Tentative plans are being made for our warm up games, particularly the game on August 20th at Harrogate.  The conditioning phase of pre-season was largely completed with last night’s session and we now will concentrate much more of specific rugby aspects.  It is essential that we continue with high training attendance through this next period also.

We are also already considering the likely make up of the squad that will go to Harrogate for that first warm up game.  If you are not going to be available for that game then please ensure you let 1st XV Manager Lawrence Black know by August 7th at the latest.  Ideally let Lawrence know at forthcoming training sessions or contact him on lawrenceblack@btinternet.com or 07980552684.

Applications for tickets for England’s autumn internationals should be sent to club secretary Julie-Ann Duffield at duffja@hotmail.com. The deadline for applications is Monday 28th of July.

We’ve drawn Barnard Castle away in round 1 of the EDF Senior Vase.  The tie will be played on Saturday 6th of September and will be the first competitve fixture of the season for the 1st XV.  The EDF Senior Vase competition is open to sides playing at level 7 and level 8; Barnard Castle are playing in Durham & Northumberland 2.  The full draw can be viewed by clicking here.

There is a selection of phots from last week’s Summer Ball and pre-season training now added.  You can view them by clicking the photos link in the right hand panel or by clicking here.

Tuesday’s training session will start indoors with a short (15 min) players’ meeting.  Simon will introduce the attack and defence patterns for the season and their associated calls.  It is important that we get maximum turnout for this briefing to ensure clarity as we take these into practical preparation.  Training outdoors will continue after the meeting.

We’ve had nearly a month of pre-season training and I’d like to reflect briefly on how it’s gone. Lawrence has given us the figures for attendance and in all honesty, every session bar one has been massive. Even on the one night where numbers were slightly down, Lawrence was contacted by 14 guys who had a reason why they couldn’t make it (they heard it was a sprint session and so on!). I think everyone now realises how important communication is to a squad and that without it, we can’t progress.

As last nights players meeting demonstrates, progress is what we all want and you will be fined for standing in its way - even for wearing cheap white boots!  It’s great to see so many new faces at the club and likewise development squad players stepping up to senior rugby.

I think, as I hope you all agree, the structure of the training sessions so far has been fantastic. They are fun but hard work, short but intensive and they are already showing us what we can achieve if we remain committed and focussed. There will be no team fitter or better prepared than us come late August. We are going to be a force this season - from 1st XV through to the Development XV - of this I have no doubt.

On the social side, we’ve set up a Players Social Committee which had its first meeting last Thursday, 26th June. Our next meeting is at the end of July after which we will be announcing some events and dates for the coming season. Lawrence has already mentioned the training session followed by BBQ on 23rd August and please make your best efforts to attend. Watch this space for there are numerous things on the cards…!

The important thing now is to keep our levels of effort and morale as high as they are. This has to run right through pre-season and into the season proper through to April next year. We will reap the rewards.

I am proud to have the opportunity of captaining a great bunch of lads and I want to thank you for your support and effort to date.  We must continue to take advantage of the opportunity we’ve been given and take great pride in Ripon RUFC because, the fact is, we are it and it is us.

Well done to all those who attended Thursday night training, a really tremendous effort was put in by all. The ‘Hills and Steps’ was a great challenge and this session was approached with an excellent team attitude which bodes well for the coming season. There was a really good buzz in the club house afterwards for the chilli, beer and ‘Fines Fest’.

Beware!…… those that slipped away early or failed to attend  will not escape the Fines Master!!

With six session now under our belts I am sure that those attending are enjoying it and feeling fitter already. For those not attending perhaps you should take a look, as rest assured you are now playing catch up. Only twelve sessions to the first pre season game. Come on down don’t let those putting in the hard yards down.

We are averaging over 30 players per session with other players letting us know when they are unavailable and if they all turned up we would have 40+ players every session. It would be great if that number were 50+. By missing training you are also missing information about forth coming events being organised on the players behalf. Please don’t use cricket as an excuse.