PROGRAMME £3 AMPTHILL V. HARTPURY RFC 2ND NOVEMBER 2019 KICK OFF 2.15PM PRIMARY PARTNER SENIOR PARTNERS Primary Partner: Ampthill & District Community Rugby Club Limited Senior Partners: Dillingham Park, Woburn St, Ampthill, Bedford, MK45 2HX www.ampthillrufc.com Tel: 01525 403303 Vat Reg No. 196 7536 11 Registered in England and Wales 00629333 WELCOME Chairman’s welcome to Hartpury It gives me great pleasure to give a huge welcome to the players, officials and supporters of Hartpury RFC to Dillingham Park, the Home of Ampthill Rugby. This is one of two welcomes in the Green King IPA Championship where the opposition have been to the Club before, Hartpury having visited us during our National 1 and 2 campaign. Despite losing heavily to Newcastle Falcons two weeks ago, last week saw Hartpury defeat Nottingham at the ALPAS arena 12-6 in, what was reported to have been, ‘appalling conditions’. Having witnessed Nottingham at full tilt here, Hartpury will clearly provide a test for the guys today. Last week saw the A’s travel to The Athletic Ground to meet London Scottish. The Committee and Supporters were given a warm welcome by the Scottish faithful. Indeed, one of the past Presidents knew Ampthill well due to members of his family playing for the club. Scottish recognised and respected the true community feel of Ampthill Rugby Club and welcomed us, very sincerely, to the Greene King IPA Championship. The most moving part of the day was when a Scottish supporter offered £500 to Gloria and her daughter Sian, our two deaf players who have been selected to play for England on tour to South Africa next year. I intend to build on this generous donation and have set up a JustGiving page where you can donate towards their travel expense if you would wish to do so. On the pitch Ampthill performed well on what was described by the Scottish fans as a very “dreich” afternoon for rugby. A 70th minute controversial penalty miss by Costelow saw the Scottish Directors standing up, raising their hands in surrender and saying “sorry about that”, all of us were convinced that the ball went between the uprights! Ultimately this resulted in a final score of 6-6, with the A’s coming away with two draw bonus points. Finally, have a look in the programme for the newly formed Ampthill Supporters Group details. They hope to encourage likeminded individuals to join the Supporters Group so that travel to away fixtures can be arranged in an affordable way. We currently stand seventh in the league and are beginning to play some good team rugby. Let us all try to be the 16th man this afternoon and encourage the boys to another victory. Come on you A’s! Alex Radley - Chairman, Ampthill and District RUFC 2 Saturday 2nd November 2019 Ampthill & District RUFC v Hartpury College RFC ACHIEVEMENTS PRESIDENT NATIONAL 1 LEAGUE WINNERS 2018-2019 Pat Sherry [email protected] NATIONAL 1 4TH PLACE 2017-2018 NATIONAL 1 3RD PLACE 2016-2017 CHAIRMAN Alex Radley NATIONAL 1 4TH PLACE 2015-2016 [email protected] NATIONAL 2 PROMOTION PLAYOFF WINNERS 2014-15 CHAIRMAN OF MINI & YOUTH NATIONAL 2 NORTH RUNNERS-UP 2014-15 James Wiggett NATIONAL 2 SOUTH 2013-2014 RUNNERS UP ChairmanMiniYouth@ ampthillrufc.com LEAGUE WINNERS 2012/13 HONORARY SECRETARY WINNERS OF EAST MIDLANDS CUP FINAL 2012 Ian Titman LEAGUE WINNERS 2009/10 [email protected] LEAGUE WINNERS 2008/09 TREASURER CUP WINNERS 2004/05, 2006/07 Bill Warfield CUP RUNNERS-UP 2005/06 [email protected] RED CIRCLE CUP 1998/99 DIRECTOR OF RUGBY Mark Lavery DirectorOfRugby@ Cover Photo: Shay Kerry ampthillrufc.com Iain Frankish, Actuance Ampthill & District Community Rugby Club, Dillingham Park, Woburn Street, Ampthill, Beds, MK45 2HX Email [email protected] Telephone 01525 403303 www.ampthillrufc.com 3 TODAY’S OPPONENTS Hartpury Rugby Hartpury’s Rugby Programme began in September 2000 in partnership with local Aviva Premiership side Gloucester Rugby and, since then, has gone from strength to strength. Hartpury has also been strong in university rugby over recent seasons having been university play-off champions in eight of the past 13 campaigns. Hartpury University RFC, now a semi-professional side still featuring a large number of student players and alumni, has made impressive progress through the English rugby pyramid since entry, at the bottom level, in 2004. In the season 2013-14, the club advanced into National League 1, where performances were encouraging – 5th place in the debut season was followed up by reaching the runners-up spot in 2015-16. The season 2016-17 saw Hartpury University RFC make history, not only being promoted as champions but also remaining unbeaten throughout the entire league season – a feat never before performed at this level. Hartpury University RFC spent their debut season Greene King IPA Championship proving themselves to be more than worthy of participation at this level, with some notable scalps collected along with some very narrow defeats. The 2018-19 season proved to be extremely challenging. A decent start was followed by a long win-less spell, from October through to February, which saw the Red & Blacks adrift at the foot of the table. However, a strong finish to the campaign, which saw the side win five of their final seven matches, was just enough to ensure Championship participation for a further year. 4 PLAYER PROFILE This week we managed to grab five minutes with Shay Kerry. Shay joined Ampthill this summer from Oyonnax in France, having helped them finish 2nd in ProD2 last season. He previously played for Worcester Warriors and Bay of Plenty in New Zealand. 1. When and where did you start playing rugby? I started playing rugby at 17 in New Zealand for my school team, Otago Boys High School. 2. Who was your favourite player as a child? My favourite player as a child was Brad Thorn. Loved watching him play! 3. What’s the most memorable game in your career so far? The most memorable game so far was probably against Montabaun in the ProD2 after which we got promotion to the top 14. If not that, then it would have to be playing in the European Cups. The talent on display from all of the teams is outrageous. 4. Who is the toughest opponent you’ve played against? Toughest opponents I’ve played would be La Rochelle as a team, and probably Duane Vermeulen or Cheslin Kolbe as a player. Both completely different players but have to be two of the best out there at the moment. 5. Tell us something interesting about yourself? I played football for Millwall as a youngster, and played for age group New Zealand football teams all the way up to u18s 5 Extensive experience of major Electrical and Mechanical installations in domestic, industrial and commercial sector environments, Wheeler Electrical Ltd have traded in the Ampthill area since 1961. We are currently working for the UK’s major House Builders and Main Contractors. Please send all enquiries to [email protected] UNIT 3-4 BLACK MOOR BUSINESS PARK | NEW ROAD | MAULDEN | MK45 2BG T: 01525 720022 / F: 01525 718844 WWW.WHEELERELECTRICAL.COM LAST TIME OUT London Scottish vs Ampthill October 26, 2019 in Ampthill 1st XV, Rugby Union, Championship League London Scottish 6, Ampthill 6, Greene King IPA Championship League Ampthill took the field at the Richmond Athletic Ground marking another historic day playing their first away match in the Green King IPA Championship. The starting lineup saw 3 changes with blind side Will Allman and Number 8 Sam Hudson come into the back row while Rueben Bird-Tullock started at inside centre in the backs. The bench included debuts for dual registered Sam Costelow (Wasps) & Cameron Anderson (Tigers). Scottish kicked off with A’s working their way into the hosts half but a loose kick saw the hosts return it with interest allowing Scottish to camp in the visitors 22. Repeated kicks to the corner were repulsed by stoic Amps defence with the forward pack withstanding everything the hosts threw at them. Soane Tonga’uiha taking charge of matters on the pitch… A’s worked their way out of the danger zone finding themselves in the home sides half. After a number of phases Scottish infringed at a breakdown and the ensuing penalty goal was well struck by visiting fly half Louis Grimoldby on 12 minutes. The hosts responded with vigour forcing Ampthill on the back foot, however, the Amps defence held out. Back in the home sides half A’s looked dangerous when in possession and in the 36th minute they were awarded another penalty, Grimoldby making no mistake to secure a 0-6 lead. Scottish responded again but the visitors forward pack coped with everything that was thrown at them with Ampthill’s flankers Will Allman and open side Joe Bercis seeming everywhere. Given the result in Japan earlier in the day the comparison with the Kamikaze Kids may not have been too far-fetched. 8 As the half closed Scottish were awarded a penalty, choosing to take the points on this occasion fly half Harry Shepard’s attempt sailed between the posts to leave the score 3-6 at oranges. Ampthill drive for the line, never quite making it… The second half continued in the same manner with Amps scrum putting significant pressure on the hosts eight while evergreen props Aleki Lutui and Soane Tonga’huiha bossed the tight. The home side were in the ascendancy, however, for much of the next 20 minutes but A’s defence nullified their best efforts with Scottish never looking likely to score again.