My usual Monday round-up went out of the window yesterday as here I am in Bridgnorth, a bright but very cold Bridgnorth. As it transpires Saturday was a catch up weekend following the postponements of Sept 3rd. You know about our result, which was fantastic, but you might not have picked up on Cranbrook putting 72 points on Charlton Park, and keeping them to nil. I know Cranbrook are a good side but there must be a logical explanation for that scoreline. Well done The Greenies, a 40-15 over Beccehamian is an excellent result. Finally Deal & Betteshanger lost at home to Bromley. Next weeks opponents OAs are still top with Cranbrook snapping at their heels. We of course are still bottom.

I won’t go through the other results as there are very few of them but you can trawl through the results section of englandrugby.com for yourselves.

Talking of which I must thank regular reader Chichester Geoff for bringing to my attention a very nice article about England’s Sussex girl Jess Breach. She played at Chichester before moving onto Pulborough before getting her break at Harlequins. It is nice piece and is also found at englandrugby.com

The Women’s World Cup got off to an impressive start last weekend with the Wales v Scotland game being a very good watch indeed. No, not just because Wales won, but because it was a good, open game. Could either side win the tournament? No! Could they spring a surprise or two? Possibly. Anyway the tournament continues this weekend: France v England on Saturday at 08:00 should be a cracker. Wales play New Zealand on Sunday.

The Wasps v Northampton game was also well worth watching on Sunday. As my good friend Damper points out there was a strong similarity between our game and this one: Saints winning at the death with a late try after being behind, an end to end try, and the final score being 36-40.

The standout result was Sale coming away from Welford road with a resounding win and going top. Raffi Quirke gets much praise after his long injury lay off but this was a sold team effort. Sale could be the real deal this season.

What more can you say about Bath. Another loss and plenty of platitudes about an improved performance. Like us being bottom tells the story of the season so far.

I thank The Bard for sending me a piece from The Times in which Simon Halliday, former England centre and recently on the games professional body in Europe, outlines what the game needs to do to protect itself from imploding. Firstly he states that the RFU, the Premiership and the Championship must set up a controlling body divorced from the community game to mange the professional game. All too often the volunteers from the grassroots holds back the professional game. He is adamant the Championship has to be treated differently and England should follow France with a dynamic two tier system. He goes on to say that player safety has to improve. High tackles is the scourge of the game turning many players away, especially young players at school and club level. He also believes the jackal is a recipe for serious injury and perhaps, as others have stated, good old fashioned on your feet rucking is a better way to play the game.

Ok, that’ll do for now.

The situation in Ukraine has escalated again with Vladimir Putin deciding indiscriminate bombing of towns and cities will break Ukrainian resolve. The man is losing his grip with his actions becoming more terrifying by the day.

I summarise Wee Jimmie Sturgeon’s speech of yesterday here: independence, independence, independence. One trick pony.

The shambles of British government continues. I need to find one of the money trees that the chancellor is plucking fruit from. Madness.

Sunday 9th Oct: 08:10

Grit, determination, commitment, all of these things were on show in abundance at Aylesford Bulls yesterday. The Bard and I arrived more in hope than expectation but at least we had a Crowborough side to watch. Still a patched up side but a side nonetheless. The Bard’s match report will be available shortly but in essence they got off to a flying start, albeit with a fair chunk of luck, and it looked as if it was going to be a long day in the office. We were behind on the scoreboard thanks to some excellent play by Aylesford but also to two bizarre bounces of the ball off the surprisingly hard pitch.

As half time approached we started to put some moves together and realised we could keep the Bulls at bay. Two tries closed the gap, including one on the stroke of half time. The coaches got their message across as did the senior players. Basically, give it all you’ve got and wear the shirt with pride.

I can’t recall the timeline or the scores as the game progressed but I do know we were behind and it remained a “hard watch”. Things changed as they tired and we got our hands more and more often on the ball. We looked at a four try bonus point as consolation. The boys ticked that one off. Wow, perhaps we could could get a losing bonus point too. We needed another try, which down to the grit, determination and commitment duly arrived. Wow again, perhaps we could even draw this one. Surely not! Actually that was exactly what happened. We were playing some good rugby and Aylesford’s aplomb and resolute defence began to falter. 33-33.

With the clock ticking down could we come back from a significant deficit and snatch a draw. Oh no, what has the referee done there. A knock on against us. Even the Bulls fans were bemused but hey ho we had to get on with it. Aylesford took the ball deep into our half and another long blast on the whistle signified a penalty, a penalty which the excellent Bulls full back slotted. 36-33.

What happened next defied all the logic of some 40 minutes ago; we got the ball from the kick off, drove deep into the Aylesford half, and drive after drive were inches from the line. With seconds ticking away the ball went wide into the hands of captain Tom Boddy who crashed over. Kieran Martin, who had a cracking game, slotted the extra points and that was that; 36-40.

The boys were delighted, the travelling faithful were delighted, as were the coaches. Aylesford Bulls were quite rightly gutted to have thrown away what seemed a commanding lead. They had some real talent on show to be fair and played some cracking rugby. When we got our act together we were superb, a length of the field try epitomising that statement. A try that would have graced any stadium, anywhere in the world. I lost count of the off loads: inside, outside, short, long, as the ball went up the field. Connor Hand finished it all off. Shame it wasn’t on film.

I reiterate this was a patched up side, with patched up players. We could easily be sponsored by Elastoplast. Our injury list remains way too long and availability is a concern. All that said, the boys can build on yesterday’s showing without doubt and climb up the table.

Everyone of the 18 who played deserve much praise so it might be unfair to pick individuals out, but that is what I am gong to do. Tommy Kent, Will Creasy, and the veterans Mark Rosier and Richard Tasker were immense up front. Young Sam Skinner and Jonte Fraser were superb in the backs with Boddy, Martin and Hands playing their part with a swagger. Brilliant performance by all.

Off to the club shortly to do some pitch work ahead of the Under 17s game so just a few words on other games. Bristol v Exeter was not a great contest despite the scoreline. Exeter were very good, Bristol weren’t. The Ulster v Ospreys game last night was ok. I enjoyed the Black Ferns v Wallaroos on Saturday morning. That was a decent game, albeit there was a bizarre refereeing decision which changed the complexion of the contest. Wales v Scotland are playing now but I am keeping that for later.

Let me do this contentious decision before I go. The Aussie winger was dismissed from the field with a yellow card for a deliberate knock-on. No argument so far. The TMO comes on to bring the attention of the referee to an act of foul play that happened in a phase of play before the knock-on. After studying the incident another yellow card was shown. Surely this negates any passage of play after that time so the winger’s yellow card should have been rescinded. Now, here is a caveat: IF my memory is playing tricks and I have the timeline wrong then two yellow cards are correct. IF I have it right then did the officials get it wrong?

Thursday 6th Oct: 08:45

A busy weekend of rugby ahead what with us travelling to Aylesford Bulls and the Women’s World Cup kicking off on Saturday. Plenty of papers cover the details of the tournament, especially kick off times and TV coverage. England get going against Fiji at 04:45 on Saturday, Wales v Scotland is 05:45 on Sunday. Second favourites New Zealand host Australia at a packed Eden Park on Saturday, that one kicks off at 07:15 so might be on my agenda. There will be plenty of close contests, there will be many one-sided affairs and England will win it. If they don’t, heads should roll.

The part of Worcester Warriors that pays the players finally went to the wall yesterday meaning the players are now free agents. Duhan van der Merwe, as expected, has been snapped up by Edinburgh. A number of players are off to Bath. Most I’m afraid are off to the job centre.

The Guardian carries an in depth look at how this whole sorry mess has developed. I am no accountant, very careful with my money, but an accountant, no, however, a quick scan of the article says to me some very murky deals have been done since the demise of Cyril Duckworth. Common sense tells you that “murky” and “dodgy” doesn’t cover it. “Criminal” is what I would describe some of the convoluted deals as.

Following on from our disappointing withdrawal from last weeks fixture there is an interesting piece in WalesOnline that I urge you to read. It highlights the high number of games being cancelled due to player unavailability and the dire straits many clubs find themselves in.

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-news/50-welsh-rugby-matches-cancelled-25188234

As the Premiership comes to terms with the demise of Worcester, and Wasps possibly following suit, there are some suggestions that two Welsh regions might be dropped in to plug the gap. This has been met with derision with some slamming the prospect of “bang average” Welsh teams playing against England’s elite clubs. Fair enough, and who says some of the regions won’t be heading the way of Worcester?

Wayne Barnes will equal Nigel Owens refereeing record of 100 internationals in the Autumn and go one game beyond as he slated to manage two of the periods Autumn series. Well done him. Bloody good referee indeed. There is a bit of a fuss being made that no referee from the Americas has been chosen to manage any of the final World Cup qualifiers, or any of the 2nd tier Autumn games. I can understand why games like England v New Zealand will have one of the best in charge but surely Romania v Uruguay could be managed by a referee from an emerging nation.

Northampton Saints beat Saracens in the Premiership Cup last night. Apparently it was a pulsating game of high quality.

Other than us at Aylesford and the Women’s WC what else is on the horizon? Walking rugby at Steel Cross kicks off at 18:00. All are welcome.

Bristol v Exeter should be a decent contest on Friday evening. On Saturday the Premiership’s top two go head to head at Welford Road with Tigers v Sharks. Bath v Gloucester will be interesting. In the URC Scarlets v Cardiff is the pick for me, with Ulster v Ospreys being the Saturday evening offering. The game of the weekend could be on Sunday with Wasps hosting Saints.

On Sunday our Under 17s host Cranbrook, the U/15s are at Pulborough and the U/12s host Burgess Hill. Good luck to all of them.

The news is very depressing what the real possibility Putin will use nuclear weapons in the conflict with Ukraine. The government in-fighting is getting childish and add to that the economy going down the toilet. The anarchy of the unions is unacceptable. The woke nonsense is pathetic: people being told they can’t use the term “mum” or “dad”. No I am not making this up! People pontificating about what you can and can’t eat. The soap opera that is the Sussexes. Aaarrgghh!!!!

The nurses are about to vote on strike action. Whilst I despise the actions of the rail unions, nurses have a case. They are poorly paid for amazing work after years and years of training. They deserve better. Cut the myriad of management and admin staff and give the savings to those on the frontline.

Oh, for some good news read about Nigel Pooley and Caroline Watkins and what they are doing for the Wooden Spoon charity. It is here on this website.

Wednesday 5th Oct: 09:55

Obviously with personal business to attend to yesterday some of what comes next is slightly out of date. For the record the trip to London went well and the much maligned British transport system worked perfectly. Clean and on time trains, and an excellent Underground service to boot. The equally much maligned NHS deserved much praise too. Everything was exemplary. We did feel like foreigners in our own capital city at times however.

Ok, back to Sunday. Our Colts triumphed over East Grinstead in a keenly contested encounter. Apparently this was a good game to watch with many of lads only now being eligible to play Colts rugby. Nice feedback about the pitch and facilities. Thank you.

Our Under 13s beat Uckfield. At this age I’m not that bothered about how many we won by, or in fact the result at all. Did both teams have a good morning of rugby, did they go home happy with a smile on their face?

Talking of a smile on their faces, I understand that our 2s/3s who were at Hellingly on Saturday thoroughly enjoyed their game. Nothing at stake other than having a laugh with mates playing rugby. A lesson perhaps as we get bogged down in leagues and paying players etc. One point, looking at the photos the Hellingly captain looks suspiciously like Tomos Williams, Wales scrum half!!!!

Major Willie’s thanksgiving service went off as expected: very well. The club did him proud. Excellent attendance by the Friday Club, and the place and food was excellent. Jacqui, Louise and team, you are stars.

Are Wasps on the edge of the precipice or, unlike the Worcester situation, is there a white knight charging to the rescue on his/her/its (!!!!!!) steed with saddle bags packed with cash. Only time will tell but I for one think the worst case scenario is about to become reality for those at Wasps.

Rugby suffers another blow. Recent studies have brought MND into the spotlight, with several researchers suggesting rugby players are more likely to suffer brain malfunctions that trigger MND than the general population. Hot on the heels of the concussion issues and the implication that Parkinson’s disease can be a result of head injury overload this is a massive blow to a game that is in decline at grassroots level, including schools. The BBC and The Guardian carry excellent articles covering this story.

England suffer a blow with Jamie George being ruled out of the Autumn series. He has just got back to his imperious best so this is a blow. Welcome to the world of Crowborough RFC. I got a further insight into our injury and availability woes yesterday. It is unprecedented.

I also had a long chat with good friend and fellow Friday Clubber The Farberry about the problems facing grassroots cricket. It is the same as rugby with regard to availability and commitment. It is without doubt a societal problem with young people today not willing to commit to anything, having a plethora of alternatives to organised sport and seeing life revolve solely around them and their needs.

Moving on, three time Lions coach and honorary Welshman Warren Gatland has landed a plum job with Prime TV. He will be a pundit during the upcoming Autumn series which Prime has a monopoly over. Gatland on Eddie Jones! Can’t wait. Yes I am one of the lucky few who have Amazon Prime TV.

Now here is interesting news, Max Malins will return to Bristol from next season. I am surprised he is leaving Saracens but do believe he, and Ben Earls, was intrinsic to Bristol’s success when there on loan during Saracens period of “exile”.

Plenty in the Welsh press about the totally unacceptable behaviour of Cardiff players on a night out in the city. WalesOnline for the story but basically the drink got the better of some of them and with that so common sense and decency went out of the window. As I say, unacceptable.

Talking of Wales the side will play England twice and South Africa once in the lead up to the 2023 World Cup. It’s got to be done but fingers crossed for no serious injuries.

The WRU have announced that they are looking to develop a Principality Stadium roof walk. Mmm!!! Lets keep the lemmings running the game in Wales away from it, and suggest they have more pressing tasks before a gimmick like a roof walk. Having said that the Sydney Harbour Bridge climb is something else!!

Right, that’ll do as I have to catch up on the fine work the RMT and ASLEF are doing on bringing the country to its knees, plus I need to see what the under 8s now masquerading as a government are saying about the economy. Talk about a party acting like children in the playground tearing each other apart!!!

Monday 3rd Oct: 09:45

It’s rather embarrassing when you look at the league and see a HWO between Deal & Betteshanger and ourselves. I explained the circumstances yesterday and can’t add anything more this morning. It is what it is and a sad indictment of the game today and the direction in which society is moving.

Elsewhere Cranbrook beating Ashford 31-19 stands out in Counties Kent 1, as does Old Alleynians beating Thanet Wanderers 63-5. Bromley beat Charlton Park, Folkestone lost at home to Beccehamian and I am delighted to say our friends over at Heathfield & Waldron beat Aylesford Bulls 27-8. Nothing at all against Aylesford, our next opponents, just pleased to see a Sussex side with “W” against their name. OAs are top but watch out for Cranbrook in 4th, they are three wins from three. We prop up the table on -5 points.

In Kent 2 Hastings & Bexhill lost at Sidcup II. It comes as no surprise that Sevenoaks II top this league. In the Hampshire equivalent Bognor lost at home to Sandown & Shanklin. In Counties 1 Surrey/Sussex Hove’s excellent start to the season continued with a 63-19 demolition of Trinity keeping them top of the table.

A full set of fixtures in Sussex 2. Crawley were outdone, albeit narrowly, by table topping East Grinstead. Haywards Heath beat neighbours Burgess Hill, Seaford lost to Eastbourne, Shoreham lost to Pulborough and Uckfield beat Lewes. Lewes are bottom. Eastbourne and Heath are on 15 points, the same as East Grinstead.

Onwards and upwards. In Regional 2 South East Horsham are top after a 43-0 win over Farnham. Sadly Chichester lost 33-27 to Reeds Weybridge. Chi are mid-table. In Regional 1 Brighton lost at Bracknell. In the other Regional 1 Tunbridge Wells made the St Marks faithful happy with a fine 55-17 win over Sidcup (whose 2nds play in Kent 2 !!!!). The Wells are 8th.

In the ether of the National Leagues Barnes beat Sevenoaks, TJs beat Guernsey and Worthing beat Canterbury. Still early days but Worthing are 6th, TJs 7th and ‘Oaks 11th.

Finally good news for Leeds Tykes, a home win over Chinnor. Bridgnorth beat Derby in a close game. Salisbury endured a bad day at the office losing 81-5 at table topping Marlborough.

Moving on, that was a decent offering from The Stoop yesterday. Harlequins nicely ahead at half-time playing some decent rugby only for Saints to come storming back in the 2nd half. To be fair Saints were somewhat off their game in the first half giving Quins an easier ride than they should have enjoyed. A number of players put their hand up for consideration by Eddie Jones.

There is a nice preview of the Women’s World Cup in the BBC Sport website. That all kicks off on Oct 8th. The time difference will make watching live difficult but all games are being shown live, and on terrestrial TV. Great stuff. It is brilliant that Eden Park could be a sell-out for the first game of the tournament.

The Fail is on a mission with regard to the owners of Worcester Warriors. I was there first but am pleased to see the Fail also describing the owners as charlatans. They also add “cowboys” which is equally apt. A number of Warriors could be en route to Bath shortly. Only time will tell. There is a lot of interest in getting hold of Lions Rory Sutherland and Duhan van der Merwe.

In other sport the Singapore F1 was a ok to pretty damn dull. Manchester United losing was no surprise. Sadly the Saints going down to the Vikings was disappointing. My lad was lucky enough to be at that game. England’s cricketers secured the series win over Pakistan. It’s been a good series too.

Tonight is quiz night which takes precedent over Leicester City v Nottingham Forest.

For exceptional reasons there will be no blog tomorrow. Back on Wednesday.

Whilst Major Willie Harper has already been laid to rest, the thanksgiving service for him is tomorrow. Sadly I can’t make it but at 2pm I will certainly spare more than a thought for Willie, previously IC Friday Club provisions.

Sunday 2nd Oct: 10:05

I was expecting to be writing about Crowborough and their trip to Deal & Betteshanger on this dreary Sunday morning. It ain’t going to happen because the game didn’t happen. Something was amiss at Steel Cross on Thursday when the queue at the medic’s door was longer than the queue at the bar, plus the list of other absentees stretching to two pages. The coaches, Graysee, et all huddled in the corner of the clubhouse even looked over at the Friday Club who had just finished walking rugby to see if any of us were available. Yes, things were that bad.

To be fair they cobbled together 16 players who could play and willing to travel. When common sense kicked in they realised it would be unsafe to put most of that number in harms way against D&B so the club was left with no option but to concede the “AWO”. It is very disappointing and a sad state of affairs. We are not alone. We are not the first and won’t be the last to be in this position.

What I would say is if, and more hopefully, when, everybody is available we have a very good side. Let us hope that is sooner rather than later.

I am pleased to report that we did manage to get a 2nd XV out yesterday and returned from Hellingly with a win. Looking at the photos, and before anyone raises their eyebrows, this was more like a 3rd team with most closer to their pension than puberty. Ben Martyn captained the side and he is 40 and several doctors have told him his knees are knackered and he shouldn’t play!

A quick reminder that our U/16 girls kick off shortly as do our U/13 boys. The Colts kick off at 13:00

We have done what we have done because it was the right decision. However the league rules must be questioned in that there is virtually no flexibility in the system to make changes. The start of the season has been brought forward, as has the end of the league season. This has been done to accommodate a new cup structure. However the lack of flexibility is driven by money. The RFU have done a deal with Papa Johns the pizza people, who are sponsoring the cup competitions, which in my opinion is driving the inflexibility. The RFU are more concerned about the money than they are about players safety. It is wrong. When you add this to the fact the restructuring of the leagues which was meant to reduce travel times, which it blatantly hasn’t, it is no surprise that players don’t want to travel for over 2 hours to games with patched up teams likely to endure a beating both on the scoreboard and physically.

There was plenty of rugby at the top level yesterday. Saracens demolition of Leicester Tigers is the headline. Saracens back to their best. Sale beating Exeter catches the eye, as does London Irish beating Bath. Bath are bottom which is troubling for those who follow The Rec outfit. Today it is Harlequins v Saints. Oh, and well done Newcastle Falcons beating Bristol

In the URC I watched a pretty average Munster get past a less than average Zebre outfit. I then caught the last minutes of Benetton v Scarlets. Last up was Dragons v Sharks. Not a great game but I enjoyed it all the same. The Dragons won’t be the whipping boys this season. They have a decent side now having picked up a number of players from the other regions. Real shame that Sharks came back with two late tries to snatch victory. The Rodney Parade pitch looks nothing like the field I remember. It is like a bowling green. Secondly the Dragon’s fans are extremely hostile and in my opinion too frequently overstep the mark.

The Worcester situation gets worse with the owners now blaming the players for the plight of the club. “They wouldn’t take a pay cut”. This is a smoke screen as a more and more questions are being asked about how and why the club has been split up and sold off into separate companies. Classic asset stripping.

I’ll do a full league round-up tomorrow as normal and pick up on things I might have missed today. Good luck to all the marathon runners. The Singapore F1 should be fun. First winter roast lunch today. Beef and Yorkshire puddings.

The RMT and ASLEF continue to cause absolute chaos for the masses. Times are hard but you cannot expect to be given a big pay rise on top of already generous salaries without making concessions. The fact the rail unions want to keep practices from the 1900s even though we are now in the 2000s is a disgrace. The leaders are economic terrorists, anarchists, complete and utter bast…

Back tomorrow.

Friday 30th Sep: 16:25

Important Update

It is with great disappointment that we have had to concede our game tomorrow at Deal & Betteshanger.

The long list of injuries and the even longer list of absentees has made it impossible to field a side capable, and therefore safely, of playing at this level.

The club have already apologised to Deal & Betteshanger and that apology is echoed here.

Thursday 29th Sept: 08:45

Let me start with CRFC and news of what’s happening on the weekend. The 1st XV travel to Deal & Betteshanger, always a tough place to go. Sadly I can’t make this one due to an overnight commitment on Friday night and a three line whip to attend a family event on Saturday afternoon. The 2s are slated to travel to Hellingly. On Sunday the Colts host East Grinstead kick off 15:00. The weather might be ok for this one. Before that walking rugby tonight at 18:00. All are welcome.

In last night’s Premiership Cup action Quins, Gloucester and Exeter all enjoyed wins. None of it was on telly so reruns of Dalziel & Pascoe for us.

Looking ahead Newcastle v Bristol is your Friday night Premiership action. In the United Reform Church Ulster v Leinster is the pick. On Saturday the standout fixture is Saracens v Leicester. This could be a cracker, or 80 minutes of Greco-Roman wrestling with a lot of kick tennis thrown in. In the URC can the Dragons make it two wins in a row? They host the Sharks. Potentially the pick of the entire weekend could be Harlequins v Saints on Sunday. The Singapore Grand Prix will be over by then.

I wasn’t going to mention Worcester today but The Guardian piqued my interest with their story that players can’t yet leave the club as free agents. It turns out they are contracted to WRFC Players Limited which is not in administration. I can’t get my head around this, especially as the players haven’t been paid. I guess the trading arm hasn’t paid the playing arm which would explain why the club is in a mess: the right hand has no idea what the left is doing!!! If the players don’t get paid tomorrow then they can serve notice etc. meaning in about a months time they will be free agents. What an unedifying mess.

Talking of which, Martin Bayfield has echoed much of what has been said by many over many weeks. The game is rapidly becoming unfit for purpose. The clubs finances are in a mess, litigation hangs over the game like the darkest of dark clouds, the product on the field is unsatisfactory, and the offering off the field is unexciting. I like his phrase: “we’ve fundamentally got a Victorian game being played by 21st century athletes. Something has to change!”. He also references the paucity of players from top to bottom. WalesOnline is where I picked this one up from.

If proof was needed that things are bad then go no further than the players from the four Welsh region threatening an all out strike. They are extremely unhappy that the funding issue between the WRU and the regions is still unresolved leaving clubs in a perilous position. Think Worcester. I have a degree of sympathy with them but as you delve deeper into the article (WalesOnline) you find this is more about players salaries than anything else. Sadly they will need to wake up to reality that you can’t have what is not there.

Tucked away in the depths I discovered a snippet that states new laws are being trialled in Australia. Two senior games will trial a range of laws such as stringent time management of rucks and kicks at goals. A deliberate knock-on will not result in a yellow card. The defending scrum half can’t go beyond the middle of the scrum. Advantage after a penalty infringement will be restricted to three plays. The option to take a scrum after penalties/infringements is to be removed in some cases. The two games will be officiated by three top flight Aussie referees and the impact assessed before extending the trial further.

Rob Baxter thinks paying England internationals bigger match fees might stop the overseas exodus of stars. Yeah, go on. Let’s make the rich richer and reduce the pot for the grassroots game even further. “Me, me, me” Mr Baxter.

New Zealander Quinn Tupaea is ruled out for nine months after that horrendous hit by Darcy Swain. Sam Warburton has gone on record saying worse is to come if World Rugby doesn’t get to grips with the jackle area. I agree with him but the game cannot keep tinkering. I agree with Bayfield. Has the time come for a root and branch rethink about the laws and structures.

As an aside the tinkering with the RFU league system seems to have universally made things worse not better. Clubs are travelling just as far, or in many cases further. Clubs are unhappy.

England Women will play a stand alone test at Twickenham during their up coming 6 Nations tournament in 2023. Previously they have preceded or followed the men’s game. This is a good move IF they can fill the ground. The cynic in me thinks the RFU are confident England will win the World Cup, starting shortly, and the game at Twickenham will be a big money spinner, being the first after the World Cup.

Wednesday 28th Sept: 10:15

Good morning, and what a splendid morning it is too. The sun is shining and there is a refreshing bite to the wind, in fact it is pretty cold. You’ll be pleased to know that the blood flowed this morning, albeit after several attempts.

So to rugby news. The administrators of Worcester Warriors have already stated one of their first tasks is to assess whether asset stripping has taken place, and if yes, to reverse those activities. It is a mess. I am more and more convinced that the plight facing Worcester has been massively worsened by two rogues running the club.

Sky Sports have a very simple explanation of what, why and when with regard to Worcester on the website. Other websites are hinting Wasps will hit administration sooner rather than later.

Whilst our thoughts are with all those decent folk associated with Worcester spare a thought for Gloucester whose game on Saturday is now cancelled. That is a £400k hit which Gloucester I am sure can ill afford.

Msr Raynal has gone public about his last minute decision to award a scrum to New Zealand in the 1st Bledisloe encounter. He stands by it. Fair enough. Let’s move on but with the hope the blazers at World Rugby will offer some clarification ahead of the Women’s World Cup and the Autumn Internationals.

WalesOnline carry the latest world rankings: Ireland head the table, France in 2nd spot, the richest union by a long way; England in 5th, poor little Wales with just 3.5m population only two places behind in 7th. All pretty meaningless really.

Eddie Jones has announced his training squad ahead of the Autumn Internationals. No real surprises. Much is being made of the exclusion of Danny Care but that is just because there is little else to talk about. Jones has said he is taking inspiration from the American Navy Seals. Interesting! That of course is all well and good as long as his team don’t play like Alaskan Walrus!!!

Sam Simmonds is off to Montpellier to replace Zac Mercer. It has now been confirmed Stuart Lancaster is off to Racing 92 at the end of the season.

The Times have been looking at schools rugby and come to the conclusion that the game is not in great shape. Primarily the preserve of the private education system the number of teams playing has fallen quite significantly. This in part due to a decline in people going to public school but mainly because of concerns about injury. There is also a growing trend for schools to mirror society offering many more options for young people to enjoy exercise. In today’s litigious society no longer are kids forced into sport, they and their parents are sent pages of questionnaires asking what their preference is for their little treasures. When you add in the fact the state system is pretty much bereft of rugby it is not good news.

There is one ray of light but the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is missing. Club junior and mini rugby is still in pretty good shape. Numbers across the age ranges remain robust and the quality of coaching, the safeguarding and facilities are mainly in a very good place. However, and this was discussed at length by the Sussex clubs last night, this positivity is not being carried through into the adult game where player numbers is on a (steep) decline. The trend is very worrying. Women’s and girls rugby is also in a pretty healthy position.

Three Premiership Cup games last night, three more tonight. If any of them are on TV I might give it a go. Slightly ironic that Worcester won this competition last season. Leicester, London Irish & Sale were last night’s winners.

Plenty of other news to get depressed about. The truly troubling statement that Putin is ready and willing to use nuclear weapons against Ukraine and the west. The totally sham referenda will be his catalyst. The man is currently sending his own citizens, young people with everything to live for, to be slaughtered on the battlefield. The man is a nutcase.

Then you have the politically motivated strikes by the RMT, ASLEF, and Unite. They say it is all about the money. I say it is about politics. Can you imagine what it could be like if the hard left get their way and repeal all the laws that give us the decent folk some protection from these militant, self-serving anarchists masquerading as union leaders.

What a shambles. Many will be screaming about the bankers bonuses, me I am screaming because it is the bankers who are playing roulette with our economy to line their own pockets. An absolute disgrace. I feel for those with mortgages……… come on now…… all you old people with savings, stop rubbing your hands with glee. You’ll still be faced with spiralling inflation.

Tuesday 27th Sept: 09:45

I was due to be writing this from Bridgnorth this morning but a number of things conspired against me so here I am in Crowborough. The upside is I had a lie in after a pretty hectic Monday. Anyway, to the big rugby stories.

Up first is Sunday’s Under 15 festival at Steel Cross. I haven’t had a definitive report but have seen sufficient emails to suggest yet again Crowborough RFC excelled in their organisation and welcome. Picked out for special praise were Jacqui, Louise, the Friday Club, Ben Pollard and a large supporting cast. Puff your chest out with pride.

Well, the inevitable came to pass at 17:00 yesterday evening. The gates clanked shut, the chains rattled as they were put in place and the padlock clicked loudly before silence fell over Sixways. Worcester Warriors gave the staff until 16:30 to clear all their personal belongings ahead of the deadline, even the caretaker and his wife were evicted from their onsite grace and favour accommodation. Despite many suggestions the cavalry were on their way and rescue was at hand nothing materialised and those brave warriors were defeated by that most aggressive of foes: debt.

You do have to ask what part in the clubs demise co-owners Jason Whittingham and Colin Goldring played in all this. I get the distinct impression they are a pair of charlatans at best, and crooks at worst. The way the sale of surrounding land has been done and the allegations that many of the clubs assets have been divided up into many smaller shell companies, 13 allegedly, all owned by this pair does raise the question: have they been aggressively asset stripping while the club crashes and burns. The Daily Fail, a quite rightly much aligned newspaper, brings this to our attention however. They also own Morecambe FC. If I was a supporter there I’d be a tad nervous for the future of the club.

Wasps will be next and similar questions need to be asked about the probity of their owners and the way the business has been run. The move to Coventry was plagued with issues from the start. The enemy again is debt.

Whilst the CEO’s / Chairmen / Owners of the other clubs can sit there and pontificate in the papers about needing more revenue, and driving bigger audiences and tapping into new opportunities such as the women’s game, it’s the business model that is broken. Clubs have to address the number one issue that costs outstrip revenue by a very long way. Until you get your costs under control, and your debt is manageable the game at the top level could quickly become a busted flush.

Owen Slot in The Times has suggested the Premiership is reduced to eight teams with a second tier Premiership of a further eight teams. The best managed, most financially robust get the chance to thrive, the others get their house in order by reducing costs. In essence there is much merit in this as it would allow clubs to reduce the number of games, thus allowing the season to be restructured, thus meaning teams could play more games with their stars present, thus being a more attractive proposition for the paying public. Also it would remove the fully professional clubs like Ealing and Doncaster from the Championship.

There is one massive issue with Slot’s proposal. Very early on in his piece he states the clubs in that elite eight team group will be the teams with the owners with the deepest pockets and the ability to spend freely. This doesn’t solve anything. In truth if the elite group are to compete with the French clubs for trophies then costs will have to go up. I see nothing in the proposal that highlights how revenue will go up to keep pace. Being dependent on largesse is a crap way of doing business. Off course with the cost of living going through the roof, interest rates shooting up and job security as rocky as Wasps stay in the game then of course the clubs could always put ticket prices up (-;

Finally, as an aside, it has been proven that a successful international side, across all sports, is a catalyst for growth, or at worst an aid to a slowing the decline. Until Premiership Rugby reduces the number of Johnny Foreigners plying their trade over here England will continue to struggle to optimise the potential it has at its disposal. Look at the Exeter v Quins game. You count up the number of non-English players in that game. I rest my case.

By the way that Christ Tshiunza is something, isn’t he? A good old Welsh boy, so up yours Eddie.

Oh, and talking of Exeter, it WAS a forward pass!!!!!

Lots more in the papers to discuss but that will have to keep until tomorrow. It’ll be later again in the morning as the surgery are having another go at trying to open my wallet veins to get blood.

Monday 26th Sept: 07:55

Before I get into the weekend’s results let me start by correcting something I wrote yesterday. We were not behind at half time as I implied, it was 12-12. Heathfield scored just before the break to level things up. They were on the up however as I stated.

Ok, what happened elsewhere? Ashford’s fine start to the season continued with a comfortable win over Folkestone, they are top. Cranbrook beat Aylesford Bulls away, Beccehamian beat Bromley, Charlton Park lost at home to Old Alleynians and Thanet Wanderers beat Deal & Betteshanger. We are bottom with Aylesford just above us. Just below Ashford is Old Alleynians. Still early days yet but with four wins from four Ashford have certainly laid down a marker for others to consider.

Not a great day for Hastings & Bexhill in Kent 2 losing at home, unsurprisingly, to Sevenoaks II, who equally unsurprisingly based on their 1st XV’s league status top the table. In Hampshire 2 Bognor won at Tottonians II. Bognor are three wins from three and sit in 2nd spot.

In Counties Surrey/Sussex 1 Hove’s excellent start to the season continues. They won at Warlingham 36-21.

In Sussex 2 the first thing that jumps out at you is Haywards Heath AWO over Lewes. Sad to see so soon in the season, especially for a club like Lewes. East Grinstead beat Uckfield 58-3 and are top. Burgess Hill recovered from last weeks thumping with a win over Seaford, Eastbourne put 77 points on Shoreham and Pulborough beat Crawley. Lewes look forlorn at the foot of the table on -5 points.

Moving up into Regional 2 South East we find Horsham who lost at Old Reigatians and Chichester who beat Guildford. Out of interest Dartfordians lost at home to Gravesend, and Beckenham lost at Old Colfeians.

In Regional 1 South East Westcombe Park beat Tunbridge Wells 31-15. In the South Central version Brighton lost at Sutton & Epsom.

Ok, in the ether of the National Leagues TJs lost at Old Albanians, Worthing won at Rochford Hundred, and Sevenoaks drew with Dorking 26-26.

Finally, the other notable results, for me at least, are Leeds Tykes winning at Esher, Bridgnorth winning at Burton, and Salisbury losing at home to Stow-on-the-Wold.

Did you watch Exeter v Harlequins? What a bonkers game. Exeter out of sight in the first half, Quins right back in it in the second, then that (outrageous) decision for the Exeter win at the death. Outrageous in that it was a forward pass. If you haven’t seen it try and find it on the interweb and let me know what you think. A cracking contest however.

Wow, wow and wow again. Dragons 23 - Munster 17. No, its not a typo, it is real. I didn’t watch this one. Didn’t think it was on. I am going to see if I can watch it on catch up. The Dragons winning! Unreal!

Caught the briefest of highlights of the other Premiership games yesterday. Some cracking tries across the board. That boy Arundell is good, and isn’t Ellis Genge making one heck of an impact at Bristol. Fantastic result for Worcester, especially as they could be out of business later today.

Not a great weekend for Cardiff or the Scarlets. Both well beaten, in the end. Ospreys blew a golden opportunity for victory with Jack Walsh missing a 78th minute shot at goal. Hey ho, the Dragons won!

By the way will Dean Ryan still be at the Dragons this time tomorrow?

My good friend The Bard has sent me two fascinating articles from The Times. The first is about the demise of rugby in schools, the second is Owen Slot’s views on the state of the Premiership and how to fix it. I’ll give you my considered view on these tomorrow.

That’ll do for now, the granddaughter is due any minute.

Sunday 25th Sept: 09:25

It was truly brilliant to welcome our good friends Heathfield & Waldron back to Steel Cross yesterday. The place looked amazing, inside and out. The pitch was immaculate and having 97 people sit down for lunch was remarkable, and a superb lunch it was too. Thank you Jacqui and team.

On the field we started like the All Blacks: winning the ball from the kick off and playing some amazing rugby before getting on the scoreboard with an excellent team try. Things looked positive. For the next ten minutes or so we were the better side. Gradually The Greenies got back into the contest and showed their repertoire of skills putting us under pressure. Our defence was solid but eventually it had to crack having been under constant bombardment for long periods. As the clock moved relentlessly toward half time we started to fall behind both in terms of territory and possession but also on the scoreboard. We were still playing some decent rugby but at times the cutting edge was a little blunt and Heathfield’s tackling was excellent.

I will digress here and say this was one of the significant differences between the sides. We tackled well but all too often we allowed the visitors to come on to us putting us constantly on the back foot. They on the other hand were dynamic in defence stopping us on the gain line. Talking to coach Stuart D after the match this is something we need to solve and solve quickly.

The second half was much the same as the first, plenty of decent rugby from both sides with the visitors more clinical in attack and more ruthless in defence. We stuck at it and scored an excellent try wide out and could have scored a couple more if we’d held onto the ball or made better decisions. Our situation wasn’t helped with the excellent Andy Kidd seeing yellow on two separate occasions (yes the 2nd equalled a red) and injury forcing skipper Alex Purnell and Andrew Orchard to leave the field. These are not excuses as the bottom line is we were beaten by a better side. A well organised, disciplined and impactful outfit. 29-17 tells the tale

If there is a ray of comfort Ashford are 4 wins from 4 games, Cranbrook are 2 wins from 2 games. Maybe we have already come up against two of the better sides in the league. The Bard’s full match report can be found on the website and I’ll do a full league round-up tomorrow.

As a footnote it was strange to have a Sussex derby being played in Counties Kent 1!!!!!! You might want to put Dec 17th in your diary as this is the date of the return fixture.

What else is there to debate. Bath losing to Wasps. The first half was pretty ordinary to dire, the second half was quite enjoyable. Bath are, like us, going to have to sort out their defence if they are to avoid another embarrassing season.

The All Blacks put the Wallabies to the sword yesterday morning. Some of the All Blacks play was outstanding but to be frank Australia were the architects of their own downfall. The penalty count was unacceptable and some of their skills for international rugby were woeful. The result laid down a marker for South Africa in the late game.

The Springboks had to win and win handsomely if they were to deprive the All Blacks of the title. Win they did but far from handsomely. Los Pumas kept the big beasts honest for long periods. With a large glass of Sav or two I enjoyed this one. It was stop start yes, there were lots of mistakes but there were moments to savour, like the wine!!!

I for one think it has been a good tournament this time around. Some great action, plenty of talking points, fascinating controversies and plenty of behind the scenes stuff too. Best Coach? Michael Cheika. He has brought bite back to Los Pumas. Best game? Any where the All Blacks lost, plus the Australia v All Blacks game in Melbourne on that Thursday morning.

Were there issues? Yes, but I will focus on just one. The fffffnnnn TMO. I have absolutely no problem with them checking for the validity of a try. There were great examples of that during this tournament. I am 100% supportive of them jumping straight in when there is serious foul play. It drives me nuts however when they are interfering in knock-ons, forward passes and offsides when that should be the sole responsibility of the three on the ground. It slows the game down constantly and it is unacceptable. Luke Pearce did on Friday in the Bath game. It is wrong!!!!

Some interesting results elsewhere so far this weekend. I’ll review those tomorrow. Exeter v Harlequins this afternoon on BT Sport. Finally if you are thinking of going to Steel Cross today to catch any of the Under 15s tournament then can I suggest you walk. Parking will be at a premium!

Thursday 22nd Sept: 14:30

Much later than planned due to a range of reasons, one being helping out at the club to get the pitches ready ahead of this weekend’s packed schedule. Well Sunday is packed with Harlequins hosting an Under 15s tournament at Steel Cross. All I can say is the pitches look tremendous with the A pitch waiting to welcome Heathfield & Waldron looking amazing. Great stuff Drew, Damps and gang.

Not a lot of good news in the rugby pages. The big story is Wasps appointing administrators. Now I can be a bit thick but they say they haven’t gone into administration, they are simply appointing administrators. Yeah, yeah. Either way this news will come as no surprise as Wasps financial woes have been well publicised. My good friend and Friday Club stalwart Max said it was sad news. If you are a loyal, long suffering Wasps fans it is the worst possible news. If the club gets through the financial minefield they will (most likely) be in the Championship next season. My response however was that it is possibly good news. Good news for the game and good news for Premiership Rugby. It is a massive wake up call that the clubs have to get their houses in order and they can no longer run on the back of benefactors largesse or horribly flawed business models. Something has to give. I understand Owen Slot in The Times has proposed some truly radical solutions. I haven’t seen them yet but any solution has to include cutting your cloth accordingly.

Worcester have been given an ultimatum that unless their situation is clarified by next week they will be booted out of all competitions. The more I read the more I understand how much Cyril Duckworth bankrolled the club, and how subsequently the current owners have made Arthur Daley look like a shrewd and trusted businessman. The Warriors game against Newcastle at Sixways has been given the all clear to go ahead. By the way the local MP continues to push for the club to be put into administration. (BBC)

Interestingly Bristol’s benefactor, Steve Lansdown, has said Premiership Rugby has to increase revenue. You are a smart cookie Mr Lansdown but how do you propose to do that when far too often the product on offer is rubbish. The TV rights are one option but that would inevitably back fire as the game would go darker, that is to yet another expensive pay-to-view channel. With marketing and sponsorships budgets being slashed and ticket prices rocketing I can only see revenue going the other way. If the game is to survive I am afraid the red pen will need to come and costs slashed. By the way Lansdown is reputed to have lent Bristol Bears £50m. Yep, that is the scale of the games problems. (BBC)

Match official abuse is a growing problem. The blazers are coming down hard on miscreants which is why Ronan O’Gara has been given a six week ban following an outburst in a Top 14 game.

This week I wrote about Darcy Swain’s yellow card. He was subsequently cited for recklessly joining a ruck. Having seen additional video and photos his actions were outrageous. He has been given a six week ban which many would argue is way too lenient. The All Blacks make six changes to their starting lineup ahead of Saturday’s clash with the Wallabies. Some are enforced due to injury but some are tactical such as moving Jordie Barrett to #12 and bringing brother Beauden in at full back.

In a surprise move Stuart Lancaster will be leaving Leinster for Racing 92 next season. Didn’t see that one coming.

Plenty of good games coming up over the weekend. Newport v Cardiff tonight!!!! Bath vWasps tomorrow plus Cardiff v Glasgow. On Saturday the BIG ONE: Crowborough v Heathfield & Waldron plus the two Southern Hemisphere internationals. Saints v Tigers and Sarries v Gloucester catch the eye, as does Scarlets v Ulster. On Sunday Exeter v Harlequins could be well worth watching….. we hope!!!!!

That’ll do for now. Back on Sunday.

Wednesday 21st Sept: 10:00

As expected slightly later than planned this morning. I won’t bore you with the trials and tribulations of a simple blood test, but I will say my blood is like my money, very difficult to get at!!!

A couple of things to comment on today. The conclusion of the Rugby Championship is something to watch. A wounded Australia against a revitalised but not necessarily resurgent All Blacks will be worth watching on Saturday morning. I’ll be setting my SKY box to record the Springboks v Pumas match-up that afternoon. In the wild this is no contest but on the rugby pitch could a surprise be on the cards? With Elton Jantjies being unavailable for personal reasons and other first choice 10s out injured Jacques Nienaber has been forced to move veteran Francois Steyn to outside half. Interesting.

The soap opera which is Worcester Warriors rumbles on. It is crazy that it is being allowed to continue in this vein but it has. The clubs Premiership Cup game will go ahead, apparently, but who will be in the team is anybody’s guess. It is an unedifying situation which needs resolving one way or another….. now!

The injury curse that has plagued Liam Williams of late has struck again. He is out for sometime after suffering a collarbone injury during his Cardiff debut against Munster. Real shame.

In other Wales news, and relating to Cardiff, Wayne Pivac has approached Dai Young requesting that Josh Adams be given some game time at full-back. Good to see some advance planning and joined up thinking. Wales by the way have moved two places up the meaningless world rankings.

England have announced the squad that will take part in the forthcoming World Cup in New Zealand. Coach Simon Middleton has gone on record and said they have to win. You bet you do after all the money that has been invested in the women’s game. England are red hot favourites and the fact they can leave players of the quality of Natasha Hunt out of the squad justifies that favourites tag.

Andrew Mehrtens asks has the time come for a play clock to be introduced like there is in the NFL. Players are taking an inordinate amount of time to kick at goal, touch kicks are being dragged out, scrum resets eats up the clock faster than me and a pork pie, and so it goes on. An official time keeper makes some sense but I am not sure we want games to go on longer than they are the moment. Daily Fail carries this one.

Robert Kitson in The Guardian has been delving into the archives and has come up with the depressing news that our game has not moved on much in the last 30 years. The issues faced then are pretty much the issues now. Despite what we might think the game is in decline, almost terminal in some places, so something has to be done. There are plenty of good games but there are way too many turgid games where stop-start and kick, kick, kick dominates proceedings. Another article I would recommend you have a read through. I should be his agent really!!!!!!

I know a number of readers follow Bath so let me depress them somewhat. Sam Underhill’s injury sustained last week against 14 man Sale looks bad. Taulupe Faletau was head and shoulders man of the match for Cardiff on Saturday. Albeit in a cameo role Rhys Priestland is still strutting his stuff, also at Cardiff.

Sale’s Nic Schonert gets a three week ban after seeing red in the game against Bath. Par for the course.

If it is any consolation to Bath fans the Dragons are also rubbish. Worryingly after being hammered by Edinburgh they have to face a Munster side this coming weekend with all their Irish stars eligible to play.

The Tuilagi dynasty continues. Posolo Tuilagi weighing in at 23st and 6’4” made his debut for Perpignan on Saturday. The teenage nephew of Manu made quite an impression. Me, I’m troubled by the size of this young lad and the damage he inevitably will do to an opposition player. Rugby is a game for all sizes but 23st and running at pace is generating a significant force. Dangerous.

Ok back tomorrow, albeit briefly.

Tuesday 20th Sept: 09:00

If trophies were given out for pomp and pageantry this great country of ours would be World Champions. What a spectacle from start to finish. I know some will argue about the cost and the relevance in today’s modern, multi-faith, multi-cultural, multi-everything society but I for one was proud to be British yesterday. Not since the harshest of the Covid lockdowns has the country come to an almost complete standstill. We should do it more often. As has been the case over the last few days the country seems a better place, more considerate and caring. Hopefully we can learn from that too. I doubt it though as “me, me, me” will return with a vengeance.

Life returns to normal today with a King instead of a Queen so let me crack on.

Firstly I must thank Chichester Geoff for his mail regarding the time-wasting and the subsequent referee’s decision in last week’s Bledisloe Cup encounter. Geoff makes a number of good points. Bernard Foley was given clear instruction and chose to ignore it. You reap what you sew! More importantly Geoff points out that ignoring (and therefore disrespecting) the officials is becoming more prevalent and is unacceptable. Absolutely agree which is why counties like Sussex are taking firm action when any form of match official abuse is brought before a disciplinary panel.

To balance his argument he points out that Msr Reynal had plenty of reasons to apply a similar sanction throughout that game but chose not to. The players cynicism could have been nipped in the bud so to do so at the death lacked empathy and understanding. Thanks Geoff. Please keep reading and commenting.

Darcy Swain will appear before a disciplinary hearing today after the blazers ruled that his yellow card for the shot on Quinn Tupaea was insufficient. This is a tough call for me as he was neck rolled just before he ploughed into the ruck landing on Tupaea’s already trapped leg. Determining the level of intent is key here. If there was no intent what are players supposed to do? Stand idly by and watch? Player safety is paramount which is why World Rugby made specific sanction changes to take situations like this into account. I am torn but I think he will be banned and having only recently returned from a ban it could be a long one.

Haven’t seen the rugby highlights so I’ll keep comments on the Premiership games of last weekend until then.

It might be too late to book a seat at the pre-match lunch on Saturday at Steel Cross but its worth getting in touch with Louise or Jacqui just in case. Talking of lunches the past-players lunch is October 15th. Places are already going fast. Get your booking in now. Details can be found on, or is it “in”, this website.

Talking of past-players my mate PK has been in touch. Doubling up as “disgruntled of Tunbridge Wells” he has had a good old rant about MPs getting VIP passes to view the Queen laying in state. Not only did they get VIP treatment they were allowed to take four guests. How do I feel about it? I think PK has a point but there are those who rightly were given VIP access. Most of the self-serving, publicity seeking, expense spending MPs however should have been made to queue up with the people they are elected to serve. That way that might have got some sort of insight into the state of the nation rather than worrying about themselves. Selfish b’sta…

David Beckham did the decent thing and queued up, as did Susanna Reid. Both could have used their influence to queue jump but didn’t. In fact Beckham refused several opportunities to do so as did several other celebrities.

As you might expect the papers are full of yesterday’s events, and those of the past weeks, so rugby is nowhere to be seen. As a consequence let me comment further on yesterday. If there were medals to be handed out the eight man bearer party and the two accompanying officers should be at the head of the queue. Those boys did an amazing job.

All sweetness and light amongst the royals but how long will that last. The media were trying to stir up the brown sticky stuff with views and comments about Mr and Mrs Lost their Marbles. I think the minute they are on the plane back to the US they’ll be calling their agents with misguided tales. One point however, I think it was wrong to stop Prince Harry from wearing his uniform during the various ceremonies. He fought for this country of ours doing two tours of front line action. Prince Andrew on the other hand has brought shame on the country and therefore the uniform so him in mourning coat made sense.

Please let there be rugby stuff to write about tomorrow. I might be a bit late as appointments from 07:40 at the surgery. Nothing to worry about, just my annual blood test, and no 07:40 isn’t a typo!!

Monday 19th Sept: 09:05

Her Majesty will finally be laid to rest today. Like millions, possibly billions worldwide, I’ll be watching this historic event. Life does go on so I am comfortable doing a review of the weekend’s results as normal for a Monday morning.

As you are already aware we lost at Cranbrook and Ashford won at home beating Aylesford Bulls. You also know about Heathfield & Waldron v Thanet Wanderers being abandoned after 12 minutes. That leaves Deal & Betteshanger losing at home to Charlton Park, Folkestone losing at home to Bromley, which is my stand out result, and Old Alleynians losing at home to Beccehamian. I had OAs down as certs for promotion. The table doesn’t mean a lot after two games but our friends at Charlton Park with maximum points from two games does stand out.

In Kent 2 Hastings & Bexhill lost away to Old Dunstonians. Interestingly in this league Canterbury II, Sevenoaks II and Westcombe Park II all had comfortable wins. I rest my case! In Hampshire 2 Bognor beat Fordingbridge.

In Surrey/Sussex 1 Hove’s good start to the season continued with a 34-15 win at Kingston. Hove are top. Sussex 2 kicked off on Saturday with some notable results. Shoreham beating Burgess Hill 101-35 jumps off the page. Lewes going down to East Grinstead 7-62 is maybe less surprising but still quite a thumping. Elsewhere Crawley lost to Eastbourne, Haywards Heath beat Seaford, and Uckfield beat Pulborough.

Moving on up into Regional South East 2 Horsham beat Battersea Ironsides. Chichester lost at home to Farnham 36-39 but after playing most of the game with 14 men. Horsham are top with maximum points after three games. In Regional 1 South East Tunbridge Wells suffered a bad day at the office losing by 44-0 at home to CS Stags. Over in Regional 1 South Central Brighton snuck past Havant by a single point 39-38. That must have been some game.

Way up there in the ether of the national leagues TJs beat Bury St Edmunds and Worthing beat Sevenoaks.

Of the rest Leeds Tykes lost again, this time to Cinderford. Salisbury lost away to Shipston on Stour. Bridgnorth beat Bromsgrove.

Lots of big boys rugby over the weekend. The URC got underway with the Dragons losing heavily up in Edinburgh. Scarlets and Ospreys fought out a 23 all draw. This was a pretty decent game actually. Cardiff beating Munster was the result of note.

In the Premiership Exeter triumphing over Worcester yesterday was no surprise but fair play to the Warriors they stuck at it. Some cracking looking games on Saturday with wins for Northampton, Leicester and Bristol. The two results that stand out are Bath losing to 14 man Sale 20-37 and Saracens fighting back to beat Harlequins in what has been described as a “thrilling London derby”. Interestingly Saracens started several of their internationals who had toured during the summer. BTs highlight show will be a must at some point in the next couple of days.

As stated yesterday I enjoyed the Argentina v South Africa contest Saturday evening. The better side won but it wasn’t as easy as the scoreli