Pretty much all of you seemed to have been there, but it was a great weekend of rugby at the Dome, Doncaster. With 12 teams taking part in the Nationals and lots of new players there was a real buzz about the place and a sense that we are really starting to see the benefits of the work to get new people into the game. And it wasn’t just new players either, we also saw other new faces learning the ropes of table officiating and Sarah Leighton ran her Classification clinic for a number of physios and others who are interested in becoming classifiers. A big thank you to her as she was pretty much full on for the whole weekend. For Solent Sharks this was their first ever full tournament and it was great to see them there joining our other new team, the Crushers. The new Tigers club were also in the competition, looking pretty good in their Tigers kit – a big thank you to Matt Hampson and Leicester rugby club for the support they are giving Tigers. Matt was at Twickenham and a happy man as he saw Leicester triumph! The talent and enthusiasm in these teams means it won’t be long before they are challenging some of the more established clubs. As it was the final battle was between the old rivals Storm and Crusaders with Storm taking the championship 52-44. Crash and Pirates fought for 3rd and 4th with Crash taking 3rd place 56-47. This was the final game for Paul Shaw as the Crash Coach and we wish him all the best as he now gets ready to lead GB into their first tournament in Denmark in a couple of weeks. We also wish Darren Ransome well as he takes the reigns as the new Head Coach of Crash. Saturday night was awards evening and thanks go to Coloplast for providing the trophies which were presented by Bev Everton in her new Coloplast role. A full list of award winners is on the site but it was great to have over 80 of you taking the time to make your nomination. This year there were some familiar names amongst the winners but it was also good to see a few new faces being recognised, Jim Roberts picked up the award for best 3.0 and Luke White for 3.5. Also Tom Baines was awarded the young player of the year award. We are getting so many more young players into the game that I am sure this award will become very competitive. I was pleased to see my old mentor James Price picking up the award for the most inspiring person. If everyone had James’ energy , enthusiasm and ideas it would be a great place though an exhausting one! It is good to see him back in action after his operation. The Bulls ensured that the post awards partying went on into the night in good North East fashion ably supported by Membership Secretary Daniel Hook who seemed a bit slow the following morning! A big thank you to Kirsty, Amanda, Lee and Daniel for all their work organising the event and for the support of the Dome staff and to Brian Ward and all the officials for making it all happen. Thank you to Trustees Paul Fieldhouse, Simon Le’Fevre, Richard Allcroft and Mike Spence who were also around giving their support. The next competition event is the Challenge Cup on Saturday 22 June at Brunel University in London – details out today for this Powerplay tournament. Don’t forget also that the AGM is the evening before starting at 7pm. See you all there.
David Pond
