old elthamians
Hotdoggers
Surf Club
FOLLOW US ONLINE TWITTER.COM/SPORT_IP
Old Elthamians
W
ith three promotions in the past four seasons, Old Elthamians RFC’s success at first team level has been outstanding
as they look to establish themselves as a major force in National 2 of the RFU Leagues. The progress of the club in
recent times is about far more than putting out a successful first XV, however, with a one club mentality reflected
in their 25% membership increase and the foundations being laid for them to go even further.
Director of Rugby, Gavin Lach
Rugby Club Magazine was keen to find out more about their
project with Director of Rugby, Gavin Lach taking the time to
speak with us, saying, “This is my 5th season in charge and my
time here has been thoroughly enjoyable. There’s a great bunch
of people here.
“The journey that we’ve been on in moving from London 2
to National 2 has meant that we’ve had to evolve both as a
team and a club because it’s a giant step up. Throughout
that period it has always been a very friendly and
welcoming club and is something that I’m proud to be
a part of.
“The players have bought into where we want to go
and that’s allowed us to make progress. They’ve had
a fantastic attitude towards what we want to achieve
and that’s been vital for us. We’re happy with how the
season has gone this season.
“We’ve lost a lot of narrow games and so do feel that
we could be up around the top sides but it’s a learning
process. You can’t always go and win promotion and
we’ll be a lot better next year from the experience that
we’ve had this time around. We are a top half side at the
moment and we need to fine tune a few things to allow us to
continue to progress next year.
“We’ve already looked at what we need to do over the summer
to allow us to continue to develop and have brought in a couple
of very good players with Premiership and Championship
experience to add a lot of quality to our team.
“One of the biggest challenges for us moving forwards will be
to maintain the ethos that we have at the club. We are an Old
Boys club and with the speed at which we’ve moved forwards
it’s important to remember where we’ve come from. We want
the club to still be one club from the youngest mini sides right
through to the first team at senior level. Other sides have
managed to do it and there’s no reason why we can’t do the
same.
“Our target is to become the first Old Boys club to play
Championship rugby in the coming years. We’re two promotions
away from that so obviously we’re going to have to continue
evolving if we’re to achieve that and I’m under no illusion as to
how difficult that will be but we’re confident that we can achieve
our goals.”
“We are an Old Boys club and with the
speed at which we’ve moved forwards
it’s important to remember where
we’ve come from”
22 Issue 07