Despite more changes to our matchday team than we had hoped for, we were treated to a much-improved performance by our Blueboys in their game against Brentwood this weekend. While the final result was not what we had wanted, it was great to see competitive rugby returning to Coronation Park after the summer break.

Although the pitch had not recovered from its’ summer job as a cricket outfield, our groundsman Russ did a great job in getting the pitch ready, even watering for a couple of days before the game to ensure it was playable. A full match report will follow shortly but photos of this game are now available on the club home page. A big thank you to Jim Howe for taking and sharing these.

Perhaps most important of all, the day saw all parts of the club come together to celebrate the return of competitive rugby to the Park. Even in the face of 30-degree heat, nearly 50 members of the club sat down to attend the first matchday lunch of the new season. A big thank you to Jane and the clubhouse team who did an amazing job in very testing conditions to ensure that all our members and our guests were looked after. Our guests this week included a group from the Great Waltham British Legion who we were proud to have as our matchday sponsors for this game. We were even joined by Premiership trophy which had been kindly lent to us by our friends at Saracens.

Our u9s, led by head coach Neil Scotcher, provided the Guard of Honour for the Blueboys and treated the club to a fantastic exhibition game at half time. After the Blueboys match, 4 teams made up of a mix of u13s-u18s played six entertaining games of touch rugby. Finally, our Ladies 1st XV kindly ran the BBQ and provided some much-needed energy in the blistering heat. It was then all indoors to a packed-out clubhouse to watch England kick off their RWC campaign.

The weekend also saw our Colts and our U15s return to competitive action. The home Colts game was called off on safety grounds but the away game over at Basildon RFC went ahead and despite putting in a real effort they lost 31-12. The U15s fared slightly better as they travelled across the river for their first game of the season away at Old Elthamians RFC. The u15s A game was a 17-17 draw while the B team fixture was a very positive 12-0 win for Chelmsford. This week sees the U14s-U18s in action all across the county and we look forward to sharing how they get on (in what we hope will be more rugby friendly weather!).

Our 1st XV men face a Saturday trip over the border into Suffolk to play Stowmarket RFC and our 1st XV Ladies kick off their season this Sunday, with a home game against Twickenham-based Thamesians RFC. Our 2nd XV enjoy their first game of the season against Rochford Hundred RFC on Saturday at home while our Development XV travel the short distance to play Writtle Wanderers RFC.

So we have another fantastic weekend of rugby to look forward and would love to see you down at the club to support one of the teams and perhaps watch a little of the RWC!