Review of 2009 - 2010 Season

	P	W	D	L	For	Ag	Dif
League	21	18	0	3	567	260	307
Cup/Friendly	7	6	0	1	221	91	130
Total	28	24	0	4	788	351	437

Rishworthians are going through the most successful period in its 80 year history. Both on and off the field, great advances are being made to develop the playing side and the infrastructure of your Club.

In June 2007, Jamie Bloem became Player/Coach of the Club and asked where would we like to be in three years time?' We thought that Yorkshire 3 would be a suitable league to aim for and that was agreed by all. Little did we realise that with John Clough on board as forwards coach, the team would exceed all expectations and next season will be playing in Yorkshire 2, having achieved promotion for the 3rd successive season. It has been an exciting time, but all players and coaches involved have worked hard to achieve the success they thoroughly deserve.

Next season six games will be played against clubs in the Leeds area (Roundhegians, West Leeds, West Park Leeds, Moortown, Leodiensians, and Yarnbury) and a local derby against Huddersfield YMCA.

The 1st XV captained by Gary Morris and coached by Jamie Bloem and John Clough has over the past 3 years played 65 league matches, won 59, lost 6 (5 away and 1 at home), scoring 2,076 for and 521 against. This season Jamie Bloem is the leading points scorer with 187, closely followed by Aaron Canning on 170. Anthony Shoesmith has scored the most tries (16) and James Clarke scored 15 tries. The Team won the Yorkshire Silver Trophy Final 25-22 against Leeds Corinthians at Pontefract, although it was a nail biting finish, with Aaron Canning scoring the Golden Penalty in injury time. The squad consisted of 10 former junior players.

Yorkshire 3 consisted of some old rivals, including, Baildon, Wath on Dearne, Old Otliensians and Aireborough. The team was top of the league at Christmas for the third successive season, and only a narrow away defeat against Roundhegians (14-11) was the one blemish on a very successful first half of the season. Unfortunately the bad weather in January and February hindered our progress and when we played the next game on January 23rd 2010 we lost narrowly to Old Otliensians 20-22. However it was a match we did not deserve to win and a defeat by Wath on Dearne (15-3) on February 23rd on their heavy pitch was however the last defeat of the season. The team continued to surprise the opposition, ending the league season at home on April 24th with a workmanlike defeat of league Champions Roundhegians (26 - 25), and making sure that Bramley Phoenix could not overtake us. Unfortunately our home game with Bramley Phoenix could not be played owing to their involvement in the semi final of the Junior Vase. 39 players represented the 1st XV during the season, 18 players from the junior section. Injuries to James Clarke, Nick Faulkner and James McDonnell towards the end of the season reduced our options but the team enjoyed a Silver Trophy Cup run, beating Aireborough at home ( 46-17), Old Otliensians away (14-8) and eventually defeating Leeds Corinthians in the final (25-22).

The 1st Team playing record in the league was P21 W 18 L 3 D 0 For 567 Against 260

The following awards were presented at the player's dinner:-
• Terry Higgins Trophy - Best Newcomer: Bob Collins
• Peter Firminger Trophy - Most Improved Player: Joseph Billing.
• The Tommy Edwards Trophy - Players Player of the Year: Anthony Shoesmith.
• The Geoff Eastwood Trophy - Player of the Year: Anthony Shoesmith.
• The Dave O`Boyle Trophy - Clubman of the Year: Chris Fox & Gerard Rollins.
• G C M Hoyle - Coaches Achievement Award: Gary Morris & Simon Edmundson.

Yorkshire 2 will be another step up and we are looking to strengthen the squad and aim to gain a mid table place. Success brings its own challenges and we will play in the Yorkshire Shield (bye in the 1st round, then the winners of Ilkley v Keighley away).

We are lucky to have Physios and First Aiders at the Club and our thanks go to Katie Wood, Helen Jones, Fiona Billing and Annie Fawcett.

The second team played in the Yorkshire 4 Merit Table again under the captaincy of Paul Savage and the team was successful in playing 22 games, although ended up bottom of the Merit Table. The encouraging fact about this season was that the team played on most Saturdays. The 2nd team playing record is P 18 W 6 L12 for 289 against 420. It is the team's intention to play in the Yorkshire 4 merit table again next season. The following awards were presented at the player's dinner:-

The following awards were presented at the player's dinner:-
• Player of the Year: Will Brian.
• Most Promising Newcomer: Andy Thomas.
• Players Player: Ian Teasdale.
• Old Git: Tim Forrester.

The showers have been improved and the additional changing facilities in the portakabin have been very successful. However we are still short of space and we are conscious that the number of male toilets needs increasing. The committee will seek alternatives to this problem. Other projects are ongoing including the additional floodlight pylons on the training area and the clearing of the land at the far end to create mini pitches. A new score board will be built before the start of the season. The pitches at Hollas Lane have been used successfully by the minis and juniors and the first game was played there in November.

Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts	Adj
Roundhegians	22	19	2	1	743	193	550	40	0
Old Rishworthian	21	18	0	3	567	260	307	36	0
Bramley Phoenix	20	15	1	4	595	243	352	29	-2
Aireborough	22	12	1	9	505	498	7	25	0
Wath Upon Dearne	22	11	1	10	418	347	71	23	0
Thornensians	21	11	0	10	442	386	56	22	0
Old Otliensians	22	10	0	12	428	555	-127	20	0
Halifax Vandals	21	7	1	13	259	527	-268	15	0
Northallerton	22	7	0	15	330	428	-98	14	0
Baildon	22	6	0	16	324	521	-197	12	0
Old Modernians	22	5	1	16	292	593	-301	9	-2
Garforth	21	4	1	16	343	695	-352	5	-4

Date	Competition	Opponents	Venue	Result	Man of Match
August 15th	Friendly	Goole	Away	Lost
August 22nd	Friendly	Fylde 4th XV	Home	Won
September 5th	League	Baildon	Away	W 10 - 6	The Pack
September 12th	League	Wath on Dearne	Home	W 19 - 15	James Clarke
September 19th	Friendly	TBA
September 26th	League	Roundhegians	Away	L 11 - 14
October 3rd	League	Old Otliensians	Home	W 20 - 19	Wes Aldridge
October 10th	Friendly	Ossett	Away	L 12 - 24
October 17th	League	Bramley Phoenix	Away	W 20 - 15
October 24th	Silver Trophy R1	Old Modernians	Home	W 42 - 3
October 31st	League	Garforth	Home	W 43 - 10
November 7th	League	Halifax Vandals	Away	W 26 - 16
November 14th	League	Northallerton	Home	W 29 - 3	Aaron Canning
November 21st	Silver Trophy R2	Hornsea	Away	Walk Over
November 28th	League	Old Modernians	Away	W 36 - 17
December 5th	Friendly	Colne and Nelson	Home	W 61 - 0
December 12th	League	Thornensians	Away	W 20 - 12
December 19th	League	Aireborough	Home	W 35 -5
December 26th	Xmas	No Game
January 2nd	Friendly	TBA
January 9th	League	Wath on Dearne	Away	P - P	Snow
January 16th	League	Roundhegians	Home	P - P	Snow
January 23rd	League	Old Otliensians	Away	L 20 - 22
January 30th	League	Bramley Phoenix	Home	P - P	Frozen pitch
February 6th	Friendly	No Game	Home
February 13th	League	Garforth	Away	W 33 - 0
February 20th	League	Halifax Vandals	Home	W 37 - 13
February 27th	League	Wath on Dearne	Away	L 3 - 15
March 6th	League	Northallerton	Away	W 18 - 12
March 13th	League	Old Modernians	Home	W 29 - 9
March 20th	League	Thornensians	Home	W 48 - 0
March 27th	Friendly	Leodiensians XV	Away	W 21 - 17
April 3rd	Friendly	TBA
April 10th	League	Aireborough	Away	W 37 - 19
April 17th	League	Baildon	Home	W 47 - 13
April 21st	Silver Trophy Qtr Final	Aireborough	Home	W 46 - 17
April 24th	League	Roundhegians	Home	W 26 - 25
April 29th	Silver Trophy Semi Final	Otliensians	Away	W 14 - 8
May 8th	League	Bramley Phoenix	Home	C - C
May 12th	Silver Trophy Final	Leeds Corinthians	Away	W 25 - 22