the 2012-2013 season in review
TRANSCRIPT
May 2013
1
Nottingham Medics R.U.F.C.
The 2012-2013 Season in Review Foreward
steemed Club Alumni,
welcome to this – the
first edition (in recent
memory) of a NMRFC
Newsletter. There’s a hope
from both club members and
alumni that we can
strengthen the links between
us, and to keep everyone up-
to-date and involved as much
as possible.
I hope this newsletter goes
someway to give you an idea
of what’s been happening
recently, and to give an
update on the changes for the
coming season.
New for this year is
@NottsMedicsRUFC – a
twitter page to give those
who are that way persuaded
an easy way to stay up to
date with our safe-for-public-
viewing activities. Results
and fixtures will be posted,
allowing you to keep in the
loop. Additionally, the
website is due to be
refreshed in the near future.
Details of the new committee
are listed below. Feel free to
get in touch with any of them
at any time.
As ever, we appreciate and
thank-you for your continued
support, and we look
forward to the Annual
Alumni event, always a
highlight of the year.
Yours,
Matthew Beattie
President 2013
Surpassing Expectations
ed by Captain rAndy
Brown, our rugby
efforts this year
resulted in some pleasing
results; results that may
have surpassed the
expectations of many.
With losing so many
stellar players from 5th
year — legends like Malta
(pop. 300) international
Rob Holloway, and the
goose-stepping guru Nick
Simson— it was always
going to be a challenge to
match the success of
previous years.
However, it seems our
prayers for some serious
talent to enter the club in
September were
answered. One new
fresher, Steve Abbey, gave
us a razor sharp edge in
the forward-dominated
Pennant fixtures, slotting
perfectly into No. 10
position. Equally
impressive was fresher
Drew Williamson’s
immediate passion and
aggressiveness, at an
intensity not seen since
the early days of Mad
Steve John. He supplied
quality ball to the backs,
ensuring they had a good
chance at losing it (the
author does not apologise
for any forward bias
expressed). He has since
been elected as pre-
medical Captain, and we
trust he’ll lead them well.
Another fresher who
contributed their skills
was Sam Jenkins on the
wing. His high ball takes
were quality, even
surpassing the famous
skills of former Captain
Gerard McKnight, and his
attacks up the blind side
often equated to match-
winning points.
As always, the bread and
butter Pennant league
rugby fixtures gave us
numerous opportunities to
display our strengths and
weaknesses. Some superb
rugby was seen, such as
the game against Ilkeston
E
L
May 2013
2
where our solid defence
and unrelenting attacks
resulted in a hard-fought
win. Competitive games
such as these are the
lifeblood of our rugby, and
it was disappointing we
had to cancel so many
fixtures due to injuries and
squad shortages. This is
something we hope to
minimise as much as
possible next season with
renewed organisation and
commitment, led by
Captain Steve John. We
finished middle of the
table in Pennant 1, a
decent result considering
some substantial
difficulties.
Our priority as ever
remained the NAMS Cup.
We kicked off with an
extremely tight home
game against Birmingham.
A lapse of concentration in
the second half allowed
them to take the win.
However, we used what
we learnt in that game to
bring home comfortable
victories against Leicester
and Warwick to allow us
to progress into the
quarter finals.
The quarter against
Manchester was played
under flood light at Sale
Sharks’ old home
Heywood Road. A poor
start due to some tactical
defence errors at the line-
out gave us the resolve to
make up for it. Some
heroic efforts by Paddy
Liddicoat, Alex Walkden,
St John Karssiens, and
Julian Peacock were
enough to clinch the well-
deserved win.
Sure we were on our way
to the heights of previous
years, we faced a
notorious opposition in
the next stage – The
Southampton Moosemen.
An unexpected extended
journey meant our legs
were still stiff as the
whistle blew for kick-off.
Despite some decent
possession we just
couldn’t score the points,
and some unfortunate
missed tackles led to
Southampton beating us
very comfortably. We
were understandably
disappointed, but at the
same time proud of our
achievement to reach the
semis and remain in the
upper echelons of NAMS
rugby. It’s a small
consolation we were to
hear they went on to beat
Cardiff in the final.
BUCS rugby was in its
fourth year and was led
with great commitment by
Pre-clinical Captain Kyle
Fleischer. In many ways
it’s an unenviable job,
constantly coming up
against increasingly strict
university Wednesday
timetables, combined with
some distant fixtures,
meaning putting out a full
15 was always a struggle.
We finished ‘successfully’
by avoiding relegation.
The importance of pre-
clinical rugby and the
post-match socials for the
younger years is
undeniable, and will
remain a priority next
year, in context of some
major changes as detailed
later.
We finished the year by
hosting the NAMS 7s
tournament (held on 4th
May) which was another
great success. Over 16
teams turned up on the
day, with Southampton
taking overall victory with
ourselves taking runner-
up. Individuals who
deserve a special mention
from the day include the
(trainee) referee who had
a lovely drop-goal attempt
mid-match, and the Notts
All-Stars team for their all-
time high commitment to
comedy rugby. Thoroughly
entertaining.
End of Season Awards
Players’ Player – Paddy
Liddocoat (3rd yr)
Captain’s Player – Alex
Walkden (4th yr)
Best Improved – Jon
Owen (2nd yr)
Clubman of the Year –
Drew Williamson (1st
yr)
May 2013
3
Changes Next Season
Over the past few months there have been a
series of meetings with representatives
from our Club, the University, the RFU and
the Athletic Union. This has been to discuss
and direction of our rugby club, but more
specifically how the new official University
Sport strategy impacts upon us and our
Wednesday BUCS rugby. Said strategy is to
align itself with the likes of Bath and
Loughborough by focusing on performance,
points and wise financial investment. As
part of this, they have taken the very
controversial decision to chop the number
of University Mens teams from six to four.
Unfortunately, as our pre-clinical team play
as the UofN 6th team, that included us.
Therefore from 2013 onwards, the
University will no longer fund our entry into
the BUCS competition.
This has not happened without deep
discussion and argument, mounting a
defence against these plans, from members
of our committee. However, our case was
not helped by relatively very few points and
a number of cancelled fixtures in recent
seasons.
As an alternative, a new ‘Super League’ is
being set up, new from next season and will
be hosted at various local clubs. It will
involve ex-hall teams, societies, and perhaps
Uni. of Trent teams.
The silver lining in this major change is we
avoid lengthy journeys on a Wednesday
afternoon to faraway opponents (e.g. East
Anglia). This will help squad availability and
increase participation.
Overall, we’re confident the ethos of
Wednesday rugby and its social importance
for the pre-clinical years will remain strong,
despite these changes.
Key Priorities & Aims for 2013/2014
1. Top Pennant 1:
o minimise cancellations
o increase participation of
younger years
2. Succeed with NAMS.
3. Support social Wednesday rugby for
pre-clinical team.
4. Improve our standing within
NLDRFU, with view to play in RFU
Midland leagues in future years.
A Half Baked Review of Hamburg Tour,
21st – 24th February 2013.
We all appreciate brevity, so thanks to Mina
and Kofi for their description of tour in
bullet-point format (both busy with exams):
Hunger Games Paintballing.
German pork, beer and more pork.
Inadvertent visits to gay bars.
A Circle with a nautical theme.
Midnight raids: ensuring the spirit
of tour was kept alight.
The ‘Why are we doing this?’ match
of touch rugby on frozen parkland
against the Hamburg Exiles.
‘One more cask’ night where the two
clubs love of singing and nudity
truly shone.
Port to port social and training for
all in Tour ATLS.
Matlock 10s Cider & Sausage Festival
We have entered a team in for the above
event, held on Saturday 3rd August 2013.
It’s been a highlight of the summer in past
years, and is set in the beautiful Matlock
valley. It’d be great if there was an Alumni
representation, and you’re all more than
welcome to get a game or two in too. See
http://goo.gl/8pfYZ for more information,
and our new twitter page
(@NottsMedicsRUFC) for our arrangements
closer to the time.
May 2013
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Committee Contacts for Season 2013-2014
President* Matthew Beattie [email protected] 07926235307
General Secretary* Julian Peacock [email protected] 07805471223
Captain 1st XV Steven John [email protected] 07875666707
Vice-Captain 1st XV Kyle Fleischer [email protected] 07905791913
Alumni Secretary Kofi Asante [email protected] 07584623791
[*handover December, 2013]
Photos
Promotional Poster with
some ridiculous poses.
Don’t worry, the angle of
Julian’s neck has since
corrected.
… it worked so well the
side-lines were packed
May 2013
5
(Above) Enjoying a beer or three and some platters of meat with the Hamburg Exiles, February 2013. Note
the college-varsity style tour stash – a hit amongst the boys. (Below) Port to port social in process.
Notts Medics as
Runners Up of NAMS
7s (4 May 2013).
Left to right: Sam
Jenkins, Paddy
Liddicoat, Steve
Abbey, Chris Oliver,
Adam Mathias, Pete
May-Miller, Ben
Darvill, Drew
Williamson, Kyle
Fleischer (bottom).
May 2013
6
The demand for NMRUFC branded stash knows no bounds. Ben Barkham and Jon Peters
model the new speedos in South Africa, May 2013.
And finally… Tak picked up a pretty bad injury during 7s, however to his delight they had his
favourite magazine available to ‘read’ on the orthopaedic ward…