Bowman’s Weekly Blog
22nd October 2021
After such pleasing results for the for the 1s and 2s, last week, we have another important and exciting set of fixtures this coming Saturday. With home rugby viewing brought to you by The Gents, versus Deal and Betteshanger (all support welcome), and both Senior Squad sides travelling away, with the 1st XV playing Sutton & Epsom and the 2nd XV playing Medway. The side to face our Kent rivals will be a strong one again, all be it injuries to the 1st XV have created opportunities for those who played well in the 2nd XV last week to step up for the S&E game. It is a long season, and a deep competitive squad of senior talent is essential for us to achieve our objectives for the season.
The fixture for Oaks against Sutton & Epsom will be the first league meeting between the two sides since 2006/7. Our opponent have recently played at National 2 level so we can expect a real challenge from them and need to be at our best if we are to continue our excellent run of consecutive victories. The 50-3 defeat of Brighton Blues last week did come at a cost. Injuries to Josh Pettet and Jack Nay and with Tommy Morris away mean we have had to make some personnel changes to the pack, drafting in the experienced Stuart Coleman and Sam Nicholls into the row, and Fred Richardson starts in the back row. The starting backline remains unchanged, and we continue to rotate the 17 & 18 shirts to maintain a players conditioning levels. With Sean Derrick returning from injury and Drew Forrester replacing Josh Livett on the bench. Saturday’s weather looks reasonable so we would hope to impose our game on S&E, a team we know is very strong at home.
Momentum is building nicely as we approach an important set of pre-Christmas fixtures that, by the break, will see us having played all teams in the league at least once. Currently sitting third in the 1st XV league and first in the 2nd XV league is pleasing but only when we reach the halfway point in the season will we be able to assess our expectations for the full year. Important we focus on the task in hand, one game at a time, but what is certain is this squad of men will give everything each week to achieve our objectives.
We hope the usual carloads of Oaks supporters will make the journey to the aptly named Rugby Lane. Google Maps says 27 miles in 45 minutes. What can possibly go wrong on the M25 on a Saturday? J.
Best of luck to all our teams.
Adam