Eastern Counties Rugby Union

with a development match against Middlesex U17’s at Old Merchant Taylor’s magnificent ground in London.
It had been agreed that each County would field a large squad and that there would be three x 30 minute periods to ensure that each squad member played a reasonable number of minutes.

With the change in the structured season this year, there had been little time for the coaches of either side to prepare their squads for the match and James Herbert, EC Lead coach had only seen some members of his squad once or twice in the lead up to the afternoon.

Given the lack of preparation time, the standard of rugby was excellent and there was not one EC player who let down himself or his County. The results in these games are secondary but, for the record, EC won all three games and showed great promise for their forthcoming games after Christmas.

The third ‘mini game’ was cut short as three nasty injuries occurred in a very short period. We wish Sam Nash and George Lenihan speedy recoveries from their shoulder and knee injuries together with the Middlesex player who also dislocated his shoulder.

With the exception of the injuries, this was a very worthwhile trip and congratulations are due to the players for their skill and effort and their parents for battling through the Watford football traffic to deliver their sons on time!

A stern test awaits the squad in the New Year when we play our traditional fixture against Yorkshire on 29th January; in the meantime, the coaches and management team would like to wish the players and parents a very Happy Christmas.

John P R Mackay