Sunday 29 November 2008 - Away at Bracknell

This was the last of our five away games on the trot. We had a warm welcome from Bracknell on a cold wet day. We had a short warm-up/drills session before playing three games against each other, we had some wins and some losses. In concentrating on certain aspects of our game we improved our performance over that of previous weeks. We still need to concentrate on playing as a team to help the team achieve success and get more wins under our (tag) belts.


One thing that has become clear now that the weather has become colder is the need to be wrapped up warm at the start of the training sessions to avoid players getting too cold and unable to keep going later. Can we recommend hats, fingerless gloves, trousers (waterproof is good) with plenty of layers on top. Clothing can always be shed if players become too warm.


Next week we are at HOME (yippee) and have a friendly against Farnham.


Before next Sunday we have the friendly festival at Sutton and Epsom on Saturday 6 December. Details of this will fillow by e-mail.

Sunday 23 November 2008

Thank you to all those that made it to Redingensians, I think the squad jackets really came into their own and got a good trial re their waterproof qualities. I am pleased to report the rain was repelled and rugby shirts were kept dry.

We ended up with a short session of a quick warm up and drills before launching into a game. There are no results to report as we helped make up the Redingensians numbers so two teams could be played. We did squeeze in the one game before the session was abandoned. For those that did not rush off, hot dogs were enjoyed by all the players courtesy of the Redingensians - thank you.

You'll also be pleased to know I was overjoyed to take home the wet muddy kit to dry it out and remove the worst of the mud ready for next week.

This Sunday we are away at Bracknell, details of how to get there have already been circulated. See you there.

Sunday 16 November - Away at Chobham

We had a triangular meet at Chobham today with Effingham & Leatherhead also in attendance. There were loads of players, stretching as far as the eye could see during their warm up exercises. Camberley contributing 25 players to all this. The players were split into small groups after the warm up, to have some time spent on drills, before matches were played.

Disappointingly, despite some flashes of very good play, we did not manage to keep this standard up for an entire game and so failed to get a single victory under our belt. Basics of running straight, maintaining the defensive line, keeping in position and playing as a team were not always followed. Balls got turned over and so gave the advantage to our opponents. We have another two away fixtures before we have some training at home to be able to focus and work on areas where, with consistent improvement, should turn our game around.

It was good to see many of the players turning up sporting their jackets, paid for with the sponsorship from BOC. Everyone looked proud to be wearing them (and looked very smart of course).

Next week we are away to Redingensians, which is in Sonning, close to Reading. See you there.

Sunday 9 November - Away at Sutton and Epsom

Today was Remembrance Sunday, which we recognised with a two minutes silence whilst at Sutton and Epsom. Albeit some of the players were attending church services in recognition of this and so unable to come to rugby, we still had over twenty players travel to Sutton and Epsom for training and friendly matches.

There was more falling over and getting muddy training in 'station' sessions, as we had at Dorking. We had three teams playing against Dorking teams and won some games, but lost others, with good passages of play shown. Well done Camberley.

The other important event to note was, the distribution of waterproof, fleece lined, Camberley Rugby Football Club jackets to our players. This was due to the generous sponsorship obtained by Anthony Dugmore from his employers BOC. This will help keep the players warm as the season progresses. THANK YOU very much. This sponsorship is in addition to that already obtained by Tracie Dugmore from RBS, which paid for the tents that we use at the festivals.

Next week we are away at Chobham.

Sunday 2 November - Away at Dorking

We had a wonderful welcome from Dorking today, the two squads were well matched in number with just over twenty players each. Four drills were completed at four separate 'stations' that the mixed players rotated between. Each station had a coach from each club working together with the players. One drill looked forward to next season and involved falling over (in the mud) to learn the skills of how to be tackled - 'cheek to cheek' is a key point to remember here.

We ended with playing three concurrent games against each other, in which we were successful in winning two out of the three. Well done!

Afterwards, some of the coaches from both Dorking and Camberley met together in the bar to share thoughts on how the training had gone and to share experiences and coaching tips.

Next week we are away at Sutton and Epsom.