First matches away at Horsham

A huge thank you to all parents and players who were able to get down to Horsham yesterday - I hope you enjoyed the rugby, the sunshine and the hospitality of Horsham rugby club in equal measure.

This year will be a season of firsts and we achieved many things yesterday - first fifteen-a-side match, first full pitch, first time using changing rooms. Also this was also a first for changing and eating together after the game - a big thank you to Karen Miller and Andy McEwan (our Fixtures Secretaries for arranging the game) and to Sue and her management team for helping the boys turn out so smartly both on and off the pitch and also to the players (and parents) for representing the club so well.

Obviously it was disappointing that we weren't able to add our 'first win' to our list of achievements yesterday - Horsham had two strong teams yesterday and I strongly suspect that they will be challenging for the Sussex County title this year (they only lost narrowly to Chichester in a match last year) and but for a few crucial turnovers, both A team games would have been closer; congratulations must go to the B team for their draw with special mention for an outstanding performance at full-back by NATHAN WHITE.

All the coaches were very proud of the effort the boys put in and after 3 1/2 months of training I think everybody was more than ready for their first game and we learnt a great deal to help focus our training.

We now have matches every Sunday up to half-term so it is even more important that the players attend training on Wednesday nights so we can further develop our individual and unit skills - we are away at London Irish Amateur on Sunday which will be another challenging match giving a further opportunity to look at the boys in action and assess which combinations of players work well together across the teams.

Congratulations to everyone and thank you again for the efforts everyone gave yesterday both on and off the field.

Clive