It’s fair to say that this is a real period of uncertainty, one that many of us have never faced. The current situation with the coronavirus outbreak is affecting millions of people’s lives, which makes it difficult to look forward to anything in the future, however, we can take solace from the fact that we are all in this together and when it is over, we will no doubt appreciate the luxury of meeting up with our mates, having dinners or playing a team sport. Now more than ever, the support from the #hovefamily is extremely important.
With that being said, I wanted to take the opportunity to give a review of our season for the men’s 1XV and 2XV on and off the field.

Preseason 2019 started in May, off the field at least. New sponsors came on board, Apex group, Cin Cin, Baxter & Hanks and Persil all committed to the 2019/20 season. In addition to this, we retained the support of a number of other sponsors notably, Property Moves, Rix & Kay, T Reeves, Cardens, Latino America, Uncle Sam’s and Newport Paper. Without these sponsors, it would be very difficult for the club to survive and I would like to personally thank all of them for their support this season, we hope to continue these relationships in the future.

Further work was also done on the kit/stash front. Phil Dugard, with the support of the women’s section created a relationship with Intersport. They created a bespoke kit package which could be purchased online for the senior men’s and women’s players, this was extremely well received by the players and it is something that can be built on easily for next season.

On the social side of things, we arranged for a pre-season barbeque on the first training night which was preceded by a game of touch. With over 65 players attending it was an enormous success and we managed to get some new players signed up (as well as some old faces returning). We also set some objectives for the season ahead which unfortunately, we have been unable to achieve. But, the buy in from the players was tremendous, there was a significant amount of information thrown out and everyone made an effort to acknowledge the task of the season ahead. With pre-season now in full swing, the club were made aware of disheartening news concerning Noah Rees (a former colt at Hove Rugby Club) was involved in a tragic accident in early summer. His family arranged a fund raising day at the club to help aid his recovery, the senior men’s squad arranged an intra club game for #noahfest and social sec Chris Knott organised t shirts to be made for all the senior players with all proceeds going towards Noah’s recovery. This was truly a remarkable day, mainly because the amount of people that came out in support of Noah but also it gave a sense of the community spirit that is within Hove Rugby Club.

With only a few weeks until the start of the season, Hove took a squad of 32 players to Chobham for a pre-season friendly. With a split of the squads into 1s and 2’s, both teams were able to secure victories which were a huge relief and gave optimism for the season ahead. A number of players were making their senior men’s debuts, Harry Nelson, Luke Buckton-Taylor and Ben Stephens all under 20 and made serious impressions. Unfortunately we lost Luke Torres in pre-season with a knee ligament injury; this was extremely unfortunate for Luke as he had spent the majority of last season recovering from concussion; however he gracefully took on the roll as the player’s membership secretary which he excelled in. the club and committee are extremely thankful to Luke for his help during the season.

The first league games came up quickly for both teams, with a host of players available the coaches were spoilt for choice. The 1XV were at home to Old Alleynians and the 2XV were away to Lewes, with myself out injured, Phil Dugard was making his season debut as captain for the 1XV and Christopher Wallace captained the 2XV. In great conditions, both sides recorded victories with the 1XV winning 21-16 and second team recording a dogged win away to Lewes winning 21-17. This was an outstanding start to the season but there was plenty to work on for both teams.

Next up, was an away trip to Deal for the 1XV with the 2XV facing Seaford at home. With a number of players suddenly unavailable (Rene, Carles, Dugard to name a few), the 1XV travelled to Deal with a very different looking team that had beat OA’s the week before. The 2XV were also weakened by as a number of their players had been promoted to the first team. Nevertheless, both sides wanted to continue the winning momentum.
Unfortunately, despite a solid performance by many young players, the 2XV lost 14-33. Players such as Luke Buckton-Taylor, Ben Stephens and Jack Moore all stepped up showing that they are the future of the club. Down in Deal, it was a day to forget, Hove abandoned their game plan and indiscipline cost the boys dearly, Hove only managed one solitary try which was from Lloyd Tullet. A day to forget for the 1XV.

The next block of fixtures for the 1XV was crucial, Charlton Park at home was a huge game and luckily Hove were back to full strength. The 2XV faced local rivals Burgess Hill away and despite a number of players missing, they again put up a strong fight but ultimately fell on the wrong side of the referee losing 36-7. For the 1XV, it was a return to winning ways; Ian Saunders managed to remain on the pitch this time and Alex Parker grabbed a hatrick. Harry Nelson was also in scintillating form and because of some real hard graft in defence; Hove managed to win 31-28, an outstanding result.

Up next was Maidstone away for the 1XV and Hellingly at home for the 2XV. Maidstone were bottom of the league and had been having a tough time but Hove were under no illusions it would be tough. The 2XV had a much stronger team out and despite strong performances from Danny O’Connor and James Buckley, a few late scores by Hellingly put the game out of reach with the final score being 14-28 to Hellingly. The 1XV on the other hand, put Maidstone to the sword and came away with a 62-12 victory, notable performances came from George Brown who had probably his best game in a Hove shirt, Chris Knott threw some pingers all day in the lineout showing that he fully deserved the number 2 jersey after PAT ANDREWS left in the summer. But the highlight of this game was a certain Carl Buckland, who had the grand old age of 104 scored his first try in 30 years (okay those stats aren’t correct but its close), Carl followed up on the kick off which Sam whiting gathered, he then looked inside him and fed Carl who strolled in scoring under the posts, a mesmerising moment. This win was marred by the disappointment that Chris Knott had suffered a serious ankle injury in training the following week. Chris has had a successful operation and is well on the mend now but it was a cruel blow for a good player and all round good bloke, I want to thank Chris for continuing to stay involved despite his horrific injury, hopefully we will all see him back in a Hove shirt soon!

After a week’s break, the 1XV were back at home to Crowborough and the 2XV faced Crawley away. For only the second time this season, the coaching team had a full complement to pick from; competition for selection is always good but both teams had the ability to go out and win. The 2XV were down by 3 points at half time after some excellent scores by Guy Patton and Archie Davies however, the failure to adapt to the referee again cost the boys and Crawley ran away with a 34-12 win. At the rec, despite the boys going down to 13 men, the 1XV came away with a 27-22 win, I am told it should have been more but the defensive effort was what sealed the win.

Gravesend and East Grinstead were the next opponents. The 1XV travelled up to north Kent with a real spring in their step and thanks to late interception by Carles, they came away with a deserved win, the final score being 15-12. The 2XV had a tough time of it against EG, losing 0-46.

After another rest week because of the world cup final (did England play? My memory is hazy!), the 1XV hosted Dover at home in the pouring rain, another impressive defensive performance ensued with a final result 36-7 to Hove. The 2XV were away to Seaford in a friendly winning 95-5 or something, even Rob Brown played!

Up next was Old Colfs in what would prove to be a real test, but the weekend went to the 2XV who managed their first league win in 2 months by beating Barns Green at home 24-12, a fantastic result. The first team unfortunately lost out despite scoring 4 tries with a final score of 38-25 to Old Colfs. The boys were obviously disappointed by this but I took real heart in our attitude to never give up, something that we had lost over the last year.
Thanet at home provided the perfect opportunity for the 1XV to bounce back and they deservedly did that with a 50-0 win, the 2XV lost out to a powerful Eastbourne side away (although I understand it was the biggest pack that they had faced) with a final score of 53-12.

Next up, we were in the Bob Rogers Cup against Brighton 2XV. Now regardless of what team Brighton put out, this was a huge game for the squad. Last season, we were humiliated away at Brighton in the league failing to register a point; it’s probably my worst memory in a Hove shirt and I know some of the boys were keen to rectify that. It was a pulsating game, there was everything from great tries to a red card, but the highlight of the game was seeing Guy Patton split his opposite number (Matt Dicken’s, a former Hove player!) in half. Tries by Alex Parker (2), Jack Moore and Ian Saunders gave Hove a deserved score line of 26-19 at the final whistle. I think if you speak to anyone at Hove, regardless of what team Brighton put out, you always want to get one over on them and this fixture was no different.

With two games left before the Christmas break, the 1XV travelled away to Beccehamians whilst the 2XV had a bye weekend. In what was purely a defensive performance. Hove managed to come away with a 24-10 win, it should have been far more but possession and discipline let Hove down. Anyway, the annual Christmas bus trip more than made up for the performance!

Haywards Heath were next at the rec, deservedly top of the league and with Hove in second place it would determine who would finish top of London 2 South East before the end of the year. The 2XV also hosted Haywards Heath 2XV at home. With a few injuries and some players unavailable, this was always going to be a tough game, in what was a scrappy first half Hove were down by 7 when burst down the flank allowed Pavlides to feed Dugard to score in the corner. However, Hove went down to 13 men due to some ill-discipline and Heath were able to capitalise fully scoring two well taken tries. Hove were able to pull one back when a sneaky move allowed Pavlides to burst through and score under the posts, despite some further late pressure Hove had to settle for the losing bonus point with the final score 19-12 to Haywards Heath. The 2XV also had their troubles on pitch 3 (which bizarrely only had one set of posts!) with the final score 29-5 to Heath. Despite two tough losses, I was proud with the character we had showed, in both teams. The previous season had been really tough mentally and physically so it was important that we actually played to our potential in both leagues.

2020 started with a trip to Farnham in the RFU intermediate cup, with a number of players unavailable and or injured this was always going to be tough going. We had a huge number of young players in the squad, Harry Nelson, Luca Marshall, Luke Buckton-Taylor, Ben Stephens and George Davies all stepped up to the plate. Farnham were clearly eager to progress through the rounds and the score line probably didn’t reflect the effort put in by the boys with the hosts running out 55-0 winners.

With us out the intermediate cup, we were still in line to achieve our objectives of finishing top 4 and winning a cup. With that, attention quickly shifted to Deal at home for the 1XV and Seaford away for the 2XV. Eager to make up for the result against Deal at the start of the season, Hove were not on the money at all, Deal defended like their lives depended on it and there was just no way through despite numerous opportunities to put the game to bed, scores by Emmerson and Dugard were simply not enough and Deal ran out 19-13 winners. The 2XV were also having their fair share of troubles going down 33-15 to Seaford, again there were opportunities to get some points but indiscipline cost them again (a running them throughout the senior men’s squad).

It wasn’t going to get any easier for both sides, the 1XV headed up the M25 to Charlton Park and the 2XV hosted Burgess Hill at the rec. Hove were in the middle of somewhat crisis in the second row department, Old Carl Buckland and Charlie Watts were both out with long term injuries while Ian Saunders was suffering from a hip issue. This meant Toby Brown and Adie Shergold deputised in the row. Against the biggest pack in the league this was going to be a long day at the office if Hove couldn’t win their set piece, assistant coach Jack Newton had tweaked attack and the 1XV probably made more breaks than they did all season. Despite this, they failed to capitalise on their opportunities and Charlton Park eventually ran out winners with the score of 55-24. The 2XV managed to get a solid team against Burgess Hill but, were undone by some flying Fijians which showed up just in time for kick off, Burgess Hill ran away with the game winning 45-5.

With some numbers dropping at training and both sides struggling to record wins, there was clearly an issue. The leadership group produced a survey for all the players to give feedback on a number of areas which they thought were good or bad. With over 40 responses, this was extremely valuable and as a playing group we have managed to look at a number of areas that we can improve upon, ranging from training to culture and even food. We are hoping to repeat this at the end of the year to see if there has been progress and look for other ways we can improve as club.

With Maidstone conceding the game to the 1XV, the 2XV played Hellingly away. With a number of players returning, the 2XV managed to put out a strong side. Tries by Garrish, Marshall and Holborn gave a winning score of 34-10. A superb result.
February came around quick and the 1XV went up to local rivals Crowborough with a lot to prove. There had been a huge amount of rain the day before and it was arguable that the game should have even gone ahead, despite this Hove knew that Crowborough would play a simple game plan but again, there were so many missed opportunities that could have sealed the win. Scores by Marshall and Patton (2) gave Hove a losing bonus point but Crowborough sealed the win with a late penalty, with a final score of 23-17. The 2XV hosted Crawley and from I understand this was the best performance they had put in this season despite eventually losing 19-5, plaudits were earned from the Crawley players who stuck around after for a considerable period.

In order to get to the final of the Bob Rogers Cup this year, Hove had to overcome Horsham 2’s. Hove and Horsham have a feisty history with a number of high scoring games, the boys were keen to make sure they came on the right side of the result and beat the current holders thoroughly. With a large crop of the younger players starting, it was a chance for players to stake their claim for the rest of the season and beyond, players such as Elliott Curl certainly did that with some ferocious tackling and carrying, one for the future definitely. Scores from myself, Ian, Ben Anderson and Rene put the game to bed but Hove left a number of tries out there (Sandy’s famous saying after panache). Final score was 24-17.

All fixtures at the club were cancelled on the weekend of 15/16th of February due to the storms, this made it difficult for both side to get any momentum with the next few games. However, the 1XV travelled to Dover on the 22nd February looking to win and move up the league after falling from second before Christmas. Dover were in a relegation battle themselves and were up for fight, they managed to score early and keep the pressure on Hove despite playing uphill in the second half. Their fly half ran the show and Hove came away empty handed in what should really have been an achievable win. Final score 20-12 to Dover. The 2XV had no game as Ditchling had withdrawn from the league.

With Barn’s Green postponing their fixture against the 2XV the following week, Hove had an extended to pick from and a number of players were putting their hand up to tackling Old Colfs. Elliot Curl had made the 4 shirt his own and Carles Casanova Galindo was also given the nod. Old Colfs were the form side in the league and it was always going to be a huge ask to turn them over. In the wind and hail Hove started the strongest with Carles collecting an offload to sprint in under the posts, OC quickly came back through 2 quickly taken tries and a penalty making the score 17-7 at half time. Old Colf’s squandered a large number of chances in the second half, Phil Dugard also managed to get an interception scoring under the posts making the score 17-14. However, discipline was clearly an issue again as Hove conceded 17 penalties with 2 yellow cards. Old Colf’s eventually won 30-14 but there was a real sense of ‘what might have been’ had Hove been on the right side of the referee.

Unbeknownst to the players and myself, our rearranged game against Gravesend was to be our final one of the season due to COVID-19. Finally, after weeks of near misses and failed opportunities, things clicked. Hove scored some scintillating tries but what won the game was the defence, even when reduced to 13 men Hove failed to concede. With a final score of 22-15 to Hove it seemed like Hove had finally turned a corner.

That is where it ended for this season, the 1XV ended up finishing 6th, 9 points off fourth place. The 2XV finished 7th in their league which was a great result considering the average age of the team was 21. The Bob Rogers Cup is still up in the air and could happen as a pre-season game, hopefully it does so we can get our hands on the trophy that we have lost 5 times!

Looking back, I am really proud of how we turned things around for the 2019/20 season. We really struggled to put 2 teams out each week last year but, we completed all games this season and didn’t concede. I would like to personally thank the coaching team who worked extremely to achieve this along with tirelessly attending training and prepping the boys to play. I would also like to thank Kev Long for everything he has done on the management side, it has added a real sense of professionalism to the club. The players have all put in so much effort this season and nothing could happen without them, I would like to thank them for this and hope to see everyone back next year! Additionally, I would like to thank the leadership group who do so much work behind the scenes in order to make the club enjoyable and to make sure that the club continues improving.
Finally I want to thank the committee, sponsors, supporters and volunteers who make up the Hove Rugby Club family, the club doesn’t exist without you all and hopefully we can share great memories again next season once COVID-19 is behind us!

Stay safe and see you soon.

Macca