Sutton Benger at Home v Fairford 07.09.24

With August bowing out and September entering, the summer is behind us, and we have seven months ahead of us of rugby union. It’s that time of the year when the school entrances open their gates to a new academic year, when the cricket batsmen & bowlers’ cross paths with the scrum halves and hookers, and the supermarkets start filling their aisles with goodies for Halloween, Firework night and of course Christmas is just over 100 night’s sleep away.

The lads in pink commence their first league match on Saturday 7th September welcoming Fairford RFC, with a 2.30pm kick off at Sutton Benger Rec on Chestnut Road.

Fairford making an appearance in Counties 2 Tribute Dorset & Wilts North league, thanks to a fine season last time out, gaining promotion in first place in Counties 3 North 2023-24. Winning 14 of their 15 matches and picking up 9 try bonus points and in their only losing match still securing a losing bonus point. Thus, running in Champions with 72 points and a points difference of +261. You can be sure they will want to make a great start in Counties 2 North.

This season Counties 2 North sees not only new faces in Fairford, but also Colerne from Counties 3 Central, and Devizes II from Counties 2 Central. Bringing the league up to 10 sides. We bid farewell to local rivals Chippenham IIs who have gone upwards to Counties 1, and wave farewell as Swindon Supermarine slip down.

Sutton Benger had a very good last season with 12 wins out of 16, and 11 try bonus points giving the Pinks a convincing 3rd place with 59 points, a full 16 points ahead of fourth place Royal Wootton Bassett IIIs, and just 6 points behind second placed Marlborough IIs.

As you’ll see the season is a little fragmented with bye weeks & rest weeks but runs from this weekend over 18 Saturdays until 5th April. So be prepared for the autumn, winter & spring weather on the parks and on the touchlines.

This Saturday’s fixture the first game between the two sides since 2013 which Fairford won 34-18, and in the head2heads, Fairford currently lead that 9 to 2. Therefore, it looks as if it could be an interesting matchup.

Head Coach Rich Waddington’s view in the lead up to Saturday’s fixture is positive and upbeat, “With nine weeks of preseason now completed, the Squad are eager to get the new season started with our first league game on Saturday, a real tester against recently promoted Fairford.

Our preseason game vs Westbury was encouraging with several new players and combinations tried. It was also an opportunity to try out some subtle changes to last season’s game plan. Unfortunately, we did suffer several injuries, the most serious to centre George Kendall with a broken wrist.”

Luke Parker, Club Chairman, added “Our objectives for the season are to improve on last season in all aspects. With a focus on rewarding hard work in training and developing the younger members of the squad.

The plan is to play an expansive game that suits the talent in our squad, so we’ve put the lads through their paces in preseason working on dynamic set pieces and quick ruck ball to allow this. The lads are looking sharp, and we can’t wait to see them put all the hard work to the test on Saturday.”

Coach Waddington summed up the aspirations “As we are a small club it is important that we continue to attract and develop new players providing rugby for as many as possible. As a result, hopefully we will continue to improve on our good performances on the pitch over the past few seasons”.

There we have it ~ everybody is raring to go. Good luck to all players & coaching staff for a fine competitive season ahead.

And a reminder it all starts on Saturday 7th September 2.30pm kick off Sutton Benger v Fairford ~ hope we see you on the touchline.

By Mark Johns