Matthew Clark on his President's Men 2019...

Once again, Newark Rugby Club enjoyed a great day of rugby for the annual Boxing Day fixture between the 1st XV and a select President’s XV, which was more like a select 35. As always, it was great to be supported by a good crowd, which featured all of the Kelham Road regulars, along with several old faces who haven’t been down to the club for a while - welcome back!

David Shiels and I were asked a few weeks ago if we would like to organise the President’s team this year, which was a great honour and we jumped at the opportunity. In recent years, the goal when pulling the team together is to have a good mix of Newark players who are currently at university, lads that previously played at the club but have moved away and a handful of old and not-so-wise clubmen. Pleasingly, from an initial positive response of over 45, we managed to get 35 players together on the day, covering all three of these categories.

In pretty dismal conditions, the game got underway, with John Coles’ grandsons coming on for the honouree kick off. The first 40 minutes saw the President’s enjoying a lot of time with the ball, in what was looking like a very competitive match. Despite the weather, both teams handled the ball well and the first half offered some good attacking rugby and some big collisions. Two good tries from both teams, one of which was a classic long-range Ben Usher try down the left for the President’s, led to a 10-10 score at half time. Other highlights from the first half included a very proud moment for the Coen family, with three brothers and a son coming on after 30 minutes to take up the positions of 6, 7, 8 and 9. They weren’t only family on show in the President’s team, as it also featured the Slack triplets and George and Josh Seabrook, with all three families on the pitch at the same time.

After the traditional swig of port at half time, the second half commenced, with the First XV reeling the changes, including seven Fijians coming on together - a daunting task for any team to face! One thing is for sure, you can forget the claims from Budda over the years that Fijians don’t like playing in wet and cold conditions, as the interplay between them throughout the second half was fantastic to watch (not so great to defend). The club have been very proud to welcome this great group of players down to Kelham Road, all of whom have been training and playing regularly for the first and second teams and we hope they continue enjoying their time here.

Thanks to some excellent inter-passing and support play, the First XV ran in a few second half tries, eventually winning the game 37-10. The whole game was played in a great spirit and offered some entertaining rugby for the crowd to enjoy, exactly what you want for the Boxing Day fixture.

A massive thank you to everyone who made the effort to come down and play. To get the best part of 55 players together for this fixture, along with a full clubhouse, really does epitomise the reason why Newark is such a great club and no matter how long you’ve been away, you’re always welcome back and immediately feel at home.

Wishing you all a happy and healthy year in 2020!

Matthew Clark