Episode 22 - Another week of Grassroots Rugby - Swindon RFC Visit Newbury in Pre Season

This weeks conversation revolves around a rugby match between Newbury and Swindon. The hosts discuss the physicality of the game and the challenges they faced. They also talk about the upcoming season, their goals, and the importance of player adaptability. The conversation touches on the club's history, the rebuild process, and the need for social memberships and new players. The hosts also mention their plans to visit other clubs and share their experiences on the podcast.

Transcript

Carl (00:11)
hello and welcome to yet another episode of Rugby Through the Leagues podcast. As you can see, still here, still in England, obviously making full use of it though. So last week we had the great episode with everyone from the Flaming Unicorns down at Millbrook, down at Gosport, really appreciate all the welcomes that was extended to me self and.

really appreciative of Millbrook's hospitality as well, great little club down there. Big plans, obviously, to create a sustainable club and really want to push forward and share that community feel with an extremely great price point for everyone as well for 25 pound a season. You ain't going to find many clubs that can do the same as what they're doing, so fair play to everything they're doing down there. Obviously, this weekend just gone was the first

first weekend of the season for a lot of teams. I was invited down to Petersfield saw their win against North Dorset. We're gonna be releasing that episode next week. So that's another one to get around. So this one we've managed to get to Newbury in the pre -season to see how they fared against Swindon.

We were actually been invited up there on Saturday to see their first home game against Wimborne. So we're going up there to sort of just go and just go in just after this release. So again, this one's a great episode, proper grassroots, pre -match, literally halftime post -match interviews from everyone before the season started. They unfortunately didn't quite get the win against Chichester that they were hoping to start the season, but

We'll be up there again this weekend, share a bit of content, hopefully be able to see what they're gonna do to rebound from that as well. this week, another great one. Great to have James McAvoy on as head coach. Great to see what he's done up there. Obviously got, managed to get Dan Thorne and Harry on as captain and vice captain. Sharpie over at Swindon was really welcoming and obviously able to jump on. They got caught out a little bit by the...

by the traffic, so wasn't able to get pre -match with him, but managed to get him during half time and had a chat with him afterwards. So really good episode, another proper grassroots rugby one, so let's get on with it.

Rugby Through The Leagues (02:29)
Right, we are down at Newbury on a Friday night light game. We've got James McAvoy. Thank you very much for jumping on, mate. Really appreciate having us as you're trying to do it, promote the sponsors of local grassroots rugby. As you can see and hear, there's a few people down here, James. It's a bit of a rushed game because there was a bit of a change of plan, is that correct? Yeah, so we were originally going to play Bracknell in a fixture

tomorrow but thankfully Swindon have stepped up on a beautiful Friday night lights same level as us differently we've got a bit of history with them in the past of playing a few seasons ago where we were successful but what they offer us is a test through the pack and physically it's something we haven't seen in our previous preseason games so having this on as rushed as it is

obviously good for player adaptability into it and what will be a good physical test. Brilliant, because you've had some decent numbers this summer, so far, from obviously you guys put a bit of a pump in on my Gosport team which is not really appreciated. You've obviously got a few going away back to uni, you've got a few coming in this season, what's sort of the plan, where do you think it's going? Yeah, so this is kind of year one of the rebuilds and by

I not just kind of the rugby team itself but the club as a whole and obviously yourself and you've seen the social media campaign that we've kind of put together and the way that's boosted and I can't thank Kevin Rhodes enough as the new Blues team manager on what he's done there. Obviously what that's done is it's also promoted not just us to the community, it's brought in new players, it's brought in sponsorship opportunities so in terms of we're trying to have that player -centred approach and obviously that's a big part of it.

we can offer our players. terms of the numbers, we have been pretty blessed with new players and obviously competition for places is going to mean we've only two teams for men's. There might even be some boys that next week's league game maybe don't feature in a team and that's obviously unfortunate for them but it pushes boys to make those two teams. So what's the league G2s playing? So they're in level eight.

year some good teams in there. Reading Abbey got promoted straight out of that to go and join Reading now actually so that'll be a nice derby for them. Henley Twos, one of those teams that know obviously have their first team in national two level so obviously for their twos to be in there is always a good competition there with boys coming in and out of actual national rugby. For us we've got a lot more of a secure second team this year which obviously is going to have

Probably 50 % of those boys would have played first team, which will offer a lot more leadership roles through that team and stability. then the rest of those boys then hopefully pushing for places. So many Colts coming through, got many people, many... Yeah, so between the Colts, there's a few boys out here tonight making senior debuts.

there'll be a few boys that have kind of transitioning either they've just finished their rugby at uni so they were in our cult system we never saw them play as a senior but they've just transitioned back from their three years of usually one of the buck super rugby teams which is obviously great for us and then we can filter them back in so great at least so how many you got out there tonight you say so 28 all together tonight

sports boys, we've got three out there this evening. Decent, so should be good run out. Swindon, do you think they're going to, as you said, up front, is the plan, just trying to stretch them a little bit and get the big boys blowing a little bit? Yeah, we've been playing a new attack shape this year. In the first couple games, obviously the scores being 77 -12 and 88 -5.

the shape can become a bit redundant because lines being broken it can become a bit of a faster paced offload game and that is something we thrive on up tempo so I'm happy to see we're putting those away but today might be a test where we go through three four phases work edge to edge and by those minutes accumulating I'm hoping to see us as you say stretching a bigger pack using our skill set which we think is should be largely better. brilliant

As you mentioned to me earlier you've played with a couple of our previous guests Liam as well. Did you play with Matty McLean down at Worthing as well? there a time yeah. So obviously you've played to a level, where have you been, what have you done as yourself really and how have you ended up here? Yeah so

Growing up in Portsmouth, Havant was my local club growing up through Middies and Juniors. And then, yeah, after finishing that, went off to Cardiff Met. Which was Uic at the time, which kind of shows my age. That it was still the old school name. Obviously got to play with some fantastic boys there. My year was Alex Cuthbert and Lloyd Williams and Dan Milley and multiple Lions internationals. So, hell of a learning experience there.

came back down to Portsmouth, kind of got brought in to Worthing got asked to kind go across there and traveled a few bits with a guy called Matty Peters and Liam across, as we were kind of living in same area. And then from there, pretty much because my teaching as head of PE went in, my Saturday rugby kind of had to take a hold and that's where not being able to maybe play the level I wanted to kind of transitioned into coaching at a younger age.

And then about five years ago completed my level three, the advanced coaching award. Did that through Newbury as attack and backs coach and then transitioned into head coach two years ago. Okay, so do you reckon you could have made it or was it the money wasn't there to put on the table? No, Because you preferred of being a teacher and stuff? honestly, yeah. think there were times younger when you think about it.

In terms of my career, I'm really pleased that the teaching and coaching go hand in hand. With all the little bits I do with UR7's academy and DPP things and different academies, I'm pretty happy with that and I'll jump in here and there with a ball when need to. Do you get a run out? I've actually got two caps, two tries. I've done it so far. I'll take it.

wait to be able to watch it hopefully we can grab you at half time see how we're going obviously get an update I'm gonna try and see if I can grab the Swindon head coach as well. you much. mate.

Rugby Through The Leagues (08:55)
Right, we've got Sharpie here from Swindon Rugby Club. Obviously you guys got here a little bit later than planned. James, said earlier, we've this bit of a rushed thrown -together session, so fair play to you for getting down here. Obviously it's not an easy travel for you, is it? Yeah, I mean the traffic wasn't particularly great, but James texted

us last weekend, grassroots, we're having lot of fixtures cancelled because people are struggling to fill teams. that in your league or just in the local area? It's all over, much of the smaller clubs, we've seen a lot of players tend go to the larger clubs now, tends to come down to facilities and what they can offer players. Us and ourselves, we're going for a bit of a transition at the minute whereby our clubhouse will be going, it will be replaced with a two -storey complex and an artificial pitch.

But until then, we've got a small squad, we're really looking forward to a bit of a run out today. They're top quality side Newbury You can tell they're really well drilled. For us, this is our first hit out. For these guys, they're really refined and they're just polishing those final bits as they...

Both teams approach the season next Saturday at start. Who have you got next Saturday? We've got Keynsham at home. It's a much more important game than we'd like to admit. It's a very tough league. We finished 10th last year. Arguably we're pretty lucky at times to stay up.

It's going be a really tough year for us but if we can get off to a good start, we go away to Weston the week after. You've got some proper dreams there. The problem with the league is and where we are currently, you look at Weston and you look at the week next, it doesn't actually get any easier for us so it tells us the challenge lies there ahead.

New stadium, new pitch. Is new pitch there a necessity for you guys? Waterlogged pitch is quite common and stuff. think as time has gone on, one of things we've seen is pitch maintenance. It tends to go by the wayside. When the drainage is pretty good, we tend to leave it. So just not keeping on top of things, changing personnel. That's pretty much it.

club in a stable position financially? Yeah, we are. We've scaled down a bit. So the expenditure is not too high, but it's sustainable for us. That means scaling down from three teams down to two teams. And it works for us at the moment, but the challenge would be when we get our new stadium, the overheads will inevitably go up. So we've got to have a real drive for social memberships as well as new players. Yeah, yeah.

Obviously bar there, full set up, league lunches, that sort of stuff. stuff. No, it'll be brilliant. So what's the target for this season then, is it? It is survival. Survival, It's not a nice thing to No, you've got to call it as it is though, there's no point of putting... I think if you give unassailable targets, you're setting the lads up for failure yeah.

We just want to stay up this year. Good group of core lads that have of stuck with the club. yeah. Many young lads coming through? No, no, we're all old. We've got kids. The social is good though. No, it's good. Work our play out and all that stuff. No, lads obviously look like they've...

They're doing well tonight. know it's obviously Newbury are a very well drilled side. But obviously their backs are pretty well drilled. They're great, aren't they? Yeah, you guys have obviously got a forward heavy pack. Yeah, we Really, yeah. Which obviously works for you guys at times. obviously against these teams, was there a game plan or was it just a case of today, we've got to get out and have a run around? Yeah, we know, look, it's the first time I've seen some of these lads all summer. So we're going to be rusty. But we know Newbury are very effective in the outside.

so we spoke before about trying to counter -ruck, slow down the ruck, by the backs and the back three a bit more time to be able to spread. We've got new combinations so the comms is going to be quite difficult, it's going to take a bit of getting used to. They're hanging in pretty well to be fair. Newbury

If they get the bounce of the ball the way that they're playing, they may score a few more tries but I'm actually quite happy with how it's going. As long as we keep the penalty count down, right? Their ten's decent though, isn't he? Yeah, he's great player. So I actually, he's played here a few years. I played here, must have been, a long time ago. I think it was the first game I've seen. I think was like an 84 -0 game. no. We had a 42 -year -old on the wings and I was like, you know, it's a bad day. Yeah, it's not going to turn out great.

No Sharpie, thank you so much. Hopefully we catch up at the end and really appreciate it. Cheers mate. Cheers pal.

Rugby Through The Leagues (13:27)
Decent first half there. Yeah. A couple of tries. Spread them pretty well. What's the game plan for the second half? Try and get it wide and spread it out or try and just see if we can get them? Yeah, to be honest, I think if we kept that first team on, we'd have seen the exact same game plan we saw about. saw the physicality off the top. They came out with being nausea, things like that. Counter -racking, we said about that. Adjusted well. Spoke about bit of ball prez. Just individual behaviours.

If the rucks look a bit messy like that, we want to play fast, just what's it like on the floor. But I think ultimately, we spoke about playing a bit edge to edge and that, and with the cross -field kicks actually, there's another three tries there. 100%. Whether we could have moved Bet you wish the hooker wasn't sat on the wing at the time of the third one. Yeah. But yeah, mean, our bit will be on the VO whether we needed to go through hands or whether we needed to do that. But actually, you play best space. And apart from being a bit overweighted, there's three tries there on edges.

Ref's done well tonight, I know he's obviously trying to make the game play and obviously it's a pre -season game so the ref's let it play do you think?

some of the decisions you obviously work in your favour in the league, obviously if you guys can try and do exactly the same positions. Yeah, I think we're putting our defence under pressure and I think it's forcing pens and ultimately there might have been a yellow or two, whether it was a quick tap, not ten probably would have been one, maybe something else and obviously if we're playing against 14, maybe stretch boys, tempo style, we'd see this open up even more. So yeah, I know the ref and we spoke about not doing yellows, boys have 15 in pre -season, but yeah I'm happy that we would have tested them to a point

where cards might have been on the table. You started picking them up, didn't you? A couple of pens and stuff that they soon add up and you get a team yellow and that gives you a different position. Obviously you've got a few lads come on, is any of the colts got on now? So he's actually one of them, started 13, yellow scrum cap he's been playing really well, good balance feet on the edge, makes good decisions.

and we've got one of the boys playing in the back row now as well. So it's a bit of good physical competition from out there today. It's proper game for them as was talking to Sharpie, said the first time they've pretty much got together this pre -season. they've got home game against Keynsham next week and he said it's a survival season for them. said it's a bit of a concern.

They've hopefully got a new stadium coming up as well. yeah, bright future for Swindon but fair play to them for getting this game on as well. I was appreciative of that. Brilliant. Hopefully we can catch up at the end. Absolutely.

Rugby Through The Leagues (15:59)
James, great game there. A couple of tries on either side, obviously conceded one from their side. Second half you made a few changes, obviously tried a few different things, they come back into the game a little bit.

There's probably no judgement on the players that come on, it? I think they got themselves in and realised that there was actually space that they could work on and managed to get around the outside. A lot of positives from you? Yeah, it really was. I think we wanted to make those changes in the second half and ultimately we spoke about what level the boys play at. I'm not going to speak too much to that point, but that was a physical Swindon side that have a level six game next week that they spoke their prepare preparing for.

And we've got some boys playing level eight preparing for their game next week. So for them to have that test in there and maybe to understand the levels if they want to play blues was really good for them.

We'll look a little bit at some bits on kick chase and things like that. I think when the changes happened, I'm not sure we adapted well into how we were playing. That kind of allowed their 13 maybe to find that space wider. They wouldn't have had that if they just had to ball play. But potentially by us kicking down and not chasing it, it allowed them to play a bit freer and on the front foot. But from a set piece point of view, we had a few boys coming back from ACL injuries tonight. And for them to get kind of 60, 70 minutes out of game, really pleased.

the knocks I saw one leg went off at his elbow being sort of hoist up. Serious? Not serious? No, so that was a little hyperextension. He just went a little bit further extension wise than his natural so he's just going to tape up, had a bit of ice on there. He'll rest up, see the physio and be good to go. two weeks for your game? Just the next one, just the next eight days now so Blues have got Chichester away. And the Stags have got Crowthorne here. Nice, so any concerns?

No, if anything, the boys that came off, if it wasn't that, was just like a little bit of tightness, little bit of hamstring tightness, bits of bobs like that. Routine little niggles as you say. yeah, come away from it knowing a bit more about our cult as we said. Boys of ACLs and ninjuries have had even more minutes now against a more physical side. And I think what we can be really confident is...

when we play the way that we want to play? know that's cliche to say, but... No, you can see that. You can see the levels and you can see it turn on and turn off. Our biggest thing is just how can we stay on for as long as possible, really. Obviously, your 10 seems fairly critical to your gameplay. Is he a non -injury type of guy or have you got a backup plan if that sort of goes south? Yeah, so last year he actually won the Ironman award that we did, the kind man of steel, for minutes in his gameplay. We had a hooker.

and Harry who was the guy on the edge and Toby who actually played pretty much every minute of every game who were also in for a reckoning so we've got some boys good resilience. Obviously we put our 15 into 10 period of time today.

and he would have stayed there if it wasn't for the changes that had to happen elsewhere in the back line that kind of meant that our 10 had to come back on. But our 15 can slot into that spot and take it if needed. Brilliant. Looks like it's going be good season for you guys. Hopefully. Top man Cheers, James Really appreciate it. Thank you. Really appreciate it. Thank you.

Rugby Through The Leagues (19:15)
Right, so we've got Harry here, you are vice captain for the season. How do you think tonight went? It was good. It was a much more physical test than the last two games for us, which is good. We needed to play a bit more attacking shape as well.

I think we held up quite well, got a bit scrappy towards the of the first They were up for a run, weren't they? Yeah, but it was good, we needed that, so a bit more pressure on the lads. The second half was a little bit harder? Yeah, we made a few subs and we just let the game dictate us a bit more. Yeah, they slowed the game down, at first half they couldn't get near you because they were getting noise. Your game plan is pretty much backs, it? ball and attack.

So obviously your forward pack, have you got to try and adapt that or have you just literally got to put the platform in place and just leave it where Yeah, keep the platform up but we have worked a lot more on working out in pods and getting out in the backs and doing a bit more for the face players. Was it you that got caught down on the wing? I had no comment. I thought we were to get a hooker on there. Usually works. It ran away but no, fair play.

This season James has sort said a rebuild. I believe you guys have got a bit more in the tank. What's your opinion? For sure, we've got some new lads in as well which have given us bit more of an edge to always work for positions a bit more now. Get some more skill involved which is good. Looking forward to the season.

So you've got Chichester away Saturday? That's a big game. One of the tougher games for us. Obviously who else you got in your league? Bournemouth have just come down so that'll another tough game. That's going to be a hard game. You've got Wimborne and stuff like that, Winchester. You've got Petersfield as well? Yes, that's it. North Dorset I think. There'll some big packs up front.

What's your thoughts this season? Looking hopeful, like I said with the new lads coming in so it gives us bit more adaptation of moving players around. put boys in positions they aren't used to and they played well. So how long have you been at the club all the time? 24 so I've been at 6 all the through. it through and what it sounds like. Did you go away for uni or have you stayed here? I stayed here the whole time.

change at the club because obviously they had the Vodafone piece. I came through in 2019 officially for the men's and they were saying what we won the league, went up, I didn't play that season and then come back and then Covid hit but since then I've been up through the whole way through. So absolute honour for you to be the vice captain there mate.

Lots of fans here as well. Yeah, decent turnout, great little clubhouse. Pitch is not bad, Friday night lights. The many games you reckon you're going to get for that during the season? We're meant to play tomorrow but our game got recalled so we wanted another Friday night but I don't think we've got any more on the cards. OK, so you can't pull it in in the season and stuff. I'd like to. It'd be nice, it's decent turnout. For sure. Especially that A34's a nightmare in here. It's dog shit. Obviously, Harry, thank you very much. Have a great season, go well

Rugby Through The Leagues (22:12)
Right, so are you club captain or just first team captain Dan? Effectively same role here. fair enough. So always been at Newbury? Yeah, always been at Newbury. I don't know what pre -season that is I've just done, but I think my first one was like 2010, 2011. Yeah, long time.

So obviously players of kids, everything like that come through the system? Not really, no. So my brother Toby who's playing tonight plays, but I play football. switched to rugby as I was kind of leaving school. So Colts used to go up to under -19s. So that was the first time I played club rugby, which was here. Played a little bit at university, St Mary's in Twickenham. And then played.

You can tell that obviously you used to play football, you didn't. You'd done a right at 10 today. I was talking to James.

Obviously you pretty much run the game for Newbury at the minute and obviously very backs orientated. What's your expectations for the season? Because it looks like it could be a good one. know there's still, you don't want to put a flag in the ground, but I think you've done pretty well pre -season and against the Swindon team as well. I you've done pretty well there. Yeah, I mean, it's looking good. It's feeling really good. It's difficult to know. We went into last season with quite good expectations.

and then had quite a few injuries early on. Some guys who had long -term injuries that have only come back this year started the season well and then struggled, especially in the middle part. But I think our squad suits a quicker game, so hopefully we get a few nice wins early on in the season and that can really set us off in a good stead. So just speaking of Harry, you've got Chichester away next week. That's quite a hard game to get out of the way early.

That'd be a good marker to figure out where you were. Yeah, exactly. We had two really competitive games against them last year. I thought actually we beat them away from home, having not played particularly well. But yeah, they were good. They were better when we played them second time round. So I think we'll expect them to have improved as well. yeah, tough first game, but one we're really looking forward to. Yeah, so obviously you've been at the club a while. You must have seen some changes come and go.

Obviously there's been a couple of years of rebuilds, that kind of where it's at and now you feel you're back on the other side? Yeah, exactly that. When I first started playing we were kind going down through the leagues and we kind of had lost lots of experience as players and we're left with a really young squad and it took us quite a while to rebuild that and then we...

You know kind of 2016, 17, 18 we had a really we had two really good squads actually here And for various reasons some of those boys didn't come back around Covid. Yeah, you know kind of either had stopped playing just before or stopped playing after

And so we kind of, expectations changes slightly. You know, we had a kind of a group of more experienced and then half the squad fairly inexperienced and younger lads. But they've got a couple of seasons under their belt now, some more first team experience. yeah, looking... Looking solid. Yeah, looking better. that's kind of like the club.

is like good community rugby. We expect to win games at first team level but we want boys to just play good rugby and enjoy doing so really. Impact to James then as a coach, seems to have made some, he's obviously come with a wealth of experience. Has he added something to your guys game? He's been here a couple of years, I know he's obviously been back coach beforehand but as head coach has he sort of followed that ethos on? Yeah I think so, like probably

with me and few of the other senior boys, how do we want to play, what suits our squad, rather than going, okay, we're just going to go around the corner because that's an easy model to play. It doesn't really suit the, have at times a really dynamic pack. It's like, how do we get their skills on show more often? So he's really good with that. Being a teacher really helps in terms of how sessions are being delivered.

and stuff like that and managed to get other coaches in this year especially which then gives him a bit more time both in sessions and away from sessions to plan and prepare for different opposition so yeah really good. Exciting season ahead for you. Yeah really looking forward to it you know like we love playing in these conditions as I said we found it tough last year in the middle bit so that when that

comes around and the pitches get a bit heavier, that'll be a real focus for us. We don't want to just do the same as we did last year and get bullied up front or struggle in that and not be able to play our game. So yeah, we're going to take as much of this as we can when we can spread teams and play really quick. But hopefully when it does get a bit softer, we'll have something else up our sleeve. Do you think you've got the adaptability? we're quite a few of those teams. Winchester, who we played before Christmas.

We really, really, really struggled and we beat them at home in not two different conditions, to be honest. It was a little bit better, but not that much different. So yeah, I've absolute belief that we can put our game on them and all teams like that that maybe have a little bit more power up front. I think Petersfield will probably have a similar competition for yourself as well. think they've got big plans as well. I think their sort of level's not been reached yet.

and Matt McLean. Matt McLean and Liam Perkins early on in the pod as well, spoke to them and they've got big plans. The whole club is at Petersfield as well, so I think once they're on that roll, it's hard to potentially. I don't know loads about them, but I actually played with Liam briefly here when he was here. I saw their results last year, their little cup run as well. They'll be super strong.

You know, we know if we, even where we were last year, if we get it right, our mentality right more than anything, match teams physically, top half of the league, we know we can beat anyone. yeah, really excited. That would be brilliant. Top man cheers for your time. Really appreciate it.

Carl (28:30)
Right, that brings another episode to an end. I just want to extend my thanks to everyone that's joined, keeps joining, keeps sharing, getting involved in the pod. As you saw, we managed to release the competition that we plan on redesigning the backdrop and the logo of the pod. That's gonna be really pushed from the 16th, so Monday, so make sure you get involved in that. We really want to promote grassroots rugby across the world.

So we're going to try and share that as far and wide as possible. So obviously that's going to be really pushed from Monday coming. Want to say thank you to Newbury to welcoming me up and obviously the invite are coming back up to their game on Saturday. And for next week's episode, we are down at the game from Petersfield that I said about. So we managed to get down to Petersfield and get the talk to obviously team manager.

We managed to catch the captains from both sides. The DOR from North Dorset, Zach, top bloke. Managed to catch up with Matt McLean as well from obviously earlier episodes. He's now DOR at Petersfield. So another really good chat with him. And just great to have Petersfield invite me up there. Obviously the league lunch was exceptional. The work they've done with me as well has been brilliant. So.

more than happy to help promote them. Newbury have done the same. it's a great time to be in grassroots rugby and hopefully the pods carrying on. Don't forget, make sure you catch up with all your other games around, rugby European Super Cups around as well. So women's obviously playing New Zealand. That's gonna be a big game. let's keep growing grassroots rugby. Just wanna say thank you to all. Thank you and goodbye.