Senior Training

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New Season Starts

Saturday sees the start of the new rugby season at Biggleswade. After finishing second to bottom despite a much better second half of the season , the Club were “spared” relegation by a restructuring of the league so that only one club (Stoneygate) went down.

The amount of travelling for the first team will be much the same with Rushden & Higham and Stockwood Park in Luton being the closest fixtures. There will be three visits to Leicester and one to Peterborough to play the Lions. The club was formerly known as Westwood but with financial support play in Peterborough United’s ground charging spectators £5 for admission!

The A XV without skipper Simon Rutt at the helm for at least the first six weeks (disc problems) will be hoping to retain their Championship Trophy of the Greene King Country Clubs Merit league - Pemiere North. The Third team play again in the Deuxieme North and hope to honour all their fixtures as last season. www.greenkingrugby.co.uk

This weekend the 1^st XV entertain Kempston kicking off at 3pm . The match will be a trial game in four quarters. Biggleswade are due to play Kempston in the Beds Cup but the game will have to be rescheduled because of the Preliminary Round match in the Senior Vase. The 2nds/3rds travel to St Ives.

In the Senior Vase, Biggleswade have again drawn the short straw with a lengthy away trip to the dark side of Coventry . There they take on Copsewood (formerly Marconi?) who struggled in Midlands 4 West (South) last season winning just four from 18 starts and none of them convincingly. In the Vase they were beaten by Newtonians who are the same league as Biggleswade. The cup tie is on Saturday 16^th September and there is likely to be a bus.

Last weekend a scratch side entered the Potton Tens event beating St Neots in the final. Cub reporter Tony Munns reports that the match was very physical but “it was an enjoyable afternoon’s entertainment” with plenty of beer and good fellowship.

New Club Captain was upbeat about the event. “We were missing a dozen players on Gooner’s (Ian Jones) stag weekend so it was a good performance.” “I am looking forward to the challenge of the new season,” he added.

New Season - Press Release

 The build up to the new season continues when Biggleswade take a squad to the Potton Tens Tournament Saturday 26th September. Skipper Mark Rastrick has assembled a young squad that will be seeking to run the ball at every opportunity. The event that starts at 10.30 am concludes around 4 pm and the squad would welcome support.

 Biggleswade Rugby Club in Langford Road offers rugby for all ages from the youngest Mini through Youth teams to an over 35 Veterans XV. This season the previous gap in the middle is filled with the restart of an under 19 Colts XV. But as it is a very youthful side matches will be sought against younger Colts sides.

 As an incentive to paying membership, sponsors The Health & Safety People are offering a waterproof top in Club Colours that is worth £30.

 On the fixture front Biggleswade have to play in the Preliminary Round of the National Vase competition. They have been drawn to play Copswood which is the far side of Coventry . As the tie is on Saturday 16^th September the Bedfordshire Cup match against Kempston will be re-scheduled.

Details of all the Club’s activities can be viewed here on the revamped web-site ;  www.biggleswaderugby.co.uk

Senior Training

Biggy WIN - Potton 10s Tournament Aug 2006

Tuesday and Thursday on the pitch from 7:30

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Biggleswade pre season match action see impressive results at Potton - beating St Neots in the final

Promotional leaflets

On Sunday 3rd September, the Beds on Sunday will be delivering nine thousand "Biggy" promotional leaflets to houses in Biggleswade, Sandy Potton and Shefford as well as in the  RAF Henlow and DISC Chicksands magazines. The leaflets are double sided A4 in full colour with action photos from last seasons Potton game and are designed to promote all aspects of the club from Seniors to Mini/Youth rugby and the Squash club.

These leaflets are aimed at those wanting to play for the first time or wishing to return to playing as well as tapping into the huge amount of new people moving into the area.

Please feed back any thoughts you have on the leaflets when they appear in the Beds on Sunday

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New Captain

With the rugby season just two weeks away Biggleswade have a new captain at the helm. Yorkshire born Mark Rastrick who played for Hull Ionians joined Biggleswade in 2002. At six foot two and technically obese, but then so is Mike Tindall, the England player, Mark is the battering ram style of fly-half rather than the rapier. But he can play in any position in the backs and will partner Russ German in the centre if Matt Keen is fit to play fly-half.

As a director of his own Health & Safety company he has extensive experience of leading teams. He captained school teams at many age groups and Hull Water Polo team. At Biggleswade he led the Third team and was due to captain the seconds but was required to play full time for the 1st XV.

On the coaching front Mark is currently an assistant coach with the under 9s for whom son John plays. As a Level One qualified coach, he also coached Paula his partner who is a member of the Ladies Squad. This has yet to take off due to a lack of numbers. When asked why this was Mark replied, "I think they wanted someone better looking to coach them!!"

The Captain's aspirations for this season are  to see the club develop  the number of players that are able to play at first team level.  "We need more strength in depth and we need to build an infrastructure to take the club forward over the next few seasons. " he said.

Too often last season Biggleswade failed to turn pressure into points while conceding soft tries. Mark is well aware of this and commented, " We  want to knock ten bells out of the opposition in the league and show them what we can really do by playing a more open flowing form of rugby and by putting them under pressure with an aggressive defence."

Asked if training was going well, Mark quoted Mario Andretti "If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough." There are several  new faces this season and some have already impressed.  "I hope that we will see some competition for places and that this will encourage more of the lads to come training" said Mark. "We need to put  the effort in, which has been sadly lacking over the last couple of seasons despite a gargantuan effort by Ross Taylor (last season's captain) to motivate them."

Mark has entered a side in the Potton RUFC 10's tournament on the 26th of August (Bank Holiday weekend).  Potton usually host some entertaining off season games which tend to result in several hangovers.  "It would be good to see some support for the side on the day." suggested Mark.

The first practice match is against Kempston on the 2nd of September.  "We will not be giving too much away here because we've got them in the cup two weeks later.  This will be a chance for us to see what our boys can do and help us with selection for the following week(s)."

2006 Training Update - Newsletter

Well gents we are around 4 weeks away from the start of the season I feel training has been going well although we need to have more consistency with players attending training.

 What is becoming very clear is there is going to be some competition for places in the first team we have signed 3 new players all capable of playing first team so anyone with aspirations for a first team spot will need to train especially in the backs.

 I am keen to encourage the young players and we could have back line under 25 in theory which has been unheard of in the last few seasons but promises to be good for the future of the club.

 I think we will have a squad of around 25 players to choose from for the first team with a strong second team to support.

 What has been great are the players with less experience that have been to training and supported by more experienced players.

 I encourage you all to attend training no one has a first team place for certain at this time which is great and should lead to competition for places.

 What is important though is we get the squad together and work as a team no one will be left out and time will always be allocated for every one of all abilities.

 I don’t wish to scare anyone but training is going to pick up over the next few weeks we do contact at every session and elements of cardio vascular training and we are seeing the development of the style of play we wish to adopt which a very aggressive defense and an open and flowing attack.

 I would like to thank Mark for his great warm ups and also Matt for his support and assistance and Pete Shea for his support and encouragement.

 Pete Biernis