Pre-season, story so far

Well with the start of the season only 5 days away, I thought like last season I would give you a little insight to what we have been up to.

I can’t really start this season without mentioning the last. Ill start with probably the only negative, (with the exception of injuries) from last season that will have an impact on this, are the players who have retired (6), one player leaving for another club and two moving out of the area.

We had many positives though. We established a game plan, our defence was very aggressive and was applauded by opposition coaches on a couple of occasions, the improvements of players like Dom Anderson, Jake Peake, Connor Baxter had a big impact on performances, performances from new vice-captain, Michael Jessiman and Captain Gwilym Jones also had a massive influence on the team. The biggest improvement though, was how organised we were, it took a few games but after many sessions of working on organisation, it paid off, even in the games we lost I was happy because we were improving. In 8 games we won 7, beating top and third in the league in that run, the 18-17 win away at top of the league Southport being the highlight after a last second drop goal from Connor Baxter won the game. In summary, we had a good season, we all learnt something including myself and more than anything we improved in every game.

This season is now gaining momentum, we have 5 new players in, we have worked really hard on fitness, Stuart Hammond and Simon Crangle have joined me in coaching which will have a big positive impact. Chris Highton has stood out in pre-season, his attitude is affecting everyone in sessions, Jeff Fielden another who is working so hard. Connor Parsons who has just returned to rugby after a few years out, he is relentless in his training, always looking to learn and has a great attitude.

The biggest change from last season though is the club itself. We now have a bar called TCs bar, it is basically a sports bar and is ran by Becky and Stuart. We have old shirts on the walls, pictures of games, team photos and is now really getting that sports club bar feel. We also now have the changing room areas and corridors also displaying team photos and rugby motivational quotes and pictures. We have held a Tag rugby tournament only a couple of weeks ago, we are just in the process of starting to get a women’s team together, they start training on the 8th September at the club and are just looking to start with fitness sessions to begin with. We are also looking at player sponsorship with a few players already successful in this, match day and training kit sponsors are also gaining momentum.

In all we have lots to look forward to both off and especially on the field, Chorley RUFC is definitely looking to improve in every area.

Thank you

Graham Crane