Rugby Review: Solid start to the campaign

Following a highly successful 2011-12 season in which the University of Warwick’s Rugby Club was named Club of the Year by the University Sports Committee, UWRFC began their new campaign this year full of optimism for the season ahead.

Following promotions for both the second and third teams last year, they are both set to compete in the Midlands 1A league this year, while the thirds take part in the 2A league hoping to replicate the good times of years gone by.

On the back of an encouraging intake of freshers, October brought the first fixtures of the new season and a varying degree of success.

With three wins and just one loss to their name, including a second successive win over perennial contenders Loughborough 3rds, Richard Newman’s first team firmly established themselves as promotion candidates after flirting with promotion in 2011-12.

After a narrow loss, by just a point, to local rivals Coventry’s first team in their first fixture, the third team entered November with a 2-1 win-loss record, a great return for a recently promoted side under the improving captaincy of Luke Blease.

The second team, however, faced an extremely tough start to the season, confronting two of the main contenders for the league, Worcester 1sts and Loughborough 3rds, in their first two games.

They went down to disheartening defeats in both, leaving them facing a long, hard season. Spurred on by their inspirational coach and the leadership of James Oyedele, back-to-back wins at the end of October hoisted the seconds comfortably into mid-table.

The first fixtures of November saw the first round of Cup games for all three teams, and presented some stern challenges for all sides. The firsts faced Worcester 1sts, who had beaten them earlier in the season, and thanks to a try from the effervescent Scott Peters and audacious drop goal from Dan Edwards, they sealed revenge with a 13-12 win.

Meanwhile, the seconds travelled to Nottingham in a repeat of the previous week’s fixture, and continued their good run with an efficient win against their third team.

Tries from Captain James Oyedele, Will McTighe, Yeboah Mensah and Josh Dowling-Kennedy helped the team progress to the next round and look forward to a meeting with Leeds 2nds.

The third team showed great form in thrashing Bedfordshire 2s 33-8 thanks to an enterprising, if unexpected, hat-trick from Simon Cox and a barrage of fierce tackling from Brian Lockhead.

Back in the league the following week, UWRFC were given a tough contest in all three fixtures as the season approached its mid-way point.

The firsts faced a tough examination by the league leaders, Nottingham 2s, and two tries from George Irwin – one a penalty try – weren’t enough to prevent an 18-12 defeat. This should not distract from a very committed performance, with Elliot Hodges once again impressing.

The seconds, meanwhile, travelled to second-placed Leicester 1sts, and came flying out of the blocks, with some strong carrying from David Minear leading to tries for Oyedele and Dowling-Kennedy, as well as himself.

The team’s susceptibility to interception tries continued as Pavan Harnal had a pass intercepted, having scored a penalty seconds earlier, but Warwick remained in a commanding position at half time.

The second half was hotly contested as Leicester fought back hard. Will McTighe scored in his second successive game, but a late Leicester try put any ideas of victory prospects in jeopardy.

Fortunately for Warwick, the referee informed them that they still led by a point, and proceeded to kick the ball out of play and celebrate an epic victory.

It appeared, however, that the referee had taken a less honest approach to keeping score, and had forgotten to note a Leicester conversion.

The Leicester protest was upheld to leave Warwick fuming, and after a strong performance the team took this hard.

The thirds’ fixture was away to table-toppers Birmingham 2nds, who had narrowly missed out on promotion to Warwick’s very own second team the previous year.

In spite of some impressive performances from the strong contingent of freshers in the side, including tries from Tom Wilson and Will Sadler, Warwick slid to a dispiriting 47-14 defeat, but should remain optimistic for the season ahead after a great start to what is a difficult league.

With the third team game cancelled this week, the first and second teams met in their league fixture in a feisty, tribal affair.

Unfortunately a high number of absentees meant the teams were not at full strength, but this didn’t stop some outstanding individual efforts.

Josh Dowling-Kennedy secured a well-deserved score for the seconds but a length-of-the-pitch solo try from first-team skipper Rich Newman evened things up.

Josh Downie recovered from a huge tackle from Yeboah Mensah and possible concussion for Tomané Pinto to gallop over for a richly-deserved first try of the season.

Newman then popped over for his second following an improbable burst of pace from Afo Olowolafe, putting the firsts well in front whilst demonstrating his enduring leadership qualities.

Andrew Primmer then marked his first second team appearance of the season with an inventive try, but the match was sealed when Vinay Rawal dropped into the pocket and slotted a drop goal to see the firsts to a 24-15 victory.

All in all, a very solid start to the season for UWRFC. Considering that the prospects for the season looked mixed at the beginning of the year, there is reason for much optimism as we move into the new year.