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SENIOR RUGBY
With both the 2’s and Ladies oppo pulling out, it was left to our Vets to supply the rugby thrills this weekend. A troupe of our aging warriors travelled to Haywards Heath to play a mini tournament against Heath and Hove on Saturday. To read about these epic encounters, please click here: Match report

Meanwhile, our slightly more youthful 2’s, having been disappointed that Midhurst had pulled out of their cup final, were celebrating an unbeaten season in both the cup and league. Promotion and silverware secured! Dunnings was the venue for this revelry (Or at least the start of it). Massive congratulations to all the players who have represented the 2’s this season, and especially captain, Ben Watkinson and manager, Morgan Burger as they steered their ship home!! Make sure you buy them a beer when you see them.

Our Ladies, similarly sad at Worthings withdrawal from their last league game, made the most of Sunday. Skipper Steph said ‘A massive thank you to everyone who joined the women at HQ for a big game of touch rugby on Sunday! It was great to see everyone from 4 years old to 50+ playing together for an epic game of touch. This marks the end of the ladies season who will finish a minimum of 4th but potentially 3rd place depending on a final few results. Massive congratulations to the team for a great result in their first season in this higher league!’

Next week things get serious in the Papa John’s Cup as our 1’s travel to Bromley for the quarter final! Please make an effort to travel if you can support the boys. Bromley finished two places higher than our last vanquished oppo, Dover, in Counties 1 Kent, so this will be a battle!

As I’m sure you all know, Sunday sees the 66th Sunshine Sevens at Saint Hill. See the article below for how you can be involved.

JUNIOR RUGBY
Sunday 21st - A quieter day at HQ with only a number of the age groups attending festivals to give the club a chance to get the pitches ready for the upcoming Sunshine 7's next week.

The U8s, U9s and U11s, all travelled to Lewes for their minis festival. Once again the weather was kind to us and despite a cold wind, the sun was shining to make for a really enjoyable day.

East Grinstead under 8’s travelled to Lewes Rugby club on Sunday morning. The boys picked up where they left off with some strong running and tagging throughout. There were massive improvements in running onto the ball and supporting the ball carrier. 1 more festival to go with the boys travelling to Uckfield on Sunday.

The U9s fielded 2 teams for the festival. Each team played 5 matches and the G's ended up with more Ws in the column than Ls. There were some tough games against some big opposition but as per all the competitive matches we have had this season the tackling and defence was very strong. Playing a 7 tackle rule to reward good defence, Both EG teams made turnovers on the back of it showing how good the tackling was.

The festival was played in really good spirit and EG2s last game against Crawley saw us loan Mattie Evans (Front) to the opposition who played out of his skin in the wrong shirt! All the coaches were exceedingly happy to see the attack improving too and for both EG1 & 2 we saw a number of tries being scored through running lines with offloads. Long may it continue.

The player of the day awards went to:
Coaches Pick - Harry Woodgate, Mattie Evans, Jude Pullen
Parents' Pick - Erikas Jonusas, Cameron Bell, Nate Driver, Jack Broughton

Thanks again to all the parents who took the time to make the trip and as always are super helpful all round. A special mention to Andy Salter for sorting out the coaches’ full time refreshments!

Our last weekend of the season sees us travel to Uckfield for the final games ever as U9’s.

Sunday 21st April saw the U11s take part in a rugby festival at Lewes. Despite the strong breeze, the sun was out, and the ground was firm, which hinted at the promise of some exciting rugby being played, and I'm glad to say I was not disappointed. We managed to put out two teams, both of whom played some very exciting running rugby.

From a coaches point of view, it was nice to see that all players have shown signs of improvement throughout the year and they are starting to put the techniques we train into the matches without thinking about it. The players are all now looking forward to the final festival of the year at Uckfield.

A big thanks to Lewes RFC for a fantastic day. It was really well organised and friendly. Well done to all for your hard work to put on the day.

Next week the Sunshine 7s is taking place at the club. Please head up to the club to enjoy a really great day and support a wonderful cause. All junior sections are away at Uckfield RFC.

INTERMEDIATE RUGBY
Last week, Crowbrough U16’s visited East Grinstead for a tough and competitive match. East Grinstead started off strongly, using their forwards to break through the line and score two trys in the first 10 minutes. After some very well worked phases, Crowbrough answered back and used the wings to get over the line and really put the pressure on.

After some very intense rucking, tackling and very hard runs from both sides, East Grinstead saw the opportunity and took it, Sid using his size and speed, made a lovely run round the corner, delivering some very effective hand-offs along the way to put the 3rd try over for G’s. Crowbrough weren’t fazed though as they soon came back and put their second try of the day over the line using speed and skill.

Leighton saw an opening from a pick and go and took it to perfection, breaking through the line to get the home team their 4th of the day just before half time.

The second half started very quickly with Tommy receiving the ball out wide and stepping on the gas, darting past defender after defender he soon put the 5th try on the score board for East Grinstead, making it 25-10. Leighton was back on the ball shortly after the restart making a lovely run to put another one over, taking the score to 30-10.

Crowbrough soon found their rhythm and worked their way up the pitch which resulted in a try 30-15. G’s were soon to answer back through Sid making a lovely run through the middle and putting another one over to take the score to 35-15. Leighton decided to finish the match by putting another one over from a pick and go from the ruck. Making the final score 40-15 to the G’s. Overall some very dominant and hard hitting tackles and rucks from both sides and some brilliant scrummaging from both teams as well.

This Sunday saw a busy day for our Inters, with our U13’s playing Lewes, winning 35 - 15. For an end of season friendly, the match was played at a very quick pace and some big tackles coming in from both teams.

Our U14’s fought back from 19-0 to earn a well deserved draw with Burgess Hill. Ollie C, Sam O’s and Ollie S (with an NFL style swan dive over the defensive line) got the trys, Declan with the points from the boot, brilliant end to the season and forward momentum into the Gibraltar tour next weekend.

The U15’s played a friendly match against Horsham. This was a development team from Horsham and played 4, 15 minute quarters.
EG secured the win 53 - 10.

Still looking forward to the U14 tour to The Rock and some final matches still to come.

Well Done everyone involved including the Board, Catering and Grounds staff for another fantastic year at EGRFC!!

SUNSHINE SEVENS
The Challenge Packaging, 66th Sunshine Sevens will be held this Sunday 28th April, when we will provide a great day of 7’s rugby and entertainment. We can only hope that one of the wettest Marches ever does not continue – and we actually get some sun!

We are grateful that The Lady Astor of Hever Trophy is, as has always been reward enough for our Elite sides to come and entertain at Saint Hill. We welcome back last year’s winners Ramblin Jesters who have dominated for a few years but will face stiff opposition from the Apache teams, Shogun Rugby, Lions, Wooden Spoon and Esher Mavericks. Great to see the Ratana sides kicking off the season and offering new talent the opportunity to play at the Elite level.

Women’s rugby is just getting stronger and stronger, not only at East Grinstead but in the teams for this year’s sevens. Last Years winners Wooden Spoon are back to defend the Steve Cairns Trophy with sides from the Savvy Panthers – Lionesses – Eggchasers – Ratana and local sides East Grinstead, Pulborough and Uckfield.

The Men’s Open sees several local sides with some good development sides. We welcome the Oxford Buffalo’s, the Outcasts, and the Eggchaser Lions.

At East Grinstead Rugby Club we not only try to bring great Sevens, but also raise money for local Children’s Charities. To date the Club has raised over 400k in the 65 years. Last year was a great year for our fundraising, the Sevens, plus our Golf Day at the wonderful Birch Grove golf course, meant we were able to distribute over £30,000!

This amount of money has allowed us to support more local charities who have been really struggling to secure government funding. We continue to support Step by Step School for Autism, continue our long association with Wooden Spoon and East Grinstead Special Families. In addition, we have donated to Crew at the Queen Vic Hospital, Court Meadow Group RDA, horse riding therapy and Tadpoles, a swimming group at our local sports centre. We have also supported our local schools, Imberhorne and Sackville, by contributing to their student support fund. The schools go on international trips to work on schools’ projects, one such project is Champion Chanzige which carries out school refurbishment projects in Tanzania. With its close links to the schools and students we have decide to give some international support. Finally, we have been able to support some local special causes.

As always, we have many people to thank. Our special thanks go to Challenge Packaging, to Steve Rogers at Penny Farthing Jewellers for his all-round support and sponsoring the Player of the Tournament, our Programme Sponsors, the Organising Committee, Refs and all the Catering Team.

As always – we need help on the day with car park, pitch marshalling and many other jobs. Please contact any member of the committee – or just come a watch some great sevens. First games kick off at 11.00am.

Help us Help the Kids!

FRIDAY FAMILY FUN TOUCH RUGBY
With the weather now improving and the light so much better in the evenings, it’s fantastic to see our Family Friday’s going from strength to strength. If you fancy joining this wonderful crew, drop Brendan an email at: bgerag@gmail.com for all the info you need, or just turn up at 6pm on Friday!!!

G’S STASH ON TOUR
Great to see the Goldsworthy’s representing at the Red Roses match. Looking good!!

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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!!