The 2017-18 season was Darren Prosser & Gary Hobart’s second full season as head coaches ably assisted by fitness coach Abe Kerr, forwards coach Keith Garwood, backs coach Jamie Prosser with admiral help throughout from Phil Standbridge during the campaign.
This season brought with it a couple of changes for the boys to take on board, the addition of flankers meant we went from thirteen a side to fifteen a side and they were now playing on a full-size pitch, and I’m pleased to report the boys weren’t fazed by the changes.
The boys seemed to thoroughly enjoy the pre-season fitness sessions Abe put on at Wrest Park, they certainly seemed to be working on the basis of the ‘more you put in the more you get out ‘. The numbers attending these sessions were very encouraging especially as we have a relatively small squad. With a pretty packed fixture schedule made up of HML (friendly) matches, friendlies against some of our traditional opponent’s, the East Midlands Cup & the Beds Cup, the boys were ready to start the long season ahead. This seasons HML ‘pool’ gave us the opportunity of playing against new opponents: Regents Park Royals, Ruislip & London Scottish.
The season started really well with 6 consecutive victories, the highlights of which were wins against Olney & defeating a very livelyOld Grammarians side to kick off our HML campaign. We were then brought back down to earth with a defeat to Biggleswade in the HML & a heavy defeat at the hands of Buckingham. Our two remaining HML fixtures produced a win at home to Hertford and a loss away at London Scottish, although our performance was a real credit to the boys. Unfortunately, our remaining league matches weren’t played due to the opposition conceding the fixtures. We lost out to our traditional rivals Bedford in a really hard fought Beds Cup semi-final, in freezing conditions, we eventually lost 25-20, the score line doesn’t reflect the effort and determination from the boys as they more than excelled themselves throughout the game. Towards the end of the season we put in two stand out performances in defeating Letchworth & Barnet Elizabethans, both teams play in the ‘pool’ above us in the HML league, and certainly given us plenty to be positive about for next season.
Our season will come to an end with our tour to Minehead to take part in the Leicester Tigers Challenge, no doubt the boys will leave their mark on Somerset in one way or another !!
I would like to thank some of the parents for their hard work through the season: Adam Newland (Treasurer),Becky Kerr (fundraising) & a special mention to Jo Randall for all her excellent work organising the tour.
Lastly, and most importantly, on behalf of all the players & parents I would like to offer sincere thanks to Darren Prosser & Gary Hobart for all the hard work, time and effort they have put in over the last two and a half seasons as head coaches ,they will be sorely missed by all the boys. Paul Allen will be taking over the reigns for our first ‘competitive’ season in the HML.
