Welcome to East Grinstead Rugby Round Up. If you are reading this on the website, or via Facebook, please sign up to receive this Newsletter via email, which contains loads of pictures and other content, please email m.marriott@btconnect.com and we will add you to the list.

SENIOR RUGBY
With all our senior seasons now complete, there are still some relevant results to bring you and some exciting rugby to watch at Saint Hill.

We were so excited to report on G’s finest, Anika Kraus, being selected for Sussex to play Kent last weekend. A close game ended in a narrow loss, 15 - 27. Well done Anika. We hope this is the first of many times you will pull on the pale blue!

This weekend sees more county rugby, BUT THIS TIME IT'S AT SAINT HILL! Sussex men are taking on Bucks on Saturday after their thumping win over Surrey last week. Kick off for this is 2pm, so come, grab a drink, enjoy the sun and some brilliant rugby!

On Sunday, Sussex U17’s take on Middlesex at 12, and then, we are all hoping Anika gets selected again to grace her home turf as Sussex take on Hampshire! Kick off for this Gill Burns Championship match. Please come and support Anika and Sussex!!

INTERMEDIATE RUGBY
It has been a brilliant season for age group rugby at East Grinstead, with all sides going from strength to strength. Our much deserved Awards Celebrations are now firmly underway, none more deserved than our brilliant U16’s who have swept aside all before them this campaign. Well done to all players, coaches, parents and loyal supporters! Next season is going to be awesome!!

TOUCH RUGBY AT EG
Summer finally seems to be arriving, and with it the East Grinstead RFC Touch Rugby team is coming into its own. Touch isn’t just a summer sport – we train all year round, ankle-deep in mud on the training pitch in winter when allowed, 4-a-side on the Astro when not. But for a game that’s all about handling, firm ground and dry balls are a joy.

Even when it’s wet, our skill levels have been improving. Touch Rugby rewards speed of ball, accurate passing, footwork, decision-making and space-creation. It’s great for cardio too. Most of us have played 15-a-side in the past, some to a pretty good level, and while many of the main skills are still relevant, others need to be unlearned – a weak shoulder isn’t a gap if all the defender needs to do is tag you. But I’ve spent most of the last few weeks refereeing while recovering from a broken finger and being on the whistle has been a great chance to see how the standard is improving.

New players are joining us all the time and recently we’ve had some younger guys arrive from the southern hemisphere, several of them spending their gap years helping out at Brambletye. They’re all good rugby players who grew up playing Touch as well as contact and a year ago they might have run rings round us. Now we’re in a different place and their skill levels, and the team spirit with which they play, are making us better.

The age range is wide – some of us in our 50s, playing alongside teens or early 20s with the average probably early 40s. Most are parents and a strong core of players have kids in the junior sections of the club and spend their weekends coaching the youth teams, something they clearly enjoy. But Monday Night Touch is a great way to carry on with what we all love about rugby, and to show the kids that Mum or Dad can still do it themselves and that rugby is a sport for life. This week, one of our players brought along a picture his six-year-old had drawn him that afternoon, telling him to play well and score three tries. He only scored two as it turned out, so may have been shot when he got home (see below) but it will give his boy extra enthusiasm at training come the weekend.

Some of our regulars have recently started a family group, also on a Monday evening, to encourage younger people and especially girls to take up Touch Rugby. That’s attracting higher numbers week-on-week. A great way to bring new players into the game – some may graduate into full contact 15s or 7s but even if they don’t, they’re playing with and for each other with an oval ball. Hopefully over time some will join the main Touch group – ours is a mixed sport and we aim to be inclusive, but we currently only have one regular woman player and we’d love more to join us.

Most of all, though, some things about rugby never change and that’s the twin pleasures of playing hard but (mostly) fair together and the camaraderie that fosters. One of our regulars has had a tough time at work over the last few weeks – on Monday he said how good it was to be able to talk about that in a low-key way with his mates at the club over a drink after training. We play in tournaments around the South East and have had some great nights out on the town together. We have a very active WhatsApp group with dozens of weekly, even daily, posts. Shirts On Tour is a regular feature, with shared photos of EGRFC Touch jerseys turning up in ever more exotic locations – helped by the fact that one of our team is an airline pilot in his spare time!

But most of all, heading back to work on a Monday seems somehow less painful knowing that at 7.30 we’ll be gathering at EGRFC with kindred spirits for a proper run-around with a ball and shared jugs of beer to follow. What a great way to start the week.

For more info, follow this link: Touch rugby

EOS TRAINING
At East Grinstead we are so blessed with the amazing sponsors we have who support our wonderful family rugby club. Please follow this link to read how EOS are getting involved in the club and grassroots rugby in general.
EOS Training

Thank you Chris for all you do for G’s - Our brilliant U16 girls in particular!

We really couldn’t do without sponsorship at East Grinstead. If you are reading this and want to get involved, your company could certainly benefit from partnering with us and we have flexible and exciting packages available. Please get in touch if you want a chat.

MRRF 7's
Some of our more speedy players are continuing their season with the Matt Ratana Rugby Foundation 7’s team, Akuma Ratana Toa. The very muddy, Eggchasers 7’s, was the latest challenge last weekend. Huge congratulations to EG players Ben, Noah and Ethan and the whole squad as they won the Bowl final beating Nigeria Stallions 17-7.

If you want to find out more about Matt’s legacy and follow the Akuma Ratana Toa squad, please click this link: Ratana 7's

OTHER NEWS
If you have any news about any aspect of our rugby family here at East Grinstead, get involved and email m.marriott@btconnect.com. See you next week!!