Ponteland
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leagues . A major success has been that we have been able to field a 3rd XV on six occasions so far this season . The mini , junior and youth element of the club has continued to thrive due to the hard work of the age group coaches and parent helpers . The continued success of the mini , junior and youth section continues to be co-ordinated by Andy Lawson .
Our aspiration for the 1st XV is to gain promotion to Durham & Northumberland 1 and for the 2nd XV to win the Aln League . We hope to field a 3rd XV on as many occasions as possible before the end of the season . At mini , junior and youth level our aspiration is that all the players continue to enjoy their rugby and want to continue playing rugby in the coming seasons at Ponteland RFC .”
Youth
“ A strong youth rugby set up is essential for the long term sustainability of rugby at the club . In many ways youth rugby is the life blood of the club that will provide senior players for many seasons to come .
Whilst we have attracted some new senior players from the services and a few students the vast majority of young senior players are home grown having come through our youth teams . The average age of our senior squads is very young which bodes well for the future .”
Integration
“ We have spent a lot of time over the last three seasons developing transition arrangement for senior colts into adult rugby . This includes the senior coaches taking some of the Colts trainings sessions as well as the senior Colts training with the senior players , initially for fitness work , skills development and to learn moves .
As they mature and their confidence develops then they participate in contact . As their confidence increases then we introduce them to competitive senior rugby with 20 minute cameos for the 2nd or 3rd XV . This time increases in relation to their ability and in response to how comfortable they feel in playing senior rugby .”
Progression
“ We are very proud of Callum Chick and Dan Marshall who , two seasons ago , could be seen playing for Ponteland Colts on a Sunday morning ; they are both now full time professional rugby players for Newcastle Falcons and between them have started several times for the Falcons senior team .
Callum has also represented England at under 16 , 18 , 19 and 20 levels and scored a try in the World Rugby Under 20s Championship last June when England beat Ireland in the final to win the event for the 3rd time in four years .
As well as playing for the Falcons in the Singha Sevens at the beginning of this season , Dan represented the England Rugby 7s team at the Youth Commonwealth Games in Samoa in 2015 .
Whilst Dan joined Ponteland when he was playing junior rugby , Callum joined in the mini section as an eight year
old and has played for no other club until joining the Falcons .”
Community
“ We pride ourselves on being a community club . For many years , junior and youth coaches have gone into the local first , middle and high schools to develop rugby in those schools . Annually the two middle schools compete for the Bill Snaith Cup which the club organises and facilitates .
In addition to all the mini , junior and youth sides that we put out we organise the annual Beer Festival which is rapidly becoming a social high point in Ponteland . We also organise and facilitate the Ponteland Wheelbarrow Race on New Year ’ s Day .”
Beer Festival
“ Our fourth annual Beer Festival is being held over the weekend of Friday 21st April to Sunday 23rd April . It will be running to an extended third day , with the addition of Sunday afternoon . There will be a choice of over 100 Beers and Lagers , 40 Ciders plus Wines and Prosecco as well as Soft Drinks .
Food will once again be provided by Longhorns Barbecue Smokehouse after their popular debut with us in 2016 and there will be a full programme of rugby and musical entertainment throughout the weekend . Last year we had a sellout weekend with over 2600 attendees joining us over the course of the event .
In 2017 numbers will again be limited so we would urge everyone to order their
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