in the headline to Stevenson's match report: Mercurial Wright Knocks Out Park. It goes on “the speed, energy, judgement and service, not to mention much excellent defensive work, of the explosively enterprising scrum-half Wright was exemplary.” That's the same Mike Wright who is steering our 150th Anniversary celebrations next season. And one final reference to the report - nowhere was Stevenson's journalistic ability better illustrated than in the last sentence; “For Park Leadbetter ran strongly to score from a tap penalty in the second half, but the issue was well settled by this stage and the Middlesbrough backs could be forgiven for some highly affectionate attempts to tackle him.” Sheer magic!

A glance at p9 will show you what a fantastic line-up of festive activities we have planned for Dazzling December. But, hot from the press, there's even more opportunity to enjoy ourselves. Burns Night is now in our social diary for Friday 28 January. Complete with piper and the address to the haggis it's a wonderful evening and the perfect way to brighten up dismal January. It is always very popular so to avoid disappointment I urge you to book your place with Phil Tilson asap.

Reports about the bar meals now available on Saturdays and Sundays, courtesy of George, are unanimous – they're absolutely delicious! They are proving so successful that Sundays menu now includes a choice of good old-fashioned roast lunches! AND tables can now be reserved and card payments taken, so you have no excuse!

REFEREE'S CORNER I am delighted to welcome Andy Williamson back to Acklam Park and wish him an enjoyable, trouble-free afternoon. Andy was in charge of our first home game since lockdown against Leodiensian, having also been the man in the middle when we played Consett in March 2020, our last game before everything closed down. He has refereed for five years, before which he played at No8 for Ripon. He is a telecoms engineer.

FINALLY WE WISH YOU ALL A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS
AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR