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Stevenage Town Player in England Deaf Squad

ENGLAND have included Stevenage Town lock forward Ryan Arbon amongst ten new caps in their squad for their Deaf International against Wales at Pontypridd on Saturday March 21 (1.30 pm).

England will be without some experienced players including Josh Corcoran (Hertford and Hartpury College) because of injuries, but they have called up ten players, including Ryan Arbon, who are in line to win their first caps.

This will be the seventh Deaf International between England and Wales and England will be seeking only their second victory having been trounced 66-7 at Broadstreet last season.

The English Deaf Rugby Union has continued to recruit new players to the England squad by raising awareness of the minimum hearing impairment required to qualify.

Players are eligible to play for the England Deaf side if they have a combined average hearing loss of 25dB or more in both ears. This roughly translates to a minimum hearing loss in both ears or a moderate hearing loss in one ear but with normal hearing in the other.

HSBC Emerging Schools Hertfordshire County Finals

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 13^th 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: 

• Year 7 Shield: Winners – Sandringham, St Albans.

• Year 7 Trophy Winners – St Clement Dane, Chorleywood.

• Year 8 Shield Winners – Sheredes, Hoddesdon.

• Year 9 Trophy Winners – Nicholas Breakspear, St Albans.

• Year 9 Shield Winners – St Michaels, Watford.

With the emphasis on development of rugby in schools, the refereeing duties were undertaken by 6^th form students from Richard Hale school who performed superbly

Herts RFU Annual Members Dinner, 5th March, at Mid-Herts Golf Club, Wheathampstead

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.

Photographs from the dinner