Are you battening down the hatches? Darrragh is on its way. Nowadays you never know how serious these weather warnings really are as they are lambasted if they under estimate things, so everything is a weather warning now adays. Whatever, looks like some lively rugger conditions for the weekend if we are allowed to play.

So…. Woz on?

Let’s start with last weekend when a whole troop of Tonites trekked down to Plymouth to watch the Ones taking on OPM’s, their proper name is, Old Plymothians and Mannamedians. They play at the King George playing fields and have done for years. If honest, it used to be a pretty rough experience down there, the changing rooms were awful and they got regularly broken into and oppositions valuables were often stolen. One year I remember going there and we knew this happened so we bagged up the valuables and locked them in a car, only to return to find several pairs of players shoes had been stolen instead. Made for an interesting shoeless pub crawl on the way home! Anyway… them’s was the old days and I’m really happy to report, they now have a semblance of a club house there and whilst it’s a very small bar, how nice was it to have a beer and some food on site after the game. They now also have a thriving junior section and I spoke to a couple of nice guys trying to keep things going and my assessment is… they are on the right tracks and as we all know, from small acorns big oak tree trees can grow. There, I can be positive!

Now on to the game great to see we had about 30 travelling fans and I think there was more of us there than them. I will say thanks to Jules for driving Kennedy, Canniford and I down.
So …, As they lined up for the kick off you couldn’t help noticing they the home side were pretty big and despite an early score from us we were very much under the cosh all the way through the first half and really, it was all a tad disjointed as there was penalty after penalty. I think we counted 17 in all which is nearly one every third minute, stop start, stop start and it was defiantly dull to watch and I can’t imagine the players from both sides were enjoying it.. We went into half time well adrift at 16-3 down but in the second half with a helpful wind and the ref seeming to lose his whistle, the game really opened up and tries were scored, several in fact and the opposition just seemed to fall away and from thinking we were going to be lucky to get anything out of the game we romped home by 16-39. A good result on the road.

It was nice to see Luke Kenny there watching and for those who don’t know him he is an ex Ton player who came up through the yuff section and played a couple of senior season before moving to Plymouth to live. In his day he was a half decent 9 who went on to higher things when he moved. Knees and ACL’s have caught up with his playing days but nice he bothered to come down and support.

Unfortunately the two’s visit to Barnstaple didn’t go ahead as we were struggling for players this weekend? Shame as that puts us back in mid table now.

On to Sunday and a full programme of games, our little guys (u7’s) went to Sidmouth for their three way game against the hosts and Chard, sounds like everyone enjoyed the games. For the rest it was Withycombe, with the odds away and evens at home. Notable performance was from Footies mob who were up against what is a pretty good year who tend to beat everyone with pastings , yes we did go down but it was a closer game this year and shows we are learning. The 9‘s had a good game the 10’s and 12’s won their encounters not so hot for 13’s and 15’s but Withys are good in both of these categories. The 14’s had a great game against Wiviliscombe and despite having a weakened side everybody stepped up and the coaching staff were very chuffed. As always, rugby played and yuff away from technology for a few hours.

Some news before we plough in the weekends stuff…. Our Junior Safe guarding officer Pam Rich is now stepping back from doing the very important role and having taken it on when we were desperate she has transformed it. If honest she inherited em…not very much and now we have systems and protocols all in place and we are fully compliant with the RFU guidelines. Natalie Edwards has kindly volunteered to step into her shoes which is great. So big thanks to Pam and I know she and Stuart the junior chair will be on hand to help Natalie with any teething issues as she gets to grips with the new role. Once again thanks Pam from all at the Ton.

So Saturday if gales, plague, pestilence and floods don’t happen we are at home to Plymouth Argaum in the league. We have a sponsors lunch and it’s our chum Richard Marker form the Coombe Estates clan who are troffing down with us this weekend. Always good company and a great sponsor for our humble club to have.
Churchie has organised a game against Topsham’s 4th , what is going on down there? where do they get all their players from? Is there a Uni in Exeter?

Sunday… if the clubhouse is still there… our juniors are playing mostly Exmouth, the exception is the 14’s who play Taunton at home and the 15’s who are also home to Bridport. Also at home is the 8’s 10’s and 12’s and away at their place are the 7’s, 9’s, 11’s and 13’s.

Busy weekend all-round do keep an eye out for faceache post to check and see if games are still on.

#UTT

Lord Jez