Colts Rugby
Senior Colts (U19's)

Fixtures

21/04/08

 Rather than keep sending texts I'm going to use this as a way of keeping you updated as to the events at the end of season.
1) The organisers have called off the Caldy 10's as there were insufficient confirmed entries to it.
2) In is proposed that we enter a team loosely under a 'Colts' Banner into a Charity Tournament at Macclesfield on Sunday 11th May. It is a 15-a-side tournament open to all players except those who have played 1st XV rugby this season.
3) The presentation evening for the League trophy is on Friday 16th May at Heywood Road, Sale and it would be nice to have a really good turnout.
4) It is now proposed to have an end of season presentation evening/ get to together on Friday 23rd May 7.0pm for 7.30pm at SRUFC. Bar and food. Anyone know a band who'll come and play....?
5) The Marquee weekend. I know you have exams on the go but I'm exploring the possibility of getting a table of 10 together for the Thursday night 5th June. Speaker/Comedian/sit down meal etc etc. I think I can get a serious subsidy from the club. £35 tickets down to £20. (Shirt and Tie do by the way) Send at e-mail to show your availability/ interest for 1-5 Click here
 

R Hope (U19's)

The View,
Stockport RUFC
Bramhall,
Stockport,
SK7 3AN
E-MAIL

D Morgan (U18's)

24, Hurdsfield Rd ,
Great Moor,
Stockport, SK2 7
E-MAIL

P Faram (U 18's)

266 Stockport Rd ,
Marple ,
Stockport,
Cheshire,
SK6 6EX

(H) 0161 427 3157

Marc Smith (Coach)

(M) 07747 740 492

A Message from Richard Hope
(taken from the Touchline Ramblings of 20th October 2007)

I don’t think it is in any way an exaggeration to state that the future of Stockport RUFC lies in in the Colts XVs that the club are currently nurturing. For many years the club struggled to sustain a productive Colts structure. As a consequence we have suffered from having 5 blank years.

           The current much improved situation has not been arrived at without a lot of hard work and some disappointments. The Senior Colts of 2005-2006 had previously been twice winners of the Cheshire Cup but when they arrived at SC’s they didn’t quite have the impetus to carry on that success and in October 2005 the squad were sadly forced to withdraw from the Lancashire & Cheshire Colts League. As a result  we lost a number of players from the club but I managed to round up a core of about 10 who played in rotation as part of the Junior Colts XV for the rest of that season and played their part in the JC’s winning the Cheshire Cup.

For the 2006-2007 season this meant we had an additional 10 players at Senior Colts all of whom were available every week as only Steve Pearson was away at University and even he eventually travelled home each weekend to play for the 1st XV. He was not the only one who made the step up to senior rugby during that season. A total of 19 players from the squad played senior rugby at some time during the season and Steve was joined by Greg Newton as a regular 1st XV player and Christian Chapman also made his debut. The squad made it to the last 8 in the National Colts cup, The semi Finals of the Cheshire Cup, and won League Plate. More importantly we had managed to bring 10 players through to the senior club who would likely have been lost to the club. (see right).

Ian Kennedy and Marc Smith had been at the helm for that season but as the new term arrived it was clear that Ian was intent on giving his playing career another shot after 2 years away followed a double knee operation.

There were initial misgivings as to how the structure for the 2007-2008 would pan out but everyone’s patience appears to be being rewarded as Phil Faram and Dave Morgan moved up with their squad of players and began to assist Marc Smith with taking them to the next level of performance. For my part I just continued to support the squad in my usual way spending too much time up to my armpits in dirty playing kit. and paperwork.

The first games of the season were played with a number of Under 19’s being available but by the time the majority had dispersed to their Universities the younger brood had gained considerable confidence and realisation of their ability and for the most part the performances have continued at a high level. A couple of bonuses recently have been Phil Leigh’s decision to do a ‘Geary’ and return home from Leeds Carnegie. Phil has now added his name to list of Colts to feature for the 1st XV which now makes it two players this season as Kieran Hibbs made his 1st team debut before going to Liverpool University to study wine women and song….! We have also been joined very recently by two members of the Daily Mail Cup wining side from last season Ed Gillespie and Tom Goldwater have taken the year out after leaving Warwick. We welcome them both.

What of the season so far. We have played seven games. Won all six in the league and lost to Glossop in a friendly. We have entered the National Colts cup and are awaiting the identity of our opponents. Leigh or Burnley. We have a first round match in the Cheshire Cup against Altrincham Kersal on the 25th November. Meanwhile the league programme continues with our next game being at Holylake on the 28th October.

The squad is starting to bond into a really good band of brothers and I look forward to seeing how much we can achieve. Already this season we are into double figures for Colts playing senior rugby. I’ll be surprised if we don’t surpass the 19 who stepped up last season.

To keep the continuity going for years to come it is important that we look ahead to the next batch of Colts coming through. What an exciting prospect that is. They are already three times Cheshire Champions and are a very well coached outfit under the direction of Dave‘s Walker and Wilson. They suffered a narrow defeat at the hands of Rhyl in their opening league game but are unbeaten since and they should achieve much this season. I look forward to working with them next year. They are all already registered as senior colts players and we are hoping to include some of them in the forth coming fixtures. As has been often said before….The future is bright the future is red green and white.

Richard Hope

North West Colts League Cup 2008

Preston GH 10

Stockport 17

Stockport 15

Eccles 8

Eccles 13

Stockport

Newcastle 5

Semi Final

Wirral 5

13th April 2008

Glossop 12

Glossop

Caldy/Glossop

Caldy 17

Caldy

Winnington Pk 5

Final—Sandbach

Leigh 8

27th April 2008

Liverpool SH 20

Liverpool SH

Kendal 8

Kendal

Liverpool SH/Kendal

Tarleton 7

Semi Final

Mold 10

13th April 2008

Sandbach 20

Sandbach 13

Sandbach

Altrincham K 73

Altrincham K 6