News Archive

As we head towards the end of the 2018-19 season we still have some funding available for clubs to apply for!

There are funds available in a number of areas and we would welcome applications from clubs on the attached.  There is also the opportunity for clubs to apply for small grants up to a maximum of £1000, these should be applied for on the attached application form with further information given as to how the funds will be spent.

The deadline for clubs to apply is Wednesday 25th April 2018.

If you have any queries or require any additional support in completing your application please do not hesitate to get in touch with your Rugby Development Officer.

Expression of Interest PFR April v1

PFR Club Information 2017-18 April v1

On Saturday, Mayor of Ashbourne, Councillor Denise Brown, joined past and present players, supporters and sponsors for their Annual Luncheon held at the Empire Club, Ashbourne.

Derbyshire RFU President, Mick Pepper, welcomed everyone to the Luncheon and that we didn’t need skis to arrive at the event following the cancellation of the original date.

Following an excellent meal provided by Uppercrust Caterers, Sam Heath ( Club President ) said he was delighted to see so many past players at the Club going back to a member who had given 70 years service to the Club which spoke volumes about Ashbourne Rugby Club and looking around the room they could field two excellent sides.

Despite a difficult season the the pitch, no other Club could say they fielded four senior sides and a Colts side on Saturdays plus juniors from under 6 to under 17’s.

He praised the Club volunteers and thanked stalwart Mick Pepper for organising another brilliant luncheon.

Wearing his Ashbourne cap, Mick Pepper continued the volunteer theme announcing recipients of the Mitsubishi / England RFU volunteer awards.

The first presentation was made to Dr Roy Bennett who had been a member of the Club for 70 years and would be 90 later this year. He received a standing ovation from the members present and recalled the mode of transport they had to travel to matches.

Dr Bennett said it was the best piece of beef he had tasted and then thanked the Club for the match programme as on page three , the first sponsor was a funeral director and on the back page was a solicitor.

The next four awards were presented by David Heath and the Mayor of Ashbourne to members who had given service to the Club over many years and were still giving their services to the Club- these were Andy Keeling, Steve Briggs, David Bell and David Heath.

Members then went on to the Recreation Ground to support the teams playing at home.

Picture: Left to Right:

David Bell, Andy Keeling, David Heath, Mayor of Ashbourne, Denise Brown and Steve Briggs

The Coaching & Management team have decided to CANCEL the NLD U17’s training session tonight (Monday 16 April).

With the high number of withdrawals through injury and with important games at the end of the season for many of the players, the decision was made to take ALL existing players within the Squad through to the start of next season.

The Squad will reconvene in September and, after a pre-season warm-up against Eastern Counties, the Squad will be cut to its final number and those players will go forward to compete as the NLD U18’s in the Midlands campaign.

The Coaching & Management Team would like to thank all the players who have participated in the programme so far, and look forward to starting the U18’s programme in September.

The NLD under 20 squad travel all the way to Ivybridge RFC to play Devon in the Jason Leonard U20 Championship Semi Final on Sunday 15th April.

This season the squad has involved over 40 players from a number of clubs, colleges and universities in the area as well as Nottingham Academy.

NLD Head of Representative Rugby Lee Slack commented ‘We are absolutely delighted for all of the players and the team who have worked exceptionally hard to get to this stage of the competition.  As always we are hugely grateful for the support of the Clubs, Universities, Colleges & Academies who have released their players to feature in the squad’.

The squad are unbeaten so far this season with away wins against Leicestershire & Oxfordshire and a home victory at Derby against Buckinghamshire have set the team up well.

Nic Corrigan, Head Coach, has every faith in the squad, ‘the commitment the lads have shown has been unbelievable. We now face our biggest challenge to date in Devon in the semi final but I am confident the players will rise to the occasion’.

The squad for this fixture is:

Joshua Arimoro – Nottingham University
James Benstead – Melbourne RFC
Josh Bloomfield – Nottingham Trent University
Natty Brisco – West Bridgford RFC/ Nottingham Academy
Luke Brown – West Bridgford RFC/ Nottingham academy
Gabriel Calland – Glamorgan RFC/ Nottingham academy
Tommie Collingwood – Nottingham Trent University
Jonny Doyle – Derby RFC
Ben Jesson – Nottingham University
Jake Keeton – Lincoln RFC
Kane Linklater – Scunthorpe RFC
Malvin Mazorodze – Long Eaton RFC/ Nottingham academy
Joe Mcmenamin -Long Eaton RFC/ Nottingham academy
Jamie Murray – Nottingham Trent University
Dec Neary – Long Eaton RFC/ Nottingham Academy
James Peachey – Nottingham Trent University
Beefy Rudkin – Melbourne RFC/ Nottingham academy
Henry Trimmer – Nottingham Trent University
Tom Tucker – Long Eaton RFC/ Nottingham Academy
Aaron Walker – Long Eaton RFC/ Nottingham academy
Jack Weedon – Long Eaton/ Nottingham Academy
Harrison Wells – Nottingham Trent University
Jacob Wright – Long Eaton/ Nottingham Academy

Jeff Mapp, who is the Rugby Union Coordinator at the University of Nottingham has been named as the winner of the University Staff Member of the Year at the Student’s Rugby Football Union Awards.

Jeff will be presented with his award at the ceremony on 11th April and will be invited to watch the Student’s Finals taking place from the Royal Box.

Jeff has been a long serving member of the Rugby community within NLD and is also the NLD Head of Club Development.  His varied roles at both the University & NLD see him inspiring young people to continue to play the game through further education while also developing club facilities for the future.  Jeff is also a key member of Nottingham Moderns RFC and Nottinghamshire RFU.

Congratulations Jeff!

Bookings are now being taken for the 2018 NLD RFU Game Development Conference which will be held on Saturday 2nd June at Samworth Church Academy.

Russell ‘Rusty’ Earnshaw, England U18 Coach, will be the key speaker at this year’s NLD Game Development Conference.

The theme for the day will be ‘Game Zone / Skill Zone & developing core skills through games.’ In addition to Russell Earnshaw there will also be Skills Clinics delivered by some Professional Players as well as a CMOD.

NLD Head of Game Development Dave Andrews commented, ‘The conference has been growing year upon year and we are delighted that Russell will be joining us in 2018.  It promises to be an event not to be missed!’

Places for the Conference will be limited and are now open.  You can book your place for a discounted rate of £15 (to include lunch) by clicking here.

Following the decision to move the date of the Finals Day representations were made by several clubs about problems this would cause.

To this end the Senior Competitions Committee have reviewed the situation again and arrived at the following solution.

The Finals Day will now be split in two. While this does not meet the intent of having a single end of season festival it is the best compromise we can arrive at.

Therefore, two of the matches will be played on the original date and the other two on the revised date. All matches will still be played at Boston.

This means that the schedule will now be.

Sat 28^th April

13:00:    Vase:     Cleethorpes v Nottinghamians
15:00:    Cup:       Derby v Paviors

Sat 12^th May

13:00:    Plate:    Long Eaton v Ashfield
15:00:    Shield:  West Bridgford v Matlock

Following the deterioration in the weather once again, the decision has been taken to CHANGE THE VENUE for tomorrow’s night inter-squad game (Wed. 11 April).

This will now be held at:

David Ross Sports Centre
University of Nottingham

This is the same venue we used for the inter-squad games last week and we will use the same AGP Pitch to provide the players with a proper surface to demonstrate their potential.

Kick-off will be at 20:00

Players should be at the Centre for 19:00 and ready to play promptly at 20:00 as we only have the pitch for 1 hour.

Following feedback from the Midlands group, who trained extensively on AGP, it seems the use of Baby Oil on knees may help to alleviate some of the potential for friction burns sometimes experienced on this type of pitch.

NLD U18’s and Stamford School player Ed Cox represented the England Schools and Counties U18’s in a double headed fixture against their Irish counterparts last week.

Both games ended in victory for the English in closely contested encounters. Winning the first game 15-13 and the second 32-29, Ed commented on how much he has enjoyed the whole international experience. His pleasure was no doubt topped off by getting on the score sheet with a try in the second game.

Ed came through the NLD U17’s and U18’s programme and demonstrated his leadership skills as well as his playing ability from the first session and he was delighted to progress from Midlands selection through to the final England Squad.

Ed commented that, ‘It has been an amazing experience, thank you to all the coaches and management at NLD for giving me the opportunity.’

Lee Slack, the NLD U18’s Manager added that it was evident from the outset that Ed had the ability to become an outstanding Back Row player. He went on to say that it was a testament to Ed’s hard work and something of great pleasure for the NLD set-up that his potential was realised when he was proudly able to pull on the famous White Shirt.

Well done, Ed!