….the family friendly rugby club.

2016 Easter Newsletter Dear Club Supporter / Player, Welcome to our Easter Newsletter which provides an overview of activity across the Club since the turn of the year. As you will see, there are still quite a lot of things going on across the Club involving the Seniors, U21’s, and Youth sections of the Club. Please also note the ‘’dates for your diary’’ section below. Seniors: This season has heralded a further step forwards for the Seniors with the Club fielding 2 competitive senior sides (1st XV, 2nd XV) alongside a strong U21 set up whilst also operating under a 2 year sponsorship deal with Winkworth, a local property sales and letting agency. Many of the playing results and performances have been excellent (see highlights below) and are a testament to the hard work of the players involved plus work over previous seasons to create a strong ‘player pipeline’. The Club continues to enjoy the support of a number of experienced coaches who have helped our playing sides to develop an expansive ‘all court’ playing style and this coupled with strong off field support on the non-playing front has really begun to pay dividends. Our style of play has typically looked ’’easy on the eye’’ and has compared well to sides playing in higher divisions across London & the South East. This all round approach has also begun to pay dividends on the recruitment front with a number of new players joining the Club this season. In summary: 1st XV: The 1st XV, under the captaincy of Joe Moriarty, got off to a cracking start to the season and were undefeated up until Xmas. Since that point the team has struggled intermittently with injuries and player availability and has lost 3 league encounters, including a very disappointing away defeat to Streatham and Croydon following the loss of a significant number of players (at least 5 to injury, and some to non-availability) both prior to and during the warm up and the game itself). As a result we sit, disappointingly, in 3rd place in Surrey 3 with promotion sitting out of our hands and dependent upon the final round of results.

1st XV, RFU Junior Vase League form apart, the side exceled in the RFU Junior Vase and reached the last 4 of the competition within the London & the South East Division (last 16 nationally) losing 26-28 in extra time to a well-drilled London Welsh side who are riding high in Herts & Middlesex 1. This is the first time in the history of this competition that a level 11 club side has ever got this far. Simply put, an outstanding achievement and one that the Club and its players should be very proud of! 2nd XV: The 2nd XV are having a great season too, and currently sit atop Surrey Conference 2 having played 17 won 11 including, most recently, a closely fought top of the table clash with Old Haileyburians with a team containing a blend of youth and experience. They remain firmly on track to win the league. This would be a great achievement and shows our strength in depth. A big ‘’well done’’ to all those players involved with the team over the course of the season.

U21’s: At the turn of the year, the U21’s lost to Dorking 22-24 in a closely fought match played in dreadful conditions and finished second in their Group; winning 3 out of their 4 fixtures.

They now find themselves in the semi-finals of the second tier ‘plate’ competition which is being played away to Wimbledon RFC on Saturday 26th March with a 2:00pm kick off. The final will be played at Reeds Weybridge, Whiteley Village (whether we are playing or not!) on Wednesday 30th March 19:30 kick off under lights. With our rugby pathway producing plenty of talent we continue to keep young players who are not around during term time engaged with the club we are the envy of many more senior clubs in Surrey. Under captain, Will Ambidge, we look forward to hopefully securing some silverware in the knock out stage of the competition over the Easter period. Please do come down and have a beer and support from the side-lines to watch some entertaining rugby.

Youth: Youth Rugby at Reeds continues to flourish at the Under 13 to Under 15 age groups. The under 13’s have progressed really well this season and are consistently packing 30+ players onto the mid-week training pitch. This effort is bearing fruit with great performances on match days The A team has enjoyed a successful league campaign coming 3rd in Surrey Premiership outer league and having lost narrowly to Cobham in the cup are now competing in the shield competition for the remainder of the season. The B team has had a tougher ride in their league but have played some very competitive and enjoyable rugby bringing the Reeds spirit to fore. All of the squad should be proud of their development this season. The Under 14 squad has also managed to field 2 teams this season with the A team enjoying significant success in Surrey 1 and looking nailed on for a 2nd place finish. The B team is continuing to show marked improvement across their game and go from strength to strength enjoying some great rugby in the friendlies that they have played to date. The Under 15 squad has continued to grow this season with more players joining the club. The A’s are competing well in Surrey 1 and the B’s are enjoying some very competitive rugby in Surrey 4. The Colts section has struggled with player availability this season however a number of U17 and U18 players have represented the club at senior level which bodes well for next season with these players adding to the strength across the Surrey leagues. Finally, the youth section continues to feed representative rugby with a number of players being involved in the Harlequins Academy and representing the county.

Dates for Your Diary: Seniors 1ST XV & 2ND XV– Last League Matches: on 2 April the 1st XV play Merton at Home, the 2nd XV are away to the same opposition. Kick off time in both cases will be 3pm.

U21’s: The semi-final of the plate is being played away against Wimbledon RFC on Saturday 26th March 2016. If we win that game, then we will contest the final at Whiteley Village on Wednesday 30th March where we will play the winner of the other semi-final (either Old Walcountians or Farnham RFC) under floodlights. Please watch out for more information re kick off times. Why not come done and support the Club over the Easter period!

Annual Coaches Dinner, 6th May: The annual coaches’ dinner takes place on 6 May with an 18.30 start at the Club house. Past players are very welcome. There will be a 3 course meal and guest speaker. Cost is £25 on the night. Look out for e mails from Simon Wallis or within your network for more details.

A word on Behalf of our Main Sponsors If you are thinking of moving or letting your property why not support the Club by contacting our sponsor as they are offering Reeds Weybridge RFC members a specially discounted fee of 0.9% +VAT for all sole agency instructions received through either their Winkworth Cobham or Weybridge branches. As part of this Winkworth will also pay the Club a financial bonus once it receives 5 instructions from members to sell their properties. So if you would like to sell your property at a reduced fee and raise funds for the Club, give Tom Lepsky a call on 01932 834661 and let him know that you are Reeds RFC member.

And finally ……Thank you to everyone for your support this season - whether that be on or off the pitch - it really does make a difference and we appreciate it greatly. Have an enjoyable Easter!