RFU National Colts Cup
Congratulations to Old Albanian Colts on reaching the Final of the Competition. They beat Colchester last Sunday and will play Hinckley at Northampton Saints on Monday 4th May, kick off 3.00 pm.
Hertfordshire Colts Cup and Shield
The success of a number of Hertfordshire Clubs in the National Colts Cup or Plate, including that of Old Albanians, coupled with the impact of the frosty weather earlier in the year has resulted in a fixture backlog in both Cup and Shield. Although Bishop's Stortford and Datchworth have reached their respective finals, the other semi final in each competition has not been played. It has proved impossible to play them over the Easter holiday, so reluctantly the final of each Competition will be postponed. The outstanding semi finals - Old Albanian v Hertford (Cup) and Fullerians v Harpenden (Shield) - will now be played on Sunday 19th April.
The dates and locations for the finals will be announced as soon as practicable.
15 schools were represented at the finals of the Hertfordshire HSBC Emerging Schools Finals held at the superb facilities of St Albans School on Friday 13th March. In total there were 20 teams and 292 players aged between 11 and 14 playing for the right to represent Hertfordshire in the Regional Finals of this national competition which culminates with a final at Twickenham.
Rob Hardwick, Chairman of Youth Rugby in Hertforshire was impressed with the standard of rugby which was very high this year. Rob commented that it was an endorsement of the huge effort put in by PE staff and Hertfordshire Community Rugby team over the last few years to raise standards at emerging rugby playing schools.
In the end, the winners in each category were as follows:
With the emphasis on development of rugby in schools, the refereeing duties were undertaken by 6th form students from Richard Hale school who performed superbly
Once again we returned to Mid-Herts GC to hold our Annual Members Dinner which this year broke all records with 117 attendees with 14 clubs being represented. John Drew our President hosted the evening with Mark Elliott once again doing a stalwart job as MC and kept us all on our toes. John kept us informed of the successes in our playing sides so far this season and also that of our clubs. He welcomed our guests and in particular John Owen Senior Vice President of The RFU on his return to Hertfordshire and also our guest speaker Eddie Jones, Director of Rugby for Saracens, and past Manager of Australia RU. In addition a warm welcome and grateful thanks was given to our county sponsors Weston Homes Plc for their continued support throughout Herts.
Two recipients for awards this year were:
Jamie George, Haileybury College and Saracens: A tankard for playing for England U18s in 6 Nations Tournament 2007-08 and in Argentina summer 2008 and also the Morrie Morris Trophy for services to Hertfordshire Schools Rugby
Owen Farrell, St George's School & Harpenden: Two tankards - One for playing for England U16s against Wales, France and Italy in 2006-07; One for playing for and captaining England U16s against Wales, Italy and France in 2007-08. He also played for England U18s in Argentina summer 2008
John Owen presented both players with these following a short response on behalf of the guests which gave us another insight into what was happening at HQ.
Eddie Jones kept us alert with interesting comments from an outsiders point of view regarding rugby in England as well as the national side and the pressures that the top level players are constantly under nowadays. He ended up with a question and answer session which brought some very valid participation from his eager audience and honest and from the heart answers.
A superb meal, good company and flowing wine meant that this was another great event enjoyed by all.
