RUGBY: Worthing captain James Arthur's column (September 2)
THE time away from rugby flew by and before we knew it, the hard work started again.
June was when the first fitness programmes went out, before club training began on July 1.
Having lost Joe Launchbury to Wasps, Semi to Birmingham and House retiring, we welcomed a number of new faces to tackle the torturous hills and fitness sessions of pre-season. This year, again, was another step up in intensity and the whole squad responded well – never complaining or asking questions, just knuckling down to the task in hand.
With 30 games this season, the decision was made to limit the amount of pre-season fixtures, with the 2nd XV playing Tunbridge Wells on Saturday, and the first team squad playing London Wasps A on the Sunday.
A young twos team lost narrowly to a strong Tunbridge side but the performance was encouraging and a number of last year's colts showed they are ready to make the transition to senior rugby. On Sunday, we welcomed Wasps A in a fixture that would be a true test for the squad, both technically and physically. This fixture raised a lot of excitement within the squad and ensured that the build-up was of high quality and I'm sure caused a few selection problems.
On the day itself, Worthing laid on a minis coaching day with some of the senior Wasps players, live music, beer tents and barbecues. There was enough to keep everyone entertained, the weather even held for us and bright sunshine shone for most of the day.
For the first half, we fielded two Wasps players in the pack, one being Ben Maidment in the 8 position. Ben has been training with Wasps for pre-season before he goes back to Cambridge University. It was also good to see Joe Launchbury back, albeit in the black and gold.
The final score was a little tough on us and probably not a fair reflection of how competitive we were. But it did gave the boys a good taste for the season ahead, with all of us gearing up for this week's game against Westcombe Park.
The league will be as tough, if not tougher, than last year with Taunton, Jersey and Old Albanians joining the league from National 3 and Newbury coming down. With our first game at home, we hope to see as many of you at the rugby ground in what we hope will be the start to a very competitive season.
A massive thank-you must go to all the people who worked hard in both the organising, advertising and running of the event on Sunday – both club members and the local community. Without them, it would never have happened. I know the whole playing squad is very grateful.
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Weather for Worthing
Tuesday 14 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 4 C to 8 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: North
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 3 C to 10 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: North west
