Walkerburn Rugby Football Club

 WRFC AGM – RUGBY REPORT – 2010/11 SEASON

2009/10 League Position

We started the season having placed sixth in Regional East Division 2 in 2010/11.

Coaching

Coaches at the start of the season were Iain Watson and Colin Kerr. Colin coached the backs and Iain the forwards. Despite a serious knee injury (incurred while dancing! [sic]), Colin, with the help of painkillers managed to complete the season. We were also fortunate for coaching assistance from Gary Inglis our stand-off, for the season.

Our current coaching set-up is Gary Inglis, Colin Kerr and Iain Watson. Of the three, Iain is a qualified IRB Level 2 coach (Level 3 is the highest coaching level). Gary and Colin have had Premier Rugby experience in Scotland, while the majority of Iain’s senior rugby experience has been outside Scotland, additionally both Gary and Iain have had senior level playing experience in New Zealand. The current structure sees Colin and Gary responsible for fitness and skills training and backs coaching with Iain as Director of Rugby responsible for strategy and forwards coaching.

We have, however, operated this season without a Team Manager and a dedicated First Aider, first aid cover being provided when able by Colin Kerr, while Iain has attended am SRU introductory first aid course.

Colin, Gary and Iain have agreed to continue in their current roles for the 2011/2012 season and we will be looking for a member to assume the role of Team Manager and a dedicated First Aider.

Player Numbers

The club is currently having difficulty fielding just the one side. Player numbers over the last three years have on the surface been largely static;

2008/2009: 31 Avg Age: 31

2009/2010: 27 Avg Age: 30

2010/2011: 35 Avg Age: 29

However these numbers hide a deeper problem. Of the 32 players registered with us, only 21 can be described as being regularly available (available for at least 50% of games this season) and their average age is 31. We have experienced a number of retirements and remain in dire need of playing members.

At last year’s AGM we advised that we would be exploring dual registration with Peebles as a stop gap measure and would discuss the issue of player numbers with playing members to formalise a recruitment strategy. Attempts to address Tweedvale rugby matters with Peebles have not been fruitful, while recruitment has been patchy, however our early season appeal through the Peeblesshire resulted in a number of useful additions to the playing membership; Gary Inglis, Danny Cowe, Ally Drummond and David MacNeillie and Rory Methven. Without them we would find it difficult to complete this season.

2010/2011 Season

This season our goal was to build on our 2009/10 sixth place position and finish in the top four of the division. However we started poorly, the side were under cooked and it was not until game 4 that we recorded our first win against Liberton, the second win coming with game 7 in October, an impressive away win against Inverleith. This started a three game winning streak to conclude the first half of our season. However due to our not earning sufficient bonus points we turned the corner placed 6^th.

Our winning streak was halted at home by Gala YM on 11^th December and then the weather in December and January played havoc with both training and fixtures. We resumed the season in mid-January with a narrow away win against Liberton, however, that was our last win of the season.

Thereafter, team morale suffered and we were pushed to raise sides to complete fixtures suffering a number of losses that should have been wins. We also failed to field a side for the re-arranged St Boswells fixture on 4th April and were consequently docked 2 points by the SRU. Ironically when this fixture was eventually played on 16^th April, the side put up arguably its best display of the season, showing real character and those that played that day should be proud of that performance, taking it onto the coming season. However the damage had been done in January and we finished a poor 8^th place.

2011/2012 Season

The structure of the 2011/12 season is still to be decided by the SRU, however we have been and will remain in the forefront of raising issues about structure and the need for development of rugby in Tweedvale.

Training has already started for the 2011/12 season and we are already in negotiation with a number of potential young players to boost numbers and ensure the club’s playing survival. We will also expect the Club Captain to implement the Players Handbook, which was not implemented in 2010/11 and will provide him with terms of reference so he fully understands what is expected of him by the Club. In addition the Director of Rugby has completed a Development Plan for ensuring the future of competitive rugby at Walkerburn which will need discussion and if agreed implementation by the incoming committee.

The coaches have already met with the players and discussed our aims for the coming season. The key targets are;

• Winning. A key to ensuring the future of rugby at Walkerburn is to make us an attractive club to join and core to this is to gain promotion. We have therefore set uourselves the ambitious goal of winning Regional 2, whatever shape it takes.

• Honesty. Players have agreed to take responsibility for their performances with eachother and the coaching team. Key is to be honest about their fitness levels and skills.

• Individual Coaching. In return and as part of these agreements the coaches have agreed to provide one on one coaching for those that identify skill deficiencies and want their skills upgraded.

File Attachments:

Rugby Report 2010