We’ve drawn Guisborough (Durham & Northumberland 3) away in the 1st round of the Yorkshire shield; the tie must be played by October 18th.  The full draw is here.

I’m still looking for pictures of Ripon “on tour” over the summer.  I’ve just received this picture of Nicky Watkinson proudly wearing her Ripon colours as she tackles the famous Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge in County Antrim.  Click on the image to see the full picture.  Please send your picture to info@riponrugby.co.uk.

A solid effort was given by the lads who were at training tonight, you’re really setting a benchmark for the season. Well done Dan for winning the t-shirt!  I’m disappointed in the numbers tonight though, we’ve done very well so far and i know some people have certain commitments, fair enough, but i don’t believe everybody who wasn’t there tonight really couldn’t be. Simon and all the coaches are putting a lot into getting it right for us, let’s show some bloody back-bone and hold up our end of the bargain. See you next Tuesday, and on Thursday after training there’ll be a players meeting, with food and (if we work hard enough) the odd beer. Mossy

I’m struggling to get Hayden our kiwi back-rower to and from training because he lives and works in Aysgarth.  If you live or travel near there on a Tuesday or Thursday, or you know somebody who does, please let me know asap. Whether you can pick him up and bring him down or drop him off after training, either would be a great help! Any other ideas would be appreciated. Cheers, Mossy - 07904 617488 or smb@holisticifa.com

A reminder to all, training has started on Tuedsay and Thursday evenings starting promptly at 7pm.

Can all players remember to bring boots and training shoes to all sessions.

Ripon rugby club has done its bit to help promote rugby in non-traditional playing countries thanks to the efforts of U16 Adam Thompson.  Adam recently visited Poland as part of a school exchange and took a rugby ball, complete with Ripon logo, as one of his gifts.  Adam’s report is below:

“On the 26th of April I, along with nine other students from Ripon Grammar School, departed to Lubliniec, Poland, as part of the European unions Comenius trip. The aim of the Comenius project is to forge links between schools from different culture and geological backgrounds. In our Comenius group there is a school from Poland, Germany and Norway as well as RGS.

We were advised to take gifts from Yorkshire for our host families; I took a packet of Yorkshire tea and Yorkshire tea loaf, but my best present was, by far my best gift was a Ripon rugby ball, generously donated to me for the trip by the club.

My project was to make a PowerPoint presentation on weird English sports and sports which are historically British. In the historically British PowerPoint I, of course, included rugby.  After I made my presentation on the 29th, everyone involved in the Comenius project went into the schools new sports hall and played weird and wonderful games from every country. It ended up with me teaching them all how to play touch rugby and we had a little tournament. My team ,of course, won but it was very close. “

We’ve got pre-season off to a great start.  Fantastic numbers down training again tonight and the endeavour shown was massive - there were a lot of people who dug really deep in tonight’s session.  There iss also a real sense of teamwork and camaraderie that bodes well for the upcoming season.  Well done to Tony on his first session at the club and getting recognised as the night’s best trainer.

The effort and commitment shown so far is exemplary - let’s keep that work ethic going now.

Thanks to everyone who came along and enjoyed Saturday’s camp out at the club. The weather was kinder than expected meaning we were able to enjoy a pleasant afternoon, evening (and night!) outdoors including an excellent campfire.

Highlight of the evening was Dan “The Rake” Watson tending to the fire with his special tool. Thanks to Mairead for cooking breakfast for everyone on Sunday morning.  We hope to repeat this event soon making it bigger and better. Photos from Saturday can be viewed here.

The clubhouse will be open tomorrow morning from 8.15 for the New Zealand v England game.  Plans for the “camp out” later in the day are still in place even though he weather forecast is not brilliant.  We will be open for the South Africa v Wales game and through the afternoon and evening.  England A play Ireland A in the Churchill Cup at 19.00 tomorrow, televised on Sky.

Will try and persuade Mrs. Hurley to cook some bacon tomorrow morning for those coming down early!

Congratulations to Steve Moss-Blundell who has been elected as 1st XV skipper for the coming season. Steve has also invited Ian McAra to be his vice-captain and I’m confident we’ve got two good people to help lead the team forward. Rob Lamb has also been elected as Hornblowers (2nd XV) captain. Further decisions will made made on 3rd XV captain, 2nd XV manager and 3rd XV manager shortly.