Director of Rugby
Mr President, Mr Chairman Ladies and Gentlemen,
I wish to present to you my Director Rugby report for the season 2006 – 2007.
I plan to present this to you in three parts:
- Playing side
- Player / coach and referee development
- My observations on the way ahead
Firstly can I thank the Club for giving me the opportunity that the role of Director of Rugby has afforded me. There has been some great work and effort made by the players, coaches, referees, all support staff and supporters thank you.
I am going to start at the senior teams and then work down, this does not in any way reflect the effort and dedication of every Chipstead team, it's just an easy starting point.
In compiling this report I have asked every coach / manager to forward me their season reports and parts of this has been compiled from that.
1st XV
The 1st XV had a poor start to the season with no fewer than 11 players unavailable for selection for the first few weeks. It was just before the Christmas break that the first choice team as it were became available.
An excellent run of games saw us climbing the league table and start thinking about winning the league. Player unavailability and a poor game in the return fixture against Old Haileyburians put pay to that idea and once again saw us slipping down the league.
When word got out that a possible 4 teams might be relegated the alarm bells began ringing with Chipstead needing to win 2 out of the remaining 3 matches by significant margins in order to feel safe. Two excellent wins against Old Freemans, one in the cup and a closer one in the league made thing easier but a second loss to Old Walcountians saw us needing to win by 50 points against Streatham to avoid relegation. One of the best displays of the season saw us amass that total and then some, but it was only a last gasp try for Old Whitgiftians against Old Rutlishians that secured our safety.
The season was dotted with some fantastic displays, especially when the best players were available. Matches against higher league opposition were won comfortably yet matches that we should have won against opposition from our own league were narrowly lost. The number of games in which we lost by fewer than 5 points is unbelievable.
All in all Chipstead has some excellent players but a severe lack of depth in the tight five, at half back and out wide meant that a number of players were taught new positions in order to carry us through the season.
Chipstead finished 6th on the league. Having won as many as we lost. A disappointing season in all despite our excellent run in the cup in which a disallowed try knocked us out in the semis.
Two players, Paul Weston (8) and Simon Day (9) brought honour to the Club with their deserved selection to the Surrey squad
As of last Friday I was informed by Rob Kops that he would not be able to continue as coach for the forthcoming season due to him and his family being relocating due to work. I have discussed this change of circumstances with members of the Club and we are in the process of trying to identify a new coach for the forthcoming season. Andy Wright and Jim Whittington have agreed to handle 1st team affairs in conjunction with the new captain in the interim.
2nd XV
Played 8 won 1 and came 11th out of 15 in the Surrey Conference. Player availability and team training were certainly a factor that as mentioned by Rob Kops above was an overriding factor in the seasons poor display.
Vets Team Played 2 cup games lost to Sutton & Epsom and Weybridge Vandals.
Ladies
The Ladies are continuing to play touch rugby - the only ladies team in the local area to offer this and it seems to work as the ones who do want to play contact rugby help out local Clubs where necessary.
In March the ladies hosted a touring team from Canada at the Club, funnily enough there were a higher than usual attendance of Senior players at training that evening.
Rowena Meaton (age 16) was selected for the Surrey Ladies Development Team and has been playing and training with them regularly as a forward. Lauren Wood was also selected although she decided to wait until after her GCSEs to commit fully.
We now just need support for advertising for new members, especially local schools - as all teams do!
Under 16s
Under 16s Final of Lexus 12s tournament where they lost to Exeter Chiefs
Final of the Maidenhead Festival lost to Maidenhead.
Finished 5th in League 1, this means we have now spent four seasons in top league, since moving from the mini section.
Two players represent Surrey.
One Ex player who left at U14s level represents England and Surrey and is on Harlequins books. Another new player to trail for Harlequins and Esher next year.
This however does not tell us the whole story, this age group as been greatly frustrated by an appeal to Surrey this year in relation to a fixture before Christmas which took a long time for Surrey to see sense and rule that the game be played. Only for the opposition to procrastinate and not fulfil the fixture. So what did Surrey do, award them the points, try explaining that to your players?
Under 15s A
A well contested season with one point in the last game separating the winner from the loser in the 2nd/3rd place battle, allowing London Irish to join Dorking in League 1 for the next season, whilst Chipstead stay in League 2.
We fought well all season, only marginally losing to Dorking in our first game.
Good results were attained against Brighton, Farnham, Old Ruts and Sutton & Epsom, all of them higher placed in the league, and look forward to next season with great expectation.
Suffering a lack of specialists in certain positions the off-season aim is to increase the skill sets of certain players to match the weaknesses we have, with a greater amount of distribution through the backs to capitalise on the amount of possession the forwards win, and greater focus all round we have only ourselves to blame if we do not reach League 1 for the U17 season.
Under 15s B
Promoted to League 3, this league was balanced with A and B teams. The B teams coming from strong stock i.e. S & E, Richmond, and Cobham.
Beating Sutton & Epsom and Cobham along the way. Well contesting all other fixtures other than the game with Cranleigh,
This has been the 6th season that the Under 15s have put out two squads in a very competitive environment and the B squad has suffered greatly when the As have called upon players to fill in for injuries and indeed, try out improving players. Despite this we have recruited novice players who had fitted in well and with the morale of the team they have been brought up to a good standard. A great deal, of thanks has to go to the coaches i.e. ME (Carl) for keeping the side together.
2007/8 is not looking so good as we are struggling with players in key positions.
With the onset of exams, opposite sex and the pressure of schools for them to play rugby we will have great difficulty in representing the Club at A & B level next year.
However we have a strong fixture list for both groups and are positively looking forward. With the summer training, which seem to have attached the attention of players from Rugby schools we hope to have boosted our numbers.
Under 14s
A good season in the Surrey league and more than held their own in the majority of their matches.
4th in League with only Cobham RFC with more league points.
They toured down in the West Country and played the Cornish Pirates, Newquay and Wadebridge Rugby Football Clubs in amongst some Surfing and a little bit fun!
The following players have participated in the Surrey Development squad:-
Jack Muggeridge
Michael Blair
Josh Pedlar
Charlie Ratcliffe
Julian Landauer.
The following Players were selected from the county squad to participate in the Harlequins development squad
Elliott McLean
Stephan Richards
George Farquharson
Tommy Nicholls is playing at The Wasps academy
Under 13s
Under 13s The season started well for the U13s with some good wins in early non league matches & a successful visit to the Lexus tournament , where a semi final placement was achieved.
Unfortunately this was at a high cost with a number of injuries sustained.
The League group, was incredibly tough, all games played were of high quality with some very close scores, which Chipstead were on the wrong side of. The main differences were of lapses of concentration & some indifferent tackling at times. However, a contributory factor is the small size of the squad and therefore the lack of availability of replacements to maintain momentum.
Having said that, the sheer heart of the team was fantastic they never ever gave up, and produced some excellent quality rugby.
The final league position means a drop for next season but this should hopefully allow us to consolidate our team and develop the new players we recruited during the season.
We currently have approx. 22 players but on average see approx 17 at training/matches. Our first league match had a turn out of 15 but our last had a full compliment.
We rounded off the season with a hugely enjoyable & successful tour to Cork playing against mixed age groups up to U14 and the difference in size against some of our boys was staggering.
Five boys were selected to attend the Surrey Development sessions, which are currently ongoing. We wish them every success .
Our age group ( sponsored by Cadenza ) arranged for two legends of rugby ( Mark Regan & Victor Umbogu) to provide a training session close to seasons end which was enjoyed by all and very successful.
Under 12s
Runners up Chipstead Festival , won Mitcham Festival
Nottingham Tour, where we played aginst Doncaster on the 1st team pitch, (Catchment area of 40 sq miles) American Eagles, also playing Darlington and Olney.
2 things spring to mind about the season in general 1. Under 12s is tough because of rugby starting at school, and our Bs didnt let us down when filling in.
Five boys have bee selected to go forward for Surrey Development sessions, which will take place during the summer. We wish them every success.
A chance in coaches sees Phil Gibson standing down as Lead coach and myself taking over.
Under 11s
Throughout the season we have managed to usually field 2 full sides to compete and entered various festivals. Towards end of the season they reviewed their performance and felt that in reality they are more equivalent to others B&C teams and thus to give us/them a sporting chance we only entered festivals and competitions accordingly.
This did pay dividends with our team coming runners up in the Mitcham Festival.
The end of the season also saw changes that will impact on next season, namely Nick Mabbot stood down as head coach (to be replaced by Peter Barber) and Richard Adams has also stood down as assistant coach and fixtures secretary.
Under 10s
Finalists in the Mitcham Festival and narrowly loosing in the final.
Surrey A - won 2, drew 1, lost 2. The observations of our coaches were that other teams had much larger player bases, the 2 losses were to Clubs with over 60 players and a 3 times a week training regime.
It has been shown in the run up to the Surrey A competition that a couple of extra sessions have worked wonders for the team making them a lot slicker in competition.
The first tour to Bristol came at the perfect time for the U10s - just the right age group and was needed to gel the team which has lead to a better overall spirit both on and off the pitch. All part of the growing up process good to see the kids maturing and characters for the future.
Under 9s
Runner Up Chipstead festival
Won Mitcham Festival
Runner Up Surrey B
Runner Up Wimbledon C
Went 22 games unbeaten.
Beat Richmond A and drew with Cobham A team at Effingham festival.
Tour to Bath - great success. Met Gareth Delve & Matt Stevens who signed shirts, posters, and balls almost joining in with Father Abraham and having nothing better to do with his weekends Andy Robinson refereed and coached our teams against Bath Minis. Played 5 games lost 1 to Melksham who were visitors at Bath Minis also.
Under 8s
London Irish Plate Winners
Chipstead Festival Runners Up
Mitcham Shield
Surrey Development Festival Bowl
Under 7s
The season as usual started with confusion but eventually a semblance of order set in. With 2 teams they finished 3rd and 4th in the Chipstead Festival.
The loss of Forest was minimised by the arrival of Nick Oliver to work alongside Graham and Paul to help get our Lions & Tigers ready for the spring festival period.
Runners up in the Mitcham Festival
Although not winning Surrey Development festival, they took a lot of pride from the 19 tries we managed to score.
Unable to compete in the Surrey "A" festival (due to an administrative problem), they managed to squeeze in to the Wimbledon "C" festival. 31 tries. 5 victories. And their first trophy!
London Irish ‘Runners up in the "plate" final.
It goes without saying that each of the individual lead coaches wished to thank all of their support coaches and volunteers for all their assistance. I would like to add to that and also thanks all the lead coaches who have given great effort and enthusiasm in their endeavours not just this season, but over the years that that they have been associated with Chipstead RFC.
The way forward
Senior Squad
Player numbers were low and training on the whole was poorly attended, especially Tuesday sessions, a number of factors came into play here however competition for places is not great hence the feeling that the need to train is not that great.
Thankfully last season Forest was able to put a team together each week at a great deal of time and effort to himself. This was a great frustration encountered by James.
I feel that this should be managed and that the Captain, should be assisted by a Team manger.
Recruitment
To coincide with the World Cup the RFU are putting together an initiative targeting Senior players, however the best people to recruit players are the players of today. As we have found out players coming through the age groups do not necessarily return to the Club, perhaps a few fixtures or reunion days could get these players and friends back into the Club.
Player numbers are also reducing in the Junior and Mini Level, whilst I accept that some teams are strong in numbers in particular the Under 16s & 15s for the forthcoming season this is not the case across the board. Whilst we pay for a Community Rugby Coach I feel that this needs to be reviewed and other means investigated.
Minis
This season has seen a number of teams opting out of the Surrey Festival and entering their teams in the Surrey Development Festival. At recent coaches evening this was a great debating point and one that I can see both sides of the argument. However personally I feel we need to keep striving and competing against the best in Surrey, cementing the foundations that have been put in place. As a Club we need to be performing against the best and maintain the standards set before us.
Training facilities
We were informed that the front of the Club house was to be developed, at the end of the season, this has not occurred and apart from the danger of that surface as a Club, someone needs to take responsibility, if something ids going to happen lets make it happen, because that it unsuitable and this is another lost opportunity.
Coaching
The whole the standard of coaching is at a higher level than at any time throughout the Club. I have been unable as DoR to be able to asses coaching across the Club due to my commitment to an age group. This is one of the reasons I am standing down and suggest that whoever takes over is able to adopt the helicopter approach with an overview in relation to coaching standards and consistency.
A further initiative that is required is a cross pollination of coaching, i.e. coaches moving up or down and delivering sessions, certainly something that all coaches appear to wish to develop across the Club.
Referees
A Ed Turnhill from the RFU recently attended the Club and gave 2 presentations. This was greatly received from coaches and junior players alike; however I feel that this was a missed opportunity with no Senior players attending. Thanks to Peter Hutton for arranging this.
August
On August 31st I have arranged a training day for junior and some pf the mini age groups. I have had some great response from coaches and am currently putting together the final details.
Equipment
Carl has been pro-active in reviewing, updating and ensuring each team has sufficient access to resources. This is a work in progress and Carl and I are meeting with Ram later this week.
Having said that all is not doom and gloom player numbers are down across the spectrum however we have to look at the positives and successes of which there are many, as I have mentioned above.
We must not loose sight of the fact that we are a rugby Club and playing rugby is what we are here for.