Dear All,

Calling all Mini & Youth Teams - Coaches, Managers & Parents

Following the second round of the Six Nations, we decided to run our very own
“Six Nations Challenge set by Danny Whiteman - 1st XV Captain”

Below are the calculations of the steps to each of the remaining venues of the teams England will be facing - this is what you have to do:

Manager, Coach or Parent Rep to Download the Strava App and connect via the link on to your age group.
As an age group select which challenge you want to undertake and register it on the App. Smaller age-groups may want to select the Bronze and larger ones the Silver or Gold
As a team record the number of steps you achieve each day and send them to your Manager, Coach or Parent Rep to record on the App.
The winners in each category will be the one ‘first passed the post.”
Due to limitations on the App - U6s & U7s are combined (SO GO FOR GOLD!!) and we go up to U16s

Details of prizes are below.

Competition starts on 20th February and ends on 20th March

Prizes - Winning Gold Team run out before the first 1st XV game of the season at the new Club.

Bronze - Cardiff £100 of Vouchers for the shop

Silver - Cardiff & Paris £200 Vouchers for the shop

Gold - Cardiff, Paris & Dublin £300 Vouchers for the shop

Due to limitations on the app - U6s & U7s are combined and we go up to U16s.

Here are the links you'll need:

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!!

And now for Ed’s round-up of last weekend’s action in Twickenham, Murrayfield and Stade Aviva.

Victory against an Italian side which had not won in the 6 Nations for six years was non-negotiable for England, but after the miserable loss to Scotland, the 41-18 win can only be seen as a positive.

England moved the ball about more in the first 10 minutes than they did in the whole of the Calcutta Cup match, but they still looked strangely rusty, with far too many straight-forward passes not finding the target.

Six tries can’t be sniffed at, and Jonny May’s spectacular, airborne effort had even the most jaded England fan off the sofa. It was a gift for the photographers even though some questioned the legality of May’s leap over his opponent. Retired international referee Nigel Owens suggested on Twitter he would have disallowed the try and awarded a penalty to Italy – the killjoy!

But we locked-down fans will take any little moments of joy where we can. May’s effort, plus two well-taken tries by the much-improved Anthony Watson and one for Elliot Daly showed England’s back-three players do have a purpose, beyond being names on a team sheet.

Jack Willis also scored, less than a minute after coming on as a replacement, but the delight on his face at his first international try turned to agony moments later. Tackled while standing over a ruck in what has become known as a crocodile roll, Willis damaged his left knee and could now be out for the season.

England unquestionably have to up their game for the next assignment, away to a resurgent Wales. Some of the pundits’ pods and fans’ blogs this week have discussed the possibility of Eddie Jones axing Owen Farrell for Cardiff. While it’s true the skipper is not on top form, it isn’t going to happen.

After their dire 2020, Welsh fans must be rubbing their eyes to find themselves two from two, the latest a thrilling 25-24 defeat of Scotland in the match-of-the-weekend at Murrayfield. For the second match running, Wales played against 14 men for a significant part of the match after Zander Ferguson was sent off for a dangerous clear-out. Given the men they were missing this was impressive by Wales, and in Louise Rees-Zammit they have a superstar in the making.

Momentum has always been crucial to Wales, and they will be licking their lips at the arrival of England. With all due respect to Italy, who Wales play in round four, victory over their “friends from across the bridge” would set up a potential grand slam decider with France on the final weekend.

Ah France! For the first 30 minutes in Dublin, they looked like they would rather be enjoying a leisurely Sunday lunch in a bistro on Paris’s left bank. But then a switch was flicked, and the sequence of close passing which led to their first try was a delight. The 13-15 result looks close, but while Ireland defended stoutly their attacking options were limited. Already out of contention, they travel to Rome needing a big win.

France entertain Scotland next. Scotland were brought back to earth with a bump at Murrayfield but showed enough in the narrow defeat to suggest they can be a real threat. However, France are now hot favourites for the title. Roll on round three!

As we think about moving from Mill Road to our new premises we’d love to have some of your memories - here’s an interesting one from our previous sports ground at Mile End

Memories of the old rugby ground at Mile End

In this year when Colchester Rugby Club will move to a state-of-the-art new clubhouse and grounds, the Crumblies (as Richard Parker calls us!), who are old enough to remember playing at the old clubhouse at Mile End before the move to Mil Road in 1976, have fond memories of the crude facilities we had to put up with.

I recall that the Mile End clubhouse was a wooden building with only three rooms of any size –the bar room, the social room and the main changing room. Cramped showers were along a narrow corridor in which was set a concrete bath about 6-foot square. The only gents’ toilet was beside the main pitch which had one floodlight, if you can call it that –a flickering light bulb on top of a wooden pole!

One time I remember a few of us, covered in mud from a training session on a winter’s evening, got in the bath and started throwing a rugby ball between us. A wayward throw (probably thrown by Home Only Smith) hit the single light bulb above and it shattered, sending pieces of glass into the bath and us beneath! Disaster!!!

Six naked guys were now sitting in the pitch dark in muddy water full of glass! I seem to recall that we managed to get out of the bath without cutting or electrocuting ourselves and the only bad thing that happened was that we got a rollocking from a club official who didn’t seem to see the funny side of the situation.

So current players, enjoy the fabulous new club facilities –it hasn’t always been that way!!!

Wally

Good luck to you all with the challenge - have a great week and stay safe.

Maggie

President CRFC