Caldy RFC Vs Bedford Blues

CALDY RFC CALDY RFC RFC CALDY RFC CALDY CALDY RFC CALDY RFC RFC CALDY RFC CALDY CALDY RFC CALDY RFC RFC CALDY RFC CALDY CALDY RFC CALDY RFC RFC CALDY RFC CALDY CALDY RFC CALDY RFC RFC CALDY RFC CALDY

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President’s Welcome Graham Armitage

A very warm welcome to you all today including our visitors from Bedford Blues on this their first ever visit I believe to Paton Field. We have already faced the Blues earlier this season away from home and were initially given a salutary lesson in attacking rugby before coming back into the game in the second half, eventually losing by 52 points to 29.

Having struggled in the early part of the season, Caldy’s results have improved markedly since, particularly from December onwards with historic wins against Cornish Pirates and even more impressively against Ealing a few weeks ago. Since then further wins have also followed against Richmond and again last Friday night against Nottingham away, with Caldy accumulating 19 league points from a possible 25 over the last few weeks. Hopefully this may indicate that the squad is starting to acclimatise to the pace and demands of Championship rugby. Credit for this must go not only to the players and the coaching team headed up by Matt and Gareth but also to the incredible level of support which has more than doubled since last season and seems at times to have provided an extra man on the pitch. Whilst today’s game will no doubt be another tough encounter,

it will be an opportunity for Caldy with home advantage to test themselves once again against a top level team and judge our recent performances.

Bedford Blues have an illustrious rugby history having been formed in 1886 and played against the likes of Stade Francais and the Barbarians before the 1900’s. Subsequently they were awarded a fixture against the All Blacks around 10 years later, and, whilst losing in front of a record crowd, recorded one of the most famous days in their history. Bedford have since maintained an impressive fixture list and at the advent of the league structure in the 1990’s were top of the tree winning the Powergen Challenge Cup and several other accolades shortly after. It is probably fair to say that at the turn of the millennium they struggled to maintain this standard but have seldom relinquished a grip on top level rugby having played at Championship level for many years now. They have provided over the years numerous players to the England team and in Budge Rodgers had a British Lion who captained England on many occasions and whom some of our older fans will still remember with affection. Whatever happens today it is an absolute privilege

Caldy Rugby Business Club

Caldy Rugby Club, Paton Field, Telegraph Road, Wirral, CH48 1NX

What is the Business Club?

Caldy Rugby Business Club has built a membership of 25+ businesses; a number that is always growing as we have new members join. This has provided a solid foundation for commercial activities at the club.

We have had some fantastic speakers join us – Ian Ayre, Simon Halliday, Kenny Logan, Lawrence Dallagio, and most recently, former England and International Rugby Player Charlie Hodgson.

Members will have access to a programme of quarterly breakfast events, with speakers from a wide range of commercial, business and sporting backgrounds.

Access to a range of partners, to whom Business Club members will have exclusive access to help develop their own business interests.

Annual membership fee of £500 +VAT plus £250 joining fee.

Benefits:

n Pitchside advertising board at Caldy RFC for your business

n Two Caldy RFC season tickets –enabling you and a guest to attend Caldy RFC home games at Paton Field

n Two breakfast invites for the guest speaker events per quarter

n Company logo in the Caldy RFC matchday programme – 15 per season

n Entry into the International ticket ballot

n Logo and write up on the Caldy RFC website

n Priority booking for the hire of the Club house for events, parties, meetings

n Free entry to Caldy 7’s

If you are interested in joining Caldy Rugby Business Club, please contact Jonathan Kemp at Jonathan@aev.co.uk

www.caldyrugbyclub.com/business-club

to be playing such a historical club and we hope that whatever the result they and their supporters will fully enjoy the Caldy experience.

Off the pitch we have continued to upgrade our facilities with further improvements to the floodlighting and to the bank now virtually complete. Other improvements have been carried out to satisfy Championship requirements both on and off the field and within the clubhouse areas. Our thanks go to all those responsible for putting in so much effort in such a limited timescale to ensure that we can all enjoy rugby at this level, and to our sponsors who have made this financially possible.

Our thanks must also go to our team of ground staff, the Last of the Summer Wine (LOSW for short), who freely give enormous amounts of their time to produce and maintain the standard of pitches that we all possibly take a little too much for granted. You only had to be here for the pre -season game against Sale Sharks and early season home games to appreciate the wonderful aspect and playing facilities that the club now has to offer. Despite an aggressive winter so far the guys have continued to produce wonderful playing surfaces despite the rain, snow and everything else the weather has thrown at them. I must also mention the contribution of all those involved in the day to day operation and management of the club including our bar, catering

and other members of staff without whom the club could not effectively function.

As mentioned before thanks also to all of our members, supporters and spectators for your incredible support so far this season and hopefully going forward as we continue to face the challenges ahead. Your contribution cannot be underestimated and is an essential part of our effort to maintain our status with our centenary season just around the corner; let’s all continue to get fully behind our team in the weeks and months ahead, come wind, rain or shine and give them the positive support and encouragement they deserve. We have increased the capacity for our pre-match lunches which are now usually fully booked weeks ahead, so if you wish to take part please book well in advance. If you wish to do this or become a member/ purchase a season ticket or help us in any way please refer to our website for further details.

Finally, I sincerely hope that you enjoy your visit to Caldy today, come win lose or draw, and that we can all fully appreciate the fantastic level of rugby now on offer at Paton Field. Let’s enjoy this wonderful game of ours in the spirit intended, renew old friendships and hopefully celebrate whatever the result with a few drinks in the traditional way after the game.

Graham Armitage

Today’s Opponents

Bedford Blues

Bedford Blues - The Season Thus Far

Bedford Blues head to Paton Field this afternoon desperate to pick up the points which will likely see Mike Rayer’s side jump up to third in the Championship table ahead of the upcoming Cup block. With Coventry facing the difficult task of heading to Ealing Trailfinders this afternoon, Blues – who are just one point behind – will be looking to take advantage of any slip-ups ahead of the final run-in to the end of the campaign.

They head north in a rich vein of form following three successive victories; which kicked off in-front of a 5,000 sell-out at Goldington Road on Boxing Day with a huge derby day victory against rivals, Ampthill. Thumping victories over London Scottish (34-13) and Cornish Pirates (55-13) have since followed.

Within their ranks, they currently possess the Championship’s leading marksman, Will Maisey and perennial try scorer Dean Adamson who is looking to break into the top five of Blues’ all-time try scorers, currently joint with Alan Towersey on 112.

Bedford are the second highest scorers in the Championship this season, adding 421 points from 13 games (at an average of 32.4 per fixture) and only trail Ealing Trailfinders in that statistic who are well out in-front with 525.

They have managed to sure up their defence in recent weeks, conceding just four tries in the last three games, but are still right up there in this statistic as well with the third leakiest defence this term conceding 377 points.

Today’s game will be the first visit to Paton Field for a competitive fixture and follows the first ever meeting between the two sides on October 1st 2022 which saw Bedford run out 52-29 winners on Ladies Day at Goldington Road.

The only other time Blues have headed this way was for a Junior 7s tournament during the times they had an Academy system.

Three to watch!

DOB: 2/8/97 (25)

Height 182cm

Weight: 118kg

Always in the conversation for Bedford Blues’ Man of the Match award, back row forward Tui Uru has been one of the standout players for Mike Rayer’s side thanks to his try scoring abilities as well as his tiresome work around the park.

Normally first option to crash into contact, Uru is always near the top in terms of collisions, tackles made and metres gained. He has made 45 appearances for Bedford since joining from Northampton Saints initially on dual registration before signing permanently in the Summer of 2021. He’s had to shake off injuries throughout the campaign already, and is always missed when not involved in the matchday 23, but heads to the Paton Field following seven successive commanding performances as he looks to string a durable sequence of appearances together.

Will Maisey - Fly Half

DOB: 4/12/92 (29)

Height 189cm

Weight: 93kg

The Championship’s current leading marksman, Will Maisey has already contributed 149 points from the tee and a solitary try in 2022/23 and possesses an 85% kicking accuracy ahead of travelling to Paton Field this afternoon.

Surpassing the 1,000 career points barrier on Boxing Day 2021, specifically adding 351 from 46 appearances since joining Mike Rayer’s side in March 2020, just a week before the first national lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prior to this spell at Bedford, Maisey spent time with Nottingham, Ampthill and most famously Coventry, where he helped them to promotion into the Championship as part of 123 appearances with the West Midlands side, contributing 794 points.

DOB: 15/11/00 (22)

Height 178cm

Weight: 102kg

Toby is one of the longest serving members of the current RFC squad, joining us from Leeds Beckett University as a hooker seven years ago. Subsequently he has turned himself into one of the most effective opensides in the league. His speed across the pitch and at the breakdown are impressive and as a senior player he now undertakes an important leadership role within the group. Toby is employed as a cybersecurity software saleman.

Jack Hughes - Hooker

That Friday Feeling Gary

Devaney

Three in a Row!

Bedford Blues come to Paton Fields on Saturday for what is sure to be a big test for the Caldy Ravers. After 3 wins in a row, and 4 out of 5, Caldy have surged up the table and now stand 8th in the table with 27 points. Saturday will be a very tough game with Bedford Blues also on a run of 3 wins in a row, and the two teams are the form teams in the Championship at the moment. Who would have thought we would be saying that Caldy are the form team in the Championship?

Last week saw Caldy away at Nottingham under the floodlights on Friday night. A great win with Caldy in control for most of the match and gaining all 5 points. After the disappointment of losing at home to Nottingham in the dying moments at the beginning of the season it shows how the Ravers have been learning their lessons during the season. Lots of credit to the coaches and players!

Bedford Rugby Club was founded in 1886 after the merger of Bedford

Rovers (1876) and Bedford Swifts (1882) and they have had 41 Internationals play for their country whilst playing for Bedford and 3 England Captains. In total another 83 internationals have played for Bedford at some point in their careers. A famous Club with a lot of illustrious former players making for a rich history. This will be Bedford’s first ever visit to Paton Fields and let us give them a warm welcome from the Bank.

The RFU forwarded relevant and interesting statistics regarding the Championship this week. Nick Royle is the 3rd highest try scorer in the division with 8 tries and Bedford’s Ian Adamson is in 2nd place with 9 tries. After grabbing tries in the last few games behind the powerful Caldy pack Ollie Hearn has 7 tries and also features in the top 10 try scorers. Well done to the evergreen Nick Royle for challenging at the top of the try scorers table yet again!

Caldy have the 4th highest average attendance in the Championship with an average gate of 1,220 and the club with the highest average

attendance is Bedford with 2,998. When Caldy visited Goldington Road in September we lost a thriller by 52 – 29 points. The Ravers have learnt a lot since those early games when it was about adapting to a faster pace of rugby. Our Alacadoos and supporters who were at Goldington Road that day thoroughly enjoyed themselves at the Bedford traditional Ladies Day, when everyone was asked to wear pink including the Caldy hierarchy. The big controversy of the week has been the RFU announcing the change to the tackle height for next season. Certainly it has generated strong feelings amongst community rugby who are struggling to see how it will work. It is hard to comment without seeing the supporting evidence but the big challenge for us will be having players in the 2nd team tackling below the waist and in the 1st XV below the shoulder line. I am not sure how players can move from one team to the other and change tackle technique so quickly but hopefully the RFU had already considered these issues before announcing the changes. We will have to wait and see what comes out of the current debate and hopefully it wont act as a deterrent to people playing community rugby.

Our players need to be fitter

than ever to play at such a high standard, and to compete with full time professionals and each month there is a fitness challenge between the squad. At the end of their individual gym sessions in January the players have been doing a timed 1000 metre challenge on rowing machines, and send their times in. The leader as I write this is Ryen Spencer – Wolf with an amazing 2 minutes 58 seconds. If you have ever tried the challenge, you will agree to beat 3 minutes is extremely difficult! Players are rated against each other by position and tables show how each player has done – a great idea and I am sure no one wants to be near the bottom of a table.

Let us give the Caldy Ravers great support from the Bank tomorrow and remember to keep it positive with no shouting at the referee or opposition. At Caldy, we want to win but keeping the spirit of rugby with respect to others, is also key to what we are as a rugby club.

Also, a reminder not to park on Pikes Hey Road if you are going to watch the game. We have plenty of parking room at Paton Fields and please show consideration for our neighbours by not parking on their road.

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Nottingham 17 - 29 Caldy

Unfortunately, we had no-one at Nottingham last Friday, to do a match report, so a big thank you to Nottingham for letting us use theirs. “With the temperature approaching zero, Nottingham were beaten convincingly by Championship new boys Caldy, who came into the game in high spirits having won their last two, including a dramatic 26-24 victory over top of the table Ealing Trailfinders. The game started with both teams looking lively, though it was the visitors who got on the board first 10 minutes in. They kicked a penalty won deep in Nottingham territory to the corner. They then turned the lineout into a driving maul and pushed their way over the line.

Nottingham responded immediately,

though, working the ball all the way up the pitch. Ryan Olowofela slipped through a gap in the defence right on the try line to finish off the move and level up the score.

The rest of the half was very much played in the centre of the park, with neither team really able to carve out many clear-cut chances. That was until right before half time when Caldy won a penalty and kicked it to the corner to set up another driving maul. Ollie Hearn eventually got the ball over the line to give the visitors the lead heading into the break.

The second half started the way the first finished, with the Ravers putting points on the board. The scrum half, Chris Pilgrim spotted a gap in the Green and White defensive line and

scampered through it to extend the lead.

Npttingham responded well though. Having just come off the bench, Morgan Bunting did well to dance around a number of would-be tacklers to break away from the defence. He was eventually caught at about the 22, but Nottingham kept countering, and a few moments later David Williams finished in the corner to slice Caldy’s lead to just seven points.

The home side created a few more chances in the following minutes, but Caldy stayed strong in defence and were able to stop them from becoming anything more and even managed to get three points back with penalty from 20 metres out.

They then put the game to bed with

just over 10 minutes remaining. They rumbled their way through the Nottingham defence with another driving maul. Sam Dickinson was the man who got the ball down over the line to score Caldy’s bonus point try and extend their lead to 17.

Nottingham did find a consolation try in the closing minutes when the captain Josh Poullet darted through a gap in the defence and passed it over to Michael Green to beat the last man. It wasn’t enough to secure a bonus point though, and the final whistle blew moments later.

The result sees Caldy leapfrog Nottingham in the league. Craig Hammond’s men find themselves in ninth place ahead of their clash with Doncaster Knights next weekend.”

David Brewster Managing Director

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Caldy Coach’s Report Matt Cairns

Welcome back to Paton Field and it’s great to have another home game in January. We’ve had a month thats exceeded all our expectations and the lads have really stepped up performances and although we have along way to go and some incredibly tough games we have put ourselves in a fantastic position. Last Friday nights result was great and well deserved even though we feel we could have been a bit smarter how we finished the game off.

This week presents another tough game with the visit of Bedford. They are a well established championship side with an exciting brand of rugby. The first half of our last game was the first time we had been blown away this year and although we came back into the game second half we know what a threat they pose. This should be a great game of rugby and we will be working hard to try and get a result! Enjoy the game!

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Today’s Squad vs Bedford Blues