LONDON WELSH
After finishing 2nd in the league
behind Bristol they came through
a tense semi-final encounter to
claim a place in the final. They
produced a superb display in the
first leg to put themselves in a
commanding position and made
no mistake 2nd time around
winning the game by 21 points
to 20 to allow the celebrations to
begin.
Promotion was a just reward
for the superb performances
that the team put in throughout
the campaign and developed a
reputation for producing some
outstanding rugby. They will
now have turned their attentions
towards the new campaign and
should have nothing to fear in
their new surroundings.
Ahead of the new season they
have confirmed that Matt Corker
will continue as club captain and
Tom May as team captain. Both
took the time to talk to the club’s
official website about their roles.
Corker said, “I’m hugely grateful
to Justin, the rest of the coaches
and the board for giving me the
opportunity to be club captain
again at such an exciting time in
London Welsh’s history.
To be back in the Premiership
is a fantastic achievement by
the Club, as well as for me
personally. I really hope we can
have a fantastic season and I
think we’re in a great position to
do that, and really push the Club
forward.”
May added, “When I came back
and Justin asked me to be team
captain again I was always going
to jump at the chance, because I
loved doing it last year. They’re a
great bunch of lads and the new
players we’ve signed so far just
complement what we had from
before.
To lead the team out in the
Premiership at places where I’ve
played so much of my rugby will
be amazing.”
Their pre-season has generally
gone well with the team coming
a long way from their first fixture,
as Seb Stegmann, scorer of 13
tries last season, explained, “The
standard’s definitely gone up;
we’ve seen it in training and in our
games.
When we call moves in phase
play, boys are offering themselves.
Everyone knows what their role
is a lot more than that first game
against Henley. It’s been building
week by week and there’s a lot of
confidence now both in the team
and the structure.
It’s about confidence; we’ve got to
keep the momentum going. The
boys are excited; it’s the Aviva
Premiership. We strived so hard last
season to get back there. We now
just need to keep our heads and
know our roles for Exeter.”
There can be no doubt that the
club is thriving on the field of play
and the work that their Community
team are doing is equally
impressive. They run a selection
of programmes which look to aid
rugby development whilst building
strong, genuine and purposeful
relationships.
www.rugbyclub.biz
7