Nottingham Moderns – Twickenham Take Over

“As previously covered Nottingham Moderns RFC successfully won an Adult Male team place to play at Twickenham as part of the Play Together Stay Together competition. Nottingham Moderns stood out with their commitment to transitioning Youth > Senior rugby in the local community.

“Sunday 21^st Twickenham Take Over was a rip-roaring success.

“2 x Coaches and 130 Moderns Players, Supporters and Volunteers made the journey to Twickenham. Despite some sleepy bodies at the 6am Departure, come our 9am arrival the Moderns faithful were raring to go (and escape the ear-deafening bus karaoke!). Players were quickly ushered to changing rooms and we were fortunate enough to have professional photographers capture the whole squad.

“The next hour flew by as we joined player briefings and got our grips on the reality of playing at Twickenham!  A brief warm-up and the next thing we knew Nottingham Moderns had found themselves in the England Home changing rooms for the Captain’s talk! The atmosphere in the room was indescribable and the Moderns loud speaker call-out as we ran onto the pitch was met with rapturous applause.

“This set the tone for the whole day with one unforgettable experience after the other. Players had interviews with Ugo Monye; enjoyed the pristine pitch, posed for photos and interacted with 1000 or so fans who made the journey from all over the country.

“It’s safe to say every club enjoyed the day and went away with smiling faces. Moderns perhaps had the biggest smiles as they managed to secure 3 victories in the 3 x 20 minutes played:

“Perhaps the greatest success of all was the fact our 5 try scorers in the final game all came from 17-year-old Colts. Having 5 current Colts score tries really encapsulated the spirit of the day. The Moderns 26 playing team was composed with 9 x 17-year-old colts, ex-colts now playing senior rugby, key volunteers, students and some older dads who wanted to run out with their sons.

“In particular we had ex- 1XV captains Matt Monaghan (47) join the pitch with his son and try scorer Oliver Monaghan (17). Another ex- 1XV captain Ivan Jowett (58) linked up with Dylan Jowett (21 – current 1XV captain) and Billy Jowett (19). The Jowett’s and Monaghan’s were neck-neck on Twickenham points scored with Billy Jowett scoring a try to be converted by brother Dylan and Oliver Monaghan scoring and converting his own try in the final game.

“We know our fans also certainly enjoyed the day with cries of “Moderns, Moderns, Moderns” echoing out across the stands. They were so good they even featured in a professionally shot England Rugby Instagram video to raise awareness for the day: https://www.instagram.com/p/C6G_6zeIJ9E/

“Moderns couldn’t have asked for a better day or way to tie-up a successful April.

“Moderns’ Colts won the NLD County Cup the previous week (13th April) 18 – 15 against Derby RFC.

“The 6th April also saw Nottingham Moderns 1XV secure promotion in a 2nd place vs 3rd place, end of season decider, 60 – 19 victory against Ashbourne RFC.

“What a day – thank you England Rugby for the opportunity!”