PROGRAMME £1 Match Sponsor National League 2 South Kent’s leading Saturday 5th January 2019 mixed use v OLD REDCLIFFIANS developer • We have 38 live projects that Hats Off To once complete will provide Half Term Report Word in excess Cup of 7,500 Riders homes Supporters worth in excess of £2.3bn • We have a pipeline of commercial projects that will create over 4m sq.ft. and provide for over 8,000 jobs Principal Sponsor • A key aim of ours is to help cantrugby.co.uk improve the communities in which we build www.quinn-estates.com | T. 01227 831 212 | E. [email protected] Programme produced by Hayward Design & Print A MESSAGE FROM 01227 721864 • www.hayward-design.co.uk THE PRESIDENT Proud to sponsor Canterbury Rugby Club My first thought today is to Many of us were sceptical as the game in the wider community. wish every one a very Happy the old order changed, despite However, we keep evolving with and Successful New Year and the promise of a seamless new challenges and opportunities thank you for all your support transition, and many clubs did both on and off the pitch. The for the club in 2018. Let us start fall by the wayside or split in the possibility of moving the club to a the second half of the season new professional era. Canterbury new, purpose built, development by giving a warm welcome to adapted, setting out on a path at Highland Court is one such our visitors from Bristol, Old that embraced both semi- prospect, something we will all Redcliffians, who are making only professionalism and community have a keen interest in over the their second visit to the Marine rugby and that progress is still next few months. Travel Ground. evolving today. It has been this ability to adapt and retain the None of this, of course, would This will be my fourth year as club game’s core values that has have been possible without the President and it is good to see underpinned so much of our hard work and dedication of our that our teams at all levels are success in providing National committee, volunteers and, not enjoying some success. I have League and Social Rugby and least, our enthusiastic sponsors. been reflecting on the changes, expanding into Wheelchair, Touch All, including our loyal supporters, both on and off the field, that I and Women’s teams along with a have played their part in making have seen over the years in my vibrant Youth and Mini section. this a very special club. I will association with the club. The always be proud to be a member. greatest of these, although it I am sure our founding seems almost a lifetime ago, has forefathers would be proud of the John Scurr, President been the move from amateur achievements we see today with Canterbury RFC to professional status and the Canterbury’s prominent status introduction of the leagues. both in Kent rugby and promoting Match Sponsor Quinn Estates is the South East’s foremost mixed-use developer with an exceptionally strong track record in obtaining planning consent on strategic and brownfield sites. The Canterbury based company Kent’sworks closely leading with local councils in Kent and in the past three years has committed more than £50 million to community projects including mixeda major sporting use hub. Quinn Estates proposals for relocating our club to a state-of the-art site are ongoing and we thank Managing Director developerMark Quinn for his valued support. Supporting this afternoon’s game also is Match Ball Sponsor, Port quinn-estates.com Lympne, one of the country’s leading wild animal parks. • We have 38 live projects that once complete will provide in excess of 7,500 homes worth in excess of £2.3bn • We have a pipeline of commercial projects that will create over 4m sq.ft. and provide for over 8,000 jobs • A key aim of ours is to help improve the communities in which we build www.quinn-estates.com | T. 01227 831 212 | E. [email protected] CANTERBURY TALES HALF TERM REPORT If the final game of 2018 at the ability to win away from captain Max Cantwell in only Tonbridge Juddians was a the comfort of the Marine the second game, who is likely disappointment it should not Travel Ground and to close to miss the rest of the season, cloud the judgment of this out tight contests. Victories at left a leadership gap. season’s half term report. Old Redcliffians, Birmingham The statistics tell the story of & Solihulll, Guernsey, Henley We are lucky to have two a successful four months. We and Bury St Edmunds were highly experienced players have won twelve of our sixteen testimony to a growing in Matt Corker and Sean matches, averaging 26 points confidence and commitment. Stapleton who stepped into and four tries per game. Bonus One of the best examples the breach and continued to points have been an important was the success at Guernsey demand high standards. What part of the progress with the where we were far from our we must avoid is a repeat of team earning ten for their try best but came from behind in last season’s pattern where we scoring exploits and picking up the closing stages to take the did well between September three more in narrow defeats. points. You felt that the team and December only to slip proved a point to itself that day badly in the second half of the Third place in the league at and it was reflected in an eight campaign. With National 2 Christmas is our highest at match winning run. looking the most open contest this stage for many seasons. for years there is a feeling that Two key aspects of the It has not been a smooth the team are ready for the squad’s performances have passage, with injuries again challenge. underpinned that success; affecting selection. The loss of HATS OFF TO SUPPORTERS ANDY’S VIEW Head of Rugby Andy Pratt is So it was hats on and hats off to Happy New Year to all. We always quick to appreciate and all our supporters. Those who return to face a confident Old praise the level of support we took the rail route will claim they Redcliffians team who have get from the touchline. Nowhere got the best deal of the day. won their last three games was that better demonstrated and will be keen on picking up than in the final game of 2018 at A short walk from Tonbridge where they left off. Tonbridge Juddians. station they nipped into the first available pub and it turned out to As for us we will put the Our supporters came by coach, be a gem. The bitter was under disappointments of the TJs by train and a few by posh taxi. two quid a pint and just over for game behind us and look to When they arrived at the ground Guinness drinkers. How many push on in what has been a there were festive beanies made it to the ground in time positive season so far. The trip waiting for them, courtesy of for kick-off is the subject of an to TJs was always going to be chairman Giles Hilton, and it all inquiry. hard but, apart from our first contributed to a great atmosphere. try, we never allowed ourselves to show what we’re capable of. Individual errors and poor decisions meant we could not BACK IN TOWN build any pressure against a very good defence. For those who treasure the talented players of past Canterbury sides, there is likely to be a familiar face in the crowd. Tim Aistrope, an Many thanks to the large outstanding open side flanker of recent memory who played for us in travelling support who came 2006, the year we were promoted to National level, is back in town. The down to cheer the lads on. Australian has taken up an appointment at UKC in the Department of I am looking forward to this Politics and International Relations. second half of the season. We have more home games Tim came to us with an impressive CV of being a Brumbies squad than pre-Christmas and we member, understudying George Smith. He played Sevens for Australia must make this count. As the and captained the national university team. season draws to a close and the various prizes come into His gifts were not limited to rugby; Tim’s academic record is even sharper focus, form and league more impressive. He specialises in cyber security and is the author of position become less reliable ‘Conspiracy Theory and American Foreign Policy’ and if Donald Trump predictors. Focus and fitness ever gets around to reading it (unlikely as it contains more than 140 will be vital. characters) his reaction might almost be worth joining Twitter. Would Tim be classed as ‘a bad person’? Not round here he won’t and it will Andy Pratt, Head of Rugby be good to catch up with him, his wife Millie and their son Eti. th SOCIAL MEDIA Canterbury RFC @cantrugby THE TACKLE DEBATE First coach of supporters are on their way! #lotsofnoise Lower and lower. That’s where But is it better and who benefits? the tackle is going if current Certainly the tackled player may thinking is written into rugby law. be better protected, but for the Player welfare is paramount, and tackler the changes may be less rightly so, in a contact sport like effective.