Seniors

The last five years or so have seen as happens in most clubs, a group of players who have played together for 15-20 years get old together. I refer of course to the front five Steve Reece, Matthew Gore, Wayne Morgan, Dave Whittle and Peter Goodey. Most of us know there were a host of other good players around, but the 'famous five' were the engine of Chepstow 1st XV for two decades.

Because we are an amateur club, there is a limit to how much successive planning we can do, we should do more and give the club less pain and more wins on the park. Nevertheless we find ourselves today with the average age of the 1st XV forwards at 24 (including a 45 yr old prop). At 24, players do have energy but with a little more experience and more wins the enjoyment will come.

The other factor is that dreaded 12hr/7 day shift work which wasn't there 20 yrs ago - another anti rugby factor.

The Druids (2nd XV) under the stewardship of Chris Johnson have changed very little in their approach to Saturday, some of the Druids players train and some don't (thats not different). They all turn up on Saturday, play the game home or away and enjoy their beer. I think the Druids are the best team in the club - they told me to say that!