May 2013

1

Nottingham Medics R.U.F.C.

The 2012-2013 Season in Review Foreward

steemed Club Alumni,

welcome to this – the

first edition (in recent

memory) of a NMRFC

Newsletter. There’s a hope

from both club members and

alumni that we can

strengthen the links between

us, and to keep everyone up-

to-date and involved as much

as possible.

I hope this newsletter goes

someway to give you an idea

of what’s been happening

recently, and to give an

update on the changes for the

coming season.

New for this year is

@NottsMedicsRUFC – a

twitter page to give those

who are that way persuaded

an easy way to stay up to

date with our safe-for-public-

viewing activities. Results

and fixtures will be posted,

allowing you to keep in the

loop. Additionally, the

website is due to be

refreshed in the near future.

Details of the new committee

are listed below. Feel free to

get in touch with any of them

at any time.

As ever, we appreciate and

thank-you for your continued

support, and we look

forward to the Annual

Alumni event, always a

highlight of the year.

Yours,

Matthew Beattie

President 2013

Surpassing Expectations

ed by Captain rAndy

Brown, our rugby

efforts this year

resulted in some pleasing

results; results that may

have surpassed the

expectations of many.

With losing so many

stellar players from 5th

year — legends like Malta

(pop. 300) international

Rob Holloway, and the

goose-stepping guru Nick

Simson— it was always

going to be a challenge to

match the success of

previous years.

However, it seems our

prayers for some serious

talent to enter the club in

September were

answered. One new

fresher, Steve Abbey, gave

us a razor sharp edge in

the forward-dominated

Pennant fixtures, slotting

perfectly into No. 10

position. Equally

impressive was fresher

Drew Williamson’s

immediate passion and

aggressiveness, at an

intensity not seen since

the early days of Mad

Steve John. He supplied

quality ball to the backs,

ensuring they had a good

chance at losing it (the

author does not apologise

for any forward bias

expressed). He has since

been elected as pre-

medical Captain, and we

trust he’ll lead them well.

Another fresher who

contributed their skills

was Sam Jenkins on the

wing. His high ball takes

were quality, even

surpassing the famous

skills of former Captain

Gerard McKnight, and his

attacks up the blind side

often equated to match-

winning points.

As always, the bread and

butter Pennant league

rugby fixtures gave us

numerous opportunities to

display our strengths and

weaknesses. Some superb

rugby was seen, such as

the game against Ilkeston

E

L

May 2013

2

where our solid defence

and unrelenting attacks

resulted in a hard-fought

win. Competitive games

such as these are the

lifeblood of our rugby, and

it was disappointing we

had to cancel so many

fixtures due to injuries and

squad shortages. This is

something we hope to

minimise as much as

possible next season with

renewed organisation and

commitment, led by

Captain Steve John. We

finished middle of the

table in Pennant 1, a

decent result considering

some substantial

difficulties.

Our priority as ever

remained the NAMS Cup.

We kicked off with an

extremely tight home

game against Birmingham.

A lapse of concentration in

the second half allowed

them to take the win.

However, we used what

we learnt in that game to

bring home comfortable

victories against Leicester

and Warwick to allow us

to progress into the

quarter finals.

The quarter against

Manchester was played

under flood light at Sale

Sharks’ old home

Heywood Road. A poor

start due to some tactical

defence errors at the line-

out gave us the resolve to

make up for it. Some

heroic efforts by Paddy

Liddicoat, Alex Walkden,

St John Karssiens, and

Julian Peacock were

enough to clinch the well-

deserved win.

Sure we were on our way

to the heights of previous

years, we faced a

notorious opposition in

the next stage – The

Southampton Moosemen.

An unexpected extended

journey meant our legs

were still stiff as the

whistle blew for kick-off.

Despite some decent

possession we just

couldn’t score the points,

and some unfortunate

missed tackles led to

Southampton beating us

very comfortably. We

were understandably

disappointed, but at the

same time proud of our

achievement to reach the

semis and remain in the

upper echelons of NAMS

rugby. It’s a small

consolation we were to

hear they went on to beat

Cardiff in the final.

BUCS rugby was in its

fourth year and was led

with great commitment by

Pre-clinical Captain Kyle

Fleischer. In many ways

it’s an unenviable job,

constantly coming up

against increasingly strict

university Wednesday

timetables, combined with

some distant fixtures,

meaning putting out a full

15 was always a struggle.

We finished ‘successfully’

by avoiding relegation.

The importance of pre-

clinical rugby and the

post-match socials for the

younger years is

undeniable, and will

remain a priority next

year, in context of some

major changes as detailed

later.

We finished the year by

hosting the NAMS 7s

tournament (held on 4th

May) which was another

great success. Over 16

teams turned up on the

day, with Southampton

taking overall victory with

ourselves taking runner-

up. Individuals who

deserve a special mention

from the day include the

(trainee) referee who had

a lovely drop-goal attempt

mid-match, and the Notts

All-Stars team for their all-

time high commitment to

comedy rugby. Thoroughly

entertaining.

End of Season Awards

Players’ Player – Paddy

Liddocoat (3rd yr)

Captain’s Player – Alex

Walkden (4th yr)

Best Improved – Jon

Owen (2nd yr)

Clubman of the Year –

Drew Williamson (1st

yr)

May 2013

3

Changes Next Season

Over the past few months there have been a

series of meetings with representatives

from our Club, the University, the RFU and

the Athletic Union. This has been to discuss

and direction of our rugby club, but more

specifically how the new official University

Sport strategy impacts upon us and our

Wednesday BUCS rugby. Said strategy is to

align itself with the likes of Bath and

Loughborough by focusing on performance,

points and wise financial investment. As

part of this, they have taken the very

controversial decision to chop the number

of University Mens teams from six to four.

Unfortunately, as our pre-clinical team play

as the UofN 6th team, that included us.

Therefore from 2013 onwards, the

University will no longer fund our entry into

the BUCS competition.

This has not happened without deep

discussion and argument, mounting a

defence against these plans, from members

of our committee. However, our case was

not helped by relatively very few points and

a number of cancelled fixtures in recent

seasons.

As an alternative, a new ‘Super League’ is

being set up, new from next season and will

be hosted at various local clubs. It will

involve ex-hall teams, societies, and perhaps

Uni. of Trent teams.

The silver lining in this major change is we

avoid lengthy journeys on a Wednesday

afternoon to faraway opponents (e.g. East

Anglia). This will help squad availability and

increase participation.

Overall, we’re confident the ethos of

Wednesday rugby and its social importance

for the pre-clinical years will remain strong,

despite these changes.

Key Priorities & Aims for 2013/2014

1. Top Pennant 1:

o minimise cancellations

o increase participation of

younger years

2. Succeed with NAMS.

3. Support social Wednesday rugby for

pre-clinical team.

4. Improve our standing within

NLDRFU, with view to play in RFU

Midland leagues in future years.

A Half Baked Review of Hamburg Tour,

21st – 24th February 2013.

We all appreciate brevity, so thanks to Mina

and Kofi for their description of tour in

bullet-point format (both busy with exams):

Hunger Games Paintballing.

German pork, beer and more pork.

Inadvertent visits to gay bars.

A Circle with a nautical theme.

Midnight raids: ensuring the spirit

of tour was kept alight.

The ‘Why are we doing this?’ match

of touch rugby on frozen parkland

against the Hamburg Exiles.

‘One more cask’ night where the two

clubs love of singing and nudity

truly shone.

Port to port social and training for

all in Tour ATLS.

Matlock 10s Cider & Sausage Festival

We have entered a team in for the above

event, held on Saturday 3rd August 2013.

It’s been a highlight of the summer in past

years, and is set in the beautiful Matlock

valley. It’d be great if there was an Alumni

representation, and you’re all more than

welcome to get a game or two in too. See

http://goo.gl/8pfYZ for more information,

and our new twitter page

(@NottsMedicsRUFC) for our arrangements

closer to the time.

May 2013

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Committee Contacts for Season 2013-2014

President* Matthew Beattie mzydmb2@nottingham.ac.uk 07926235307

General Secretary* Julian Peacock mzydjp@nottingham.ac.uk 07805471223

Captain 1st XV Steven John mzysj@nottingham.ac.uk 07875666707

Vice-Captain 1st XV Kyle Fleischer mzykf@nottingham.ac.uk 07905791913

Alumni Secretary Kofi Asante mzykka@nottingham.ac.uk 07584623791

[*handover December, 2013]

Photos

Promotional Poster with

some ridiculous poses.

Don’t worry, the angle of

Julian’s neck has since

corrected.

… it worked so well the

side-lines were packed

May 2013

5

(Above) Enjoying a beer or three and some platters of meat with the Hamburg Exiles, February 2013. Note

the college-varsity style tour stash – a hit amongst the boys. (Below) Port to port social in process.

Notts Medics as

Runners Up of NAMS

7s (4 May 2013).

Left to right: Sam

Jenkins, Paddy

Liddicoat, Steve

Abbey, Chris Oliver,

Adam Mathias, Pete

May-Miller, Ben

Darvill, Drew

Williamson, Kyle

Fleischer (bottom).

May 2013

6

The demand for NMRUFC branded stash knows no bounds. Ben Barkham and Jon Peters

model the new speedos in South Africa, May 2013.

And finally… Tak picked up a pretty bad injury during 7s, however to his delight they had his

favourite magazine available to ‘read’ on the orthopaedic ward…