Welcome to East Grinstead Rugby Round Up. If you are reading this on the website, or via Facebook, please sign up to receive this Newsletter via email, which contains loads of pictures and other content, please email m.marriott@btconnect.com and we will add you to the list.

SENIOR RUGBY
Our senior sides had a rest week last weekend, with only our Vets trotting out. They visited Burgess Hill and played an excellent game, losing, but fun was had by all! To see BH’s pics of the day, click here: Match pics

This weekend, all teams are back in action, with the 1XV at home against Sussex rivals, Hove. Seats at our pre match meal are still available, so get in there quickly - Read the article below for more info.

Meanwhile our 2’s are looking to bounce back after their loss to Barns Green as they travel to the Channel Islands to face Jersey Royals. Flights are booked and the boys can’t wait! I look forward to hearing all about it!

On Sunday, our Women host Crawley in a huge local derby - Don’t miss it!!!

LIVE STREAM ALERT!
We are excited to announce that our live streaming is back!!!
Don’t miss a moment of action! Watch East Grinstead RFC take on Hove RFC Live from wherever you are!

Thanks to our Live Stream sponsor, Pure Building Contractors
http://purebc.net

JUNIOR RUGBY
Junior rugby kicked off on Friday this weekend. Whilst the local schools were packing out the club, the U10s travelled to Brighton RFC for a "Friday Under the Lights" mini tournament. As experienced from previous years, the kids seem to relish playing under the spotlights. This was a first competitive outing for the U10s to put in place the new rucking and mauling skills that have taken onboard this season.

There were some strong teams from Brighton, Hove, Seaford and Pulborough on show and the G's did themselves extremely proud; Winning 3, Losing 2 and 1 draw. Every player did exceptionally well and coaches Stuart Bell and Dan Lethbridge were exceptionally happy to see the amount of passes and offloads during all the games. There was some great rucking too, with Albert Turner showing his strength to make a number of important turnovers.

All the players were getting stuck into the contact and we witnessed some great offloads and straight running to make for some memorable tries. A lovely pass from Cameron Bell putting Harry Goldsworthy into space to make a great run from his own half only to be denied by a last gasp tackle into touch. Thomas Salter with a sublime offload to put Ollie Hayward in for a try. Seb Lethbridge making some mazy runs and huge tackles. Jack Broughton, always first up in the defensive charge. Gwillam also everywhere on the park, sadly having to leave early with a head knock (safety 1st!!). There were just too many highlights to mention them all which speaks volumes for the team performance.

Despite the lack of pitch space available, the organisers did a great job in keeping the fixtures moving and laid on post match food for the kids. Well done to all at Brighton RFC.

On Sunday, two U9 teams went to their first ever contact festival at Horsham where they took on the hosts as well teams from Haywards Heath and Burgess Hill.

The boys have been training hard over the last four weeks and clearly relished the opportunity to put their new skills into practice. What followed was some superb defensive teamwork and a lot of great tackles, with everyone rolling their sleeves up and getting stuck in, which was great to see.

On the attacking side, we saw some brilliant tries scored from the wings, a continuing improvement in our passing and some nice little offloads in there as well.

A fantastic morning was had by all and we’ll take a lot of positives into our next festival at Worthing in two weeks’ time.

All the other sections were back at HQ for another perfect morning of rugby. It was great to see so many up at the clubhouse afterwards, enjoying the facilities.

Next week the U10s travel to Tunbridge Wells whilst the U11s travel to Crawley.

INTERMEDIATE RUGBY
Sunday 6th October saw the U12’s face Worthing Raiders U12’s for their first league game of the season. The weather was looking good, and everything pointed to a fast following game. I'm glad to say we were not disappointed.

East Grinstead loss the toss and Worthing elected to receive the kick off. The match started with a deep kick into Worthings 22 meter line, and the ball stayed there for the majority of the half. However, great defence from Worthing and poor rucking from East Grinstead enabled Worthing to clear their lines time after time. However, with the final play of the half, East Grinstead managed to create the overlap, which they had been trying to do all half, and Arthur Purdy crossed the white wash for the first try of the match.

Excited by the first league try, East Grinstead started the second half much the same way they ended the first, however unfortunately it was short-lived and Worthing started to play their game by spinning the ball out wide and making use of the wide pitch. East Grinstead held them out for a long period of time, but unfortunately, with the players continuing to drift in, Worthing soon found the space they needed out wide to cross over for their first try. With the game tied at 5 all, there was everything to play for. Unfortunately, straight from the kick off, East Grinstead seemed to have switched off, and Worthing managed to recover their own kick, and the pressure started again. Very much like their first try Worthing kept on spreading the ball wide and eventually, the gap appeared once again for them to get their second of the match. Unfortunately, it was at this stage that the East Grinstead players head seemed to go down, which allowed Worthing to get their third and final try of the match. This seemed to switch the East Grinstead players back on, and the final few minutes of the match was all East Grinstead. They were very unfortunate not to get a try with the last play of the match, with Henry Hulst driving for the try line, just putting his foot on the touch line. The final whistle blew with the U12s being on the wrong end of a 15 - 5 loss.

Huge congratulations must go out to players on both teams who contested a fantastic game of rugby, which the large crowd enjoyed.

East Grinstead would like to wish Worthing the best of luck for the rest of the season and are looking forward to a return fixture.
We would also like to say a big thankyou to Ryland Thomas, first team captain, who refereed the game like a natural.

SACKVILLE v IMBERHORNE
Last Friday (4th October) Sackville played Imberhorne at Saint Hill, over four matches for years 7, 8, 9 and 10/11 under the lights. It was a fantasticly successful evening.

Thank you to Dan Poulton for all his hard work and to all who came to the club! It was great to see seniors out watching, supporting, handing out kit, coaching, and the best bit was the kids loving the cheering from the sidelines. Who knows how many of these children will be wearing the Five Ferns in the future?

PRE-MATCH MEAL (12th October - Hove)
It’s going to be another cracking meal, before a cracking game! Don’t miss it.

Click here for more info and to book your seat: Pre match meal

HALLOWEEN
Join us for some spooky Halloween fun at EGRFC main clubhouse on the 26th October 2024 from 7.30pm.

Come to the club after an awesome looking double header at home, where KCS Old Boys and Eastbourne 2’s will be visiting.

Fancy dress - don’t let this spook you. As usual, best costume makes Rugby Round Up.

Tickets £10
This includes a drink if purchased in advance. To take advantage of this offer, click here now: Halloween tickets
Tickets bought on the night – no free drink.

Also, on the same evening, please remember our Junior party, raising funds for U14’s Spanish tour 2025, from 5pm to 7pm.
Best Fancy dress prize. Spooky games, face painting and daring dancing.
Tickets available from the main bar. £2.50 per child.

GMS
I know we keep on pestering you about the RFU’s Game Management System (GMS), but that is because the RFU keep pestering us!! It is vital that every member, player or social, log in and check all your details are correct and complete! Please click this link to go to the East Grinstead GMS portal: EGRFC GMS

For more info on why this is important, please click here: GMS info

In particular, we are seeing that many of our age group details are incomplete. Thanks to a superb effort from parents and volunteers right across the country, more than 145,000 age grade players have already been registered this season. We are now approaching the 45 days deadline from the start of the season when the process needs to be completed, so please take action now! Click here for more info: Age group registration

We have also noticed that in our move to the GMS system for membership, we have found a few parents who have had issues and have in fact purchased membership twice. Please check your direct debits and let us know if anything is wrong by emailing operations@egrfc.com

We also need our Life Members to log in and ‘purchase’ your membership, or you won’t be on our database and will miss many of the club’s perks. The purchase is of course free, but we still need you to do it. If you are struggling, please email operations@egrfc.com, and we will help you out.

SIX NATIONS TICKETS NOW ON SALE
Now is your chance to join England at Allianz Stadium during the Guinness Men’s Six Nations 2025. Tickets for England v Italy on Sunday 9 March are now on sale and you can secure your place from just £72.

With a resurgent Italy laying down markers across the last few tournaments, this will be an exciting test to round off England’s home matches in the tournament.

Click here to buy your ticket now: England tickets

OTHER NEWS
If you have any news about any aspect of our rugby family here at East Grinstead, get involved and email m.marriott@btconnect.com. See you next week!!