Following yesterday’s league round-up I can confirm a couple of things. Firstly good news for Horsham. Their amazing win over Havant was enough to keep them up in Regional 1 South Central. How? The demise of Jersey Reds has meant a trickle down effect meaning one less club needs to be relegated as one more club can be promoted into the 2nd tier. Based on all the permutations and count back at level 5 it is Horsham that earns the reprieve.

What else has been confirmed is that none of the relegated teams in our area are heading for Counties Kent 1. That means Dartfordians leave us for Regional rugby, and Sevenoaks II joins us after winning Kent 2. If, and I think it is mandatory, Thanet are relegated that could mean the second placed team in Kent 2, Park House joining us, or, Haywards Heath being forced into our league, or Heath swapping with say Eastbourne, or a.n.other Surrey/Sussex team joining Counties Kent 1. The minute I find out I’ll let you know.

Plenty across the media about a new global club tournament taking a major step forward. All the papers cover the news that 2028 could see the dawn of a 16 team tournament featuring the best from the northern hemisphere taking on the best of Super Rugby. The idea seems to be every four years the knockout stages of the Champions Cup will be used to define who is in the tournament. Based on today’s situation for example that would be, Saints, Chiefs, Quins, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Leinster, Stormers and Bulls. The other eight teams, according to the Torygraph, would drop into a ‘supercharged Challenge Cup’. Interesting concept which would have tremendous TV appeal which quite frankly would be the only way to offset the tremendous costs involved of flying 16 teams around the globe.

There is also talk of a women’s Champions Cup. With the huge disparity between the sides in the English league, let alone across Europe, right now I think that is ambitious. There would be too many serious mis-matches making the games unattractive to a paying public, but yet again what do I know. I think building the domestic leagues has to be a priority and keeping the Six Nations and World Cup momentum going should be the driving force. My view.

Brian Moore, again in the Torygraph, has highlighted the huge disparity in size between Bordeaux-Begles and Saracens last weekend. He states Saturday highlighted the need for those running the game to revert back to injury only replacements. The game is becoming so power and size dominated that the game is being ruined. I have bleated on about this for some time. Replacing 20+ stone buffalo with 20+ stone buffalo is putting player safety at risk. I am comfortable with tactical substitutes but I firmly believe the number of subs should be reduced to three, or a maximum of five. If it is five then only three can used tactically, the other two for certified injury only. Below the Championship only three subs should be available. I firmly believe we would have a far better spectacle as players were forced into playing more of the 80 minutes more often.

A couple of the media cover the news that a 22 year old Australian has been fined for online abuse of a match official. His facebook post was deemed to be offensive and overstepped the mark. World Rugby warns that as technology improves these keyboard warriors will have nowhere to hide.

The Autumn Internationals have been snapped up by TNT Sport. For those who already have access that is good news. For those who don’t it is another cost to incur to watch the big games, or miss out. I can understand the Unions seeing this as important, money is in very short supply, but TV exposure is crucial to keeping the game alive. You can guarantee there is renewed interest during the Six Nations and the World Cup. Why? Simply because the games are free to air on terrestrial TV.

World Rugby is, now the tackle height has been lowered, pretty much across the globe at grassroots level, undertaking a massive study to analyse the impact. Early indications are the lower tackle height has improved safety for the tackler and the ball carrier. Whilst this is just me based on watching Crowborough, I think the game is better too. We’ll know at the end of the 24/25 season.

Back tomorrow, but possibly slightly later than usual.

Monday 8th Apr: 09:30

Good morning. Before I get into the results round-up I bring you the sad news that Bryan Kain, a stalwart of the club, passed away in the early hours of Saturday morning. Bryan had been ill for some time so his passing is seen as a blessing, but nevertheless he will be missed. He joined the club in the 60s as a speedy, hard tackling winger. He contributed on the field, and later off the field, over many years. When I was Chairman I made him one of our club ambassadors. As you go about your daily business spare a thought for Bryan and those who knew him.

The game goes on so let’s see what happened on the weekend. In our league Cranbrook climbed into 10th spot after beating us 27-0 and they seem confident of survival. Despite beating Ashford, Thanet Wanderers are relegated. Charlton Park could suffer the same fate after losing at Heathfield & Waldron. We won’t know for some time. At the top Beccehamian beat Canterbury II 63-0. Wow!! It still wasn’t enough however as Dartfordians beat Dover. Dartordians are promoted. Congratulations to them. Bromley finish comfortably in 4th after beating Deal & Betteshanger.

Above us, it doesn’t look as if anyone is automatically coming down into Counties Kent 1 as it is Cobham and London Cornish at the foot of Regional 2 South East. In Regional 2 South Central Reading and Salisbury are at the bottom, the latter after losing to Chichester 26-8. Neither of those are Kent bound. Chichester finish in 9th spot. Jersey RFC win this one.

Looking below us in Sussex 2 Haywards Heath are promoted despite losing 29-24 to Shoreham. That took me by surprise. Well done Heath but equally well done to Shoreham. Which league HH go into is as yet unknown. Burgess Hill finish rock bottom after being hammered 71-5 by next week’s cup opponents Pulborough. Crawley lost to Seaford and Brighton II beat Worthing III to round the season off.

In Kent 2 unsurprisingly it is Sevenoaks II that are promoted. They rounded off their season by putting Dartford Valley to the sword 64-0. The upside is it is a shorter trip than to Thanet. The downside is this is the second XV of a very good National League side. Park House finished 2nd if two sides come up.

Over in Surrey/Sussex 1 congratulations go to promoted Teddington who won relatively easily at Hove. As expected Eastbourne lost at Weybridge Vandals, and East Grinstead lost at Twickenham. Despite, like us, all three teams ending on a low note they have had decent seasons finishing mid-table.

In Hampshire 1 Bognor finished 9th after losing to Eastleigh. Petersfield topped this league.

Up in Regional 1 we find the remarkable result of Horsham beating table topping Havant 21-19. That must have been some game. With Bournemouth losing at Maidenhead Horsham finish in 11th. Will it be enough to stay up. I hope so. Tunbridge Wells lost at Marlborough and Brighton lost at Bracknell to finish 4th and 7th respectively.

In the rarified National Leagues a tough day all round. Worthing lost at home to Esher, Sevenoaks lost at Barnes and TJs lost at Dorking. Two games to go in this one. Only Worthing are in the danger zone.

What happened elsewhere? Crowborough 2s scored a stunning away win at Holbrook 24-27 after being 21-0 down. Hastings & Bexhill lost at Whitstable. Lewes beat Hove 3 keeping themselves in the promotion race. Ditchling beat Steyning and Barns Green won over at Jersey Royals. Shoreham 2s beat Hellingly, St Francis beat H&W 2s, Midhurst lost to EG 2s. I think that is about it.

Whoops, I forgot, Bridgnorth lost at Banbury to finish 6th in the league.

What a cracking game at Franklins Gardens, Saints beating Munster. Toulouse put Racing 92 in their place. Can’t remember how the draw works but a Toulouse v Bordeaux final would be something. More on that during the week.

I see the trains aren’t running again thanks to the anarchists at ASLEF. What more can I say.

Sunday 7th Apr: 08:30

There were some quite remarkable results yesterday but more on that tomorrow. Us losing to Cranbrook 27-0 wasn’t one of them. As I had alluded to during the week they would represent quite a challenge. Their tenure in Counties Kent 1 was in the balance and nothing less than a win would do. I guess it aided them that on Thursday the selection meeting at Steel Cross was all about who was fit. A mighty powerful 1st XV was unavailable through injury meaning it wasn’t our strongest side that would travel the few miles into Kent on Saturday. It doesn’t end there however. On Saturday morning another four players dropped out leaving coaches and the wonderful Ian Geering frantically trying to fill those spots. So the summary post match was ‘we did our best but we looked a side that had never played together before’, and we hadn’t. Young Josh Jarvis and Sam Hamilton made their 1st XV debuts, and those who did take to the field gave of their all.

This was a game where inconsistency, sloppy decision making and a lack of accuracy from all thirty one participants on the field made it a poor spectacle for long periods. There were glimpses of brilliance such as Will Pitman’s mazy 75 metre run but these were few and far between. When Cranbrook got it right it looked good, and you wondered how on earth are they were so lowly in the table. The answer came when easy overlaps saw the ball go into touch rather than to hand. Please, don’t let me take anything away from them. They were by far the better side, hungrier, more physical, and took most of their chances when they came along. That was another frustrating aspect of yesterday. We continually used the tap and go, and continually failed to turn it into anything other than a Cranbrook turnover.

Despite a mismatch in size we held our own in the scrum and the lineout was a source of good ball. Why oh why we didn’t exploit that more I couldn’t fathom out. The backs beavered away but so did the host tacklers. Despite the scoreline our defence was very good. A couple of lapses and they were through but when you consider the possession and territory dominance the score could have been so much worse.

As the game wore on it became even more disjointed with the referee in danger of a repetitive strain injury as he brandished his yellow card, much to the bemusement of all involved. Quite frankly it was blessed relief when the final whistle went.

Criticisms: our ball retention was poor, our kicking out of hand was poor and we did the same thing over and over with the same result, and that result was turnover to them.

Positives: the set piece with three old codgers, Rosier, Tasker and Benny M doing an amazing job. Young Sam Edwards stuck at it throughout (playing in the unaccustomed back row position), Josh Groocock led from the front, Jarvis put in a shift, as did all the backs, but it wasn’t enough.

Cranbrook strengths were at the breakdown. Technically very good and when that comes with dynamic contact in the tackle zone you are always going to put pressure on the opposition. Congratulations to them, they deserved the win. Good luck with their very ambitious clubhouse plans and here’s to next season.

We have a couple of cup games to go, if we can cobble together a side, but the league season has finished. We finish a very creditable 5th behind four very good sides and ahead of seven other very good sides. WELL DONE BOYS! That is a GREAT league season over and done with.

Got home in time to watch Bordeaux Begles put Saracens in their place. That was quite some demolition. After a short sojourn to let my mate Mal Bec in it was time for Ireland v Leicester Tigers. The Irish were imperious. Some of that rugby was sublime. The Tigers stuck at it so weren’t disgraced, but it was always going to be a tall order when you are playing the very successful Irish national side.

Saints v Munster is on the agenda this afternoon and I’ll probably watch the Toulouse v Racing 92 game as well, as I can.

Leicester City are back to the top of the table after beating lowly Birmingham City, and all their closest rivals failed to deliver. Hoorah!

I was going to finish with a rant about the Just stop Oil morons and the hypocrite Greta Thunberg who seems to do one heck of a lot of travelling for an eco activist but I won’t, and don’t get me started on those despicable money grabbing anarchists at ASLEF. A coffee and bagel with cream cheese beckons, very East Side New York already!

Thursday 4th Apr: 08:30

I’d like to say there is a veritable cornucopia of information about our great game to draw upon this morning. I can’t, because there isn’t. What there is is pretty depressing.

Another sixty players, as yet unnamed, have joined the mass lawsuit against World Rugby, the RFU and the WRU over head injuries. The fact several papers lead with this news ahead of a massive weekend of European rugby is troubling. Whilst there is a link between rugby as a contact sport and head injuries, being the cynical, miserable, old toad that I am I sense there is a bandwagon rolling by and people eyeing their chance of free cash are jumping on it. It comes as no surprise that the firm of solicitors are ‘bigging up’ the risk with inflammatory statements like ‘elite level in both union and league is not safe’. This to me smacks of clever marketing rather than a firmly held belief. The adage ‘where there is blame, there is a claim’ is oh so true, and whenever that phrase is used you can see the injury lawyers, like slugs after Mrs Bleater’s lettuce, crawling out from under the rocks.

Don’t get me wrong, head injuries and their long term consequences are no laughing matter. Alix Popham and Steve Thompson are testament to that. However, you cannot apply today’s knowledge to yesterday’s actions. Many of the people on the list of claimants have made a good living out of the game and went into it enthusiastically at the time. The injury lawyers will of course argue differently. The governing bodies are acting, maybe not fast, or decisive enough, but they are changing the game to make it safer. Many years ago, before this came to light, I recall writing that there will be a time when injury lawyers will get their slimy tentacles into our game and this will be when the death knell of rugby as we know it will sound. I stand by that opinion.

Oliver Brown writing in the Torygraph has suggested all the praise and media coverage about Louis Rees-Zammit is misguided and deluded. In essence why would a sport be happy for one its superstars, and a young superstar at that, defect to another sport. What message does that send about rugby? In essence it says to the NFL or NRL or AFL that there is talent available, why not come and help yourself. I love the NFL, as do many who support rugby, and I would love to see LR-Z make the grade, but Brown might just have a point. By the way, and I refer you back to me being a cynical toad, I see this as a PR stunt by the Kansas City Chief and I fear LR-Z will go the way of others who have tried, and found the path to glory is closed to those who have not come through the ranks as kids.

Interesting piece on one of the websites I trawl through, it states that the time has come for New Zealand to scrap their selection policy of only picking talent playing at home. The lure of Japan and France is too great to resist, especially when the NZRFU are having to make cuts to balance the books. If New Zealanders are saying that then surely Wales (and England) should scrap their policy. Get the best players available playing for their country, create a buzz, get the feel good factor back and the wider game will follow suit…….. hopefully!

Subject to a pitch inspection I believe there is a 3rd XV game at Steel Cross on Saturday. If you are not going to Cranbrook why not pop along and support the old codgers.

Don’t forget the European stuff this weekend, that is if you have access to TNT Sports.

I watched Brentford v Brighton last night, and except for one controversial moment it was pretty dire. However, and this is important, by comparison to rugby it wasn’t stop-start, it was free flowing with lots of ball in play time. Something to ponder.

I did smile when I went through the news yesterday when the new muppet leading the Scottish Parliament, Mr Yousaf Hamza, was named in more complaints to Police Scotland under the new hate speech laws than the others put together. Be careful what you wish for. The law is a crime against free speech. It is woke, Orwellian nonsense that ultimately will fail. The police simply do not have the resources to spend time on spurious, misguided complaints by activists from woke minority causes, especially as Scotland is a drug fuelled crime hotspot.

I read the anarchists at ASLEF are bringing the country to a standstill again. It is unacceptable and should be stopped. These are incredibly well paid people, with amazing pensions and benefits who are doing serious harm to people who are poorly paid and struggling with the continuing inflationary pressures of day to day living. They can bugger off to Russia or North Korea and drive trains over there.

Back on Sunday. The blood pressure should be ok by then!!!

Wednesday 3rd Apr: 07:40

Plenty of action ahead as you know. The European stuff will clearly grab the headlines but down at the grassroots end of the game there is plenty to play for. In Counties Kent 1 nothing has been confirmed yet but what is certain is the two Sussex clubs, us and Heathfield & Waldron, will play a part in what happens at the foot of the table. Thanet Wanderers can overtake Cranbrook to finish 11th if they beat Ashford by a decent margin and we put Cranbrook to the sword. Based on recent form neither of those are likely. I anticipate a Thanet win but Cranbrook will be a real challenge for us. A Cranbrook win and H&W beating Charlton Park would see them leapfrog into 10th with the distinct possibility of safety. Park have ‘come to life’ in their last two games. Can they maintain that form against 7th placed Heathfield. We won’t actually know the fate of any of the clubs at the bottom until next seasons fixtures are released however.

At the top we know Canterbury II will finish in first place even if they lose away Beccehamian. If they do lose and Beccs win, especially with a bonus point, then Beccs could find themselves in second and promotion. For that to happen Dartfordians are going to have to slip up at home and get nothing out of their game against Dover. Based on Dover’s away form that is unlikely, but never say never.

In Surrey/Sussex 1 all three Sussex clubs have difficult final games. Hove host runaway leaders, and newly promoted Teddington. East Grinstead travel to Twickenham, while Eastbourne are at Weybridge Vandals. Pessimistically I am working on three defeats meaning Eastbourne will take the Sussex bragging rights by finishing in a very creditable 6th spot.

The big game in Sussex 2 is Shoreham v Haywards Heath. Sorry Shoreham but I can only see one winner meaning promotion for Heath, which is richly deserved after they got themselves in a right state after being dispatched to the bottom of the league pyramid some seasons ago.

A couple of other notable battlegrounds can be found above us in the Regional leagues. In South Central 2 it is all about Chichester v Salisbury. Based on form this should be a win for Chichester which almost certainly will condemn Salisbury to relegation. Reading are bottom but would need a win against Newbury Blues to avoid finishing in that spot.

In South Central 1 can Horsham avoid finishing bottom. Sadly that is highly unlikely as they host newly promoted Havant. Bournemouth, above them on the same points, travel to Maidenhead. I don’t see anything other than a home win in that one. There is a slim chance that Tunbridge Wells could finish 3rd but they would need to win at Marlborough, which is a distinct possibility, with London Welsh losing at home to Hammersmith & Fulham, which is unlikely.

There is plenty of jeopardy across all the leagues, and for those who already know their fate the opportunity to celebrate in style, or at least go out with a bang. Full round-up as normal on Monday morning.

In other news Bath’s Johann van Graan has joined the debate about the laws of the game. His message is stop tinkering with them. I can wholeheartedly support his viewpoint in that the game is complicated enough as it is. However, I stand by my ongoing criticisms that the scrum is a shambles with a capital ‘F’, the offside law with regard to kicking out of hand is a mess, the TMO is becoming an interfering arse, and there are way too many substitutes. One thing I would say, despite my initial misgivings, the new tackle height at the grassroots has, in my opinion, improved the offering on show.

A towering presence in All Black rugby has decided to hang up his boots. The mighty Sam Whitelock will finish the season with Pau and then assign his boots to the rubbish bin. What a player, New Zealand’s most capped. What a servant to the game.

Gregor Townsend has been given a vote of confidence and will stay on as Scotland’s coach. Quite right too. When you consider that, outside of the South Africans at his disposal, Scotland have only two regional sides and a limited pool of talent below that to select from. He has done remarkably well on that basis.

The murmurings of discontent at Scarlets are now turning into howls of derision as their form continues to be abysmal. Scarlets coach Dwayne Peel is the focus of much attention, and much criticism. Could he find himself out of work soon. Who knows.

Saracens have signed England qualified New Zealander Fergus Burke from Crusaders as a fly-half replacement for the soon to be departing Owen Farrell.

Plenty in the news to get stuck into but rather than rant, wasn’t it good to see the King up and about over Easter. I now there are plenty of Republicans who berate the royal family but lets applaud him and the physicians for how he is on the mend following his cancer diagnosis.

Tuesday 2nd Apr: 08:25

Most papers lead with the news that Leicester Tigers have been fined for breaking the salary cap…. Again! Although the breach of regulations dates back to previous seasons, including 2019-20 it highlights the ongoing concerns that Premiership Rugby has no idea how to run itself. Its financial mismanagement is causing great hardship. When erstwhile reader and good friend Paddy O’Fez was a regular contributor he always challenged me on the witch hunt against Sarries and the salary cap debacle. He was not wrong. To varying degrees all clubs were at it, and you can rest assured they still are.

Hardship is no better explained than the latest release of club accounts. The 10 clubs combined made a loss of £25m with Saracens accounting for £5.3m and Bristol Bears £4.6m. Taking Exeter as an example, they employed 354 staff of which 156 were coaches and players. Do clubs really need that many players and coaches. On any given match day there are 23 players and say 5 coaches. What the heck are the other 128 people doing? Yes, I know this a VERY simplistic view but it is a question worth asking. The article also highlights the ongoing issue of clubs only surviving by being bankrolled by rich benefactors. It is easy to blame Covid, and to be fair the pandemic did have a major impact, but the clubs’ finances were up the proverbial creek without a paddle way before that.

Rob Baxter has gone off on one about the blazers continuing to tinker with the laws. He has berated them for trying to depower the game. He says the game needs more power, not less. I am usually a supporter of Baxter but this time he has his head firmly up his backside. The power in the game is getting unmanageable. 6’5” and 18st wingers and full-backs is killing the game. There is no guile, or sleight of hand anymore. It is enormous rhino charging into another enormous rhino with a bout of Greco-Roman wrestling ensuing on the floor. We need to depower the scrum, reduce the tedious rolling maul and get the ball moving across a back line where the players numbered 9 to 15 can think about how to elude the tackler and not worry about how to set up the next tedious maul. I exaggerate somewhat when you consider the contribution of Marcus Smith, Finn Russell and Finn Smith but they are in the minority. There is too much tinkering but if I could make one thing happen it would be to reduce the number of subs to three. I have said this over and over again. Seeing giants blowing out of their backside late on thus freeing up space for others to exploit would enhance the game no end.

As you know Europe returns this weekend and there are some cracking ties to watch out for. Harlequins v Glasgow kicks it off on Friday with the Scottish outfit being no pushover. On Saturday Exeter v Bath looks tasty, as does Leinster v Leicester. In the secondary cup Ospreys v Sale will be worth watching, but I doubt it is on TV!!! On Sunday Saints v Munster is a definite on my TV play list. Lots of involvement from the South African franchises. Be interesting to see how they stack up.

Don’t forget there is Super Rugby too.

The grassroots game is where my attention will be. Cranbrook away for us. We are destined to finish in 5th but for Cranbrook this game is crucial if they are to survive the drop. I’ll have a trawl through the other key fixtures in and around us tomorrow.

I’m on taxi duty to the airport shortly so I’ll wrap it up there.

Actually I can’t go without mentioning what I see as the appalling actions of Israel. The atrocities in Gaza go unabated and to make matters worse we now have them bombing the Iranian embassy in Syria. Israel and the Jewish state are quick to play the woe-is-me card but right now their actions are disgraceful. I’ll go as far as to say they are war crimes.

For those of you living in the Orwellian Peoples Republic of Alba you soon will be gagged and any form of free speech will be outlawed. Woe betide anyone who says anything nasty about a vegan, or refers to a man dressed in women’s clothes as a man.

Who is to blame? Well, based on article in The Times, social media. This drivel is social media but I have a high degree of sympathy with that argument. The rubbish that is put on social media that the young people today buy into with any thought or challenge is horrendous. Perhaps I should stop my pontificating?

If we treated others how we would like to be treated ourselves, generally with respect and common decency the world would be a better place.

Monday 1st Apr: 08:35

Good morning on this fine Easter Bank Holiday Monday. Whilst I wasn’t there I must start at Steel Cross and the Memorial Game. I understand it was a splendid day, brilliantly supported. Certainly the photos on the website substantiate that claim. As always Louise and Jacqui did an amazing job according to those who lunched, and the rest of the proceedings went incredibly well. Dylan Hartley was there and looking at the photo’s has presented us with another of his international jerseys. Nice one!

For me it was a family do in Bridgnorth. A nightmare journey on Friday which included the help of Green Flag. A busy day on Saturday in bustling Bridgnorth. An excellent Sunday lunch with the family before heading home yesterday afternoon. Thankfully the traffic was significantly lighter than the horrors of Friday. By the way the River Severn was on the verge of bursting its banks again with Bridgnorth’s pitch in the firing line.

I did get to watch some rugby. Dragons beating Zebre on Friday was a bonus. A pretty dire, error strewn game but for those who follow the Dragons (and Newport) it was a relief to get the win. On Saturday I watched a valiant Welsh effort against England but as expected the gulf in class was enormous. Well done Scotland for keeping France honest. Ireland came close to getting their first win ever in the Six Nations after a late fightback against Italy. This sounded a decent game. On Saturday evening I enjoyed Munster v Cardiff. This was a proper contest and to be fair Cardiff with a little bit of luck and better discipline should have / could have won this one.

Sadly I didn’t get to see Harlequins v Bath which I understand was a cracking game. Sale recovered some of their mojo yesterday with a crushing defeat of Exeter. The Premiership is wide open with only Gloucester and Newcastle out of the running for a play-off spot. Newcastle holding the Tigers to 13-19 was pretty encouraging.

This coming weekend, for most of the grassroots game, it is the final game of the league season. No matter what happens at Cranbrook on Saturday the boys from Steel Cross have had an amazing season. For the elite game it is the return of the European competitions. Plenty to play for across the board. A closer look at those this week.

Over lunch yesterday with my brother and brother-in-law we discussed the hopeless state of Welsh rugby, and it is hopeless. One of the questions was ‘if the Lions were flying out today which Welsh players would be on the plane?’. For me three at most. We were unanimous that Tommy Reffell would be there but not in any starting XV. Dafydd Jenkins would also be present and likely to lead the mid-week side. I threw in a wild card: Cam Winnett, but that was shot down by them. We were in agreement that the bulk of the squad would be from Ireland.

My other brother-in-law, the Chelsea fan, glazed over when were discussing the merits of Lions selection.

The RFU have had to make another grovelling apology about an officiating cock-up. Allowing Irne Herbst of Quins to return to the field after just 7 minutes of a 10 minute sin-bin pe