Whilst the season may officially start until Saturday 3rd September, when the 1st XV take on Gosport and Fareham at the Paddock and the 2nd XV play away in a friendly against Tunbridge Wells, the Senior and Academy Squads have been working extremely hard under the stewardship of Head Coach Adam Bowman and his coaching team.
Ahead of the Senior Squads first pre-season outing, Bowman comments ‘Numbers to training have been healthy, and I’ve been really pleased with the quality of training and application of everyone who has turned up. Last season’s promotion to London 1 South has been extremely positive, with a number of new players attracted to the Club and I’m really excited about the impact that they could make in the Navy and Gold come the start of the season.’
One of the most pleasing aspects for Bowman has also been the return of a number of our Academy graduates. Having headed up the Academy for the past eight seasons, the new Senior Head Coach has been delighted with the number of faces returning to the fold after finishing their studies at University, including Jonny Short, who has been working alongside Connor Browne of Tenax Performance overseeing the strength and conditioning element of the pre-season programme. Speaking of the S&C department, Bowman said ‘This will be Connor’s fourth pre-season with the Club, and we are very lucky to have someone of his expertise to call upon. Having Jonny on board has also made a real difference, particularly as we have put in an extra session every Saturday morning in Knole Park – it’s been hard work, but that brings the squad closer together. We still have another few weeks to go, but the squad are in good shape and that is testament to Connor and Jonny’.
‘Our focus now turns to our first pre-season match against Medway this weekend. Finishing third in London 1 South last year, Taff Gwilliam’s men will be an extremely good test for us as a squad, and allow us to start trying new combinations and playing structures.’
KO at Medway is 3pm, and the Senior Squad would be delighted to see as many of the Sevenoaks faithful as possible – no doubt a lot of you are suffering with RWS – Rugby Withdrawl Symptoms – at this time of year!