John Creasey

We regret to inform you that Hertfordshire Life Member, John Creasey, passed away on 24th April.

During his long career in rugby John represented Hertfordshire five times in the County Championship and served as a county selector from 1981 to 1984.

However, John was best known for his career at Old Hertfordians and Hertford RFCs. After a distinguished playing career he served the club as President for 21 years and was President Emeritus at the time of his death.

He also had a high reputation as a speaker on the after Dinner circuit, where he was involved in many charitable fund raising activities.

The funeral service will be at All Saints Church, Hertford on Monday 12th May at 11.30 am and all friends are welcomed to Hertford Rugby Club afterwards.

Our deep sympathy goes to his partner Penny, children Edward, Mary and Lucy and grandchildren Marlie and Joe.

Herts Team v Eastern Counties

County Championship Team News

Hertfordshire play Eastern Counties at West Norfolk RFC, near Kings Lynn, on Saturday in the opening match in this season's County Championship Shield competition - kick off 3.00 pm. The team selected is as follows:

Tom Newton (Tring); Ian Crompton (Stevenage Town), Jon Child (Welwyn), Ray Adde (Hemel Hempstead), Mark Mansfield (Old Albanian); Richard Gregg (Old Albanian), Toby Prescott (Tring); Ryan Long (Tabard), Tavita Faamausili (Stevenage Town), Jim Remfry (Caldy), Adam Amos (Stevenage Town), Rob Dumbleton (Harpenden), Ian Hardcastle (Westcombe Park), Chris Rainbow (Newbury), Dave Archer (Henley Hawks) (Capt).

Replacements: Ryan de la Harpe (Letchworth), Ross Willoughby (Hemel Hempstead), Richard Woodard (Tabard), Brent Lemiere (St Albans), Luke Hardwicke (Hertford), Alfie Church (Hertford), Tom Mowbray (Tring)CORNWALL READY TO END AWAY DAY BLUES

Cornwall will be seeking their first away win in three years when they play Hertfordshire at Hertford on Saturday (3.00 pm) in game two in this season's County Shield.

It was May 2005 when the Duchy's senior team last triumphed on the road with an 18-15 success over Gloucestershire at Lydney, though they did manage a 22-22 draw against Oxfordshire at Chinnor last season.

Cornwall could not have got their campaign off to a much better start last weekend when they crushed Oxfordshire 66-8 at Redruth, and new captain Josh Lord believes it sets them up nicely to put an end to their disappointing away record.

"It is a tougher proposition going away than it is playing in front of your home crowd, but I think we have got the players to do it," said the Cornish All Blacks flanker. Everybody is really determined and focused this year. We have got the goal that we want to get to the final at Twickenham and win and everybody has bought into that. It maybe a little harder next week, but we know we can do it."

Any fears of complacency setting in should be dispelled by painful memories of a visit to the same venue two seasons ago, when Hertfordshire pulled off a stunning 31-27 victory against a strong Cornwall side coached then by Chris Brown, Nigel Hambly and Jim McKay.

The Hertfordshire selectors have made a number of changes from the side that lost to eastern Counties last Saturday. The team selected for Saturday is:

Kieron Davies (Ampthill); Ian Crompton (Stevenage Town), Jon Child (Welwyn), Ray Adde (Hemel Hempstead), Mark Evans (Old Albanian; Richard Gregg (Old Albanian), Ryan de la Harpe (Letchworth); Ryan Long (Tabard), Tavita Faamausili (Stevenage Town), Simon Carter (Newbury), Adam Amos (Stevenage Town), Robert Dumbleton (Harpenden), Alfie Church (Hertford), Ian Hardcastle (Westcombe Park), Dave Archer (Henley Hawks). (Capt).

Replacements: Toby Prescott (Tring), Paul Welch (Hertford), Adam Gelman (Old Albanian), Matt Cross (Nuneaton), Jim Remfry (Caldy), Billy Johnson (Hertford), Gareth Davies (Tabard).

John Macfarlane

Hertfordshire Rugby Union regrets to announce of the death of John Macfarlane, Past President and Life Member of Hertfordshire RFU, on Monday, 22nd April.

John was President of the County from 1986 to 1988 and served on the County General Committee and Executive Committee for many years. He was a Barnet man through and through and was President of Barnet RFC for a number of years.

The funeral will take place at 12.30 pm on Friday 2nd May at Monken Hadley Church, (between Hadley Common and Hadley Green), Barnet, followed by a private cremation and after at the West Lodge Park Hotel.

Our thoughts are with Gill and all the Macfarlane family at this time.

County Championship Preparations

As part of Hertfordshire's preparations for this season's County Championship, the County will host Crawshay's Welsh XV on Sunday, 27th April in what should be a testing warm up match. The match will also honour the memory of Vivian Jenkins, the former Welsh International, who lived his later years in Harpenden. Vivian was a Life Member of Hertfordshire RFU and was also President of Crawshay's Welsh XV at the time of his death. The match will be played at Old Albanian RFC, kick off 2.30 pm.

Last Monday (14th April) Hertfordshire hosted Henley Hawks in a warm up match at Hoe Lane, Hertford. The home side put in a very encouraging performance, although they lost by one point to an injury time penalty - 12 - 13. Their forwards put in a particularly good display against a strong Henley side that included the Herts skipper, Dave Archer, in their back row.

A try by flanker Craig Bailey (Hemel Hempstead), converted by Richard Gregg (Old Albanian) gave Herts an early lead, but Henley replied with a try 10 min before half time. Half way through the second half, full back Peter Fermse (Hemel Hempstead) increased the home leads with a try. However, Henley cut the lead to two points with a try and then elected to kick a penalty in injury time to win the game by one point.

The selectors hope that this match and the Crawshay's match, plus regular training sessions, will produce a good squad for the County Championship Shield campaign which starts on May 3rd with an away fixture against Eastern Counties @ West Norfolk RFC. The following two Saturdays, Herts will entertain Cornwall and Oxfordshire at Hertford and Old Albanian respectively.

Herts Team v Henley Hawks: Peter Fermse (Hemel Hempstead); Ian Crompton (Stevenage Town), Jon Child (Welwyn), Paul Welch (Hertford), Mark Evans (Old Albanian); Richard Gregg (Old Albanian), Toby Prescott (Tring); Ryan Long (Tabard), Matt Cross (Loughborough Coll), Neil Bamber (Stevenage Town), Adam Amos (Stevenage Town), Peter Coke (Hertford), Phil Pearson (Stevenage Town), Craig Bailey (Hemel Hempstead), Billy Johnson (Hertford)

Replacements (all used): Tony Giddings (St Albans), Luke Hardwicke (Hertford)

Middlesex U23 v Hertfordshire U23

@ Harrow RFC

Wednesday, 16th April. KO 7.30pm

Hertfordshire Squad: Henry Robinson (Letchworth), Adam Shaw (Ampthill), Tim Gray (Letchworth), Greg Bezzer (Fullerians), Jack Reilly (Tabard), Sam Clapham (Tring), Ollie Forrest (Hertford), Kyle Lemon (Stevenage Town), Elliot Birkbeck (Old Northamptonians).

Paul Brown (Bishop's Stortford), Ben Solez (Welwyn), Will Freestone (Welwyn), James Costen (Old Albanian), Aaron MacDougall (Hemel Hempstead), Matt Gibbs (Hemel Hempstead), Craig South (Hertford), Gareth Briggenshaw (Tring), Tom Mellor (Bedford), Nick Panton (Hitchin), Tom Jankowski (Welwyn), Ian Bailey (Hemel Hempstead), Rick Streets (Letchworth)