Rugby World: The Champions

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NATIONAL LEAGUES
CHAMPIONS EDITION CHAMPIONS EDITION CHAMPIONS EDITION CHAMPIONS EDITION
NATIONAL ONE broke the club’s record for points and seconds lifting their county seventh in eight years and
NORTHAMPTON SAINTS in a league match when plundering cups, the thirds and vets reached foreshadows the club’s tenth
Captain Bruce Reihana 27 in the 47-0 win over Blackheath at their respective county ﬁ nals, too. anniversary next season, when they
Coaches Jim Mallinder (DoR), Cross Green in April. It surpassed the The senior side remains unbeaten are looking to develop an alternative
Dorian West (forwards), Paul 25 jointly accumulated by Simon at home since September 2006 – ground. Bay, the stablemates of
Grayson (assistant), Tom Bullough Binns against Wakeﬁ eld in 2002 and and they have the meanest defence Cornish Pirates, of National One,
(conditioning) Mark Kirkby, who ran in ﬁ ve tries at in the national leagues. Their only loss currently play at Penzance & Newlyn.
A MAGICAL mystery tour around the Redruth 11 years ago. was 22-10 at Rugby in November. Burnett was an inspirational
shires produced an invincible season Otley clinched promotion when Centre and captain Belgian scored captain in his ﬁ rst season and
for the Saints with 1,321 points for – beating Blackheath and sealed the 160 points, with a try, 49 conversions impressed with his driving play.
at an average of 44 a match and less title the following week with a 37-15 and 19 penalties while ﬂ y-half Rob Fellow back-rower Adam Nicholls,
than 12 against – together with an win at Waterloo. Head coach Clegg Miller compiled 141, including 13 tries. an England 18-Group player, looked
immediate, if predictable, return to said: “Just getting promotion was Chairman of senior rugby John an exciting prospect, lock Ben Hilton
the Guinness Premiership, alongside not what the players were looking for. Shotton said: “It’s impossible to pick showed unwavering consistency,
their EDF Energy National Trophy We led the league all season and outstanding individuals. We used and DoR and scrum-half Pellow,
triumph. They headed to hitherto wanted to go up as champions.” 40 players in the league and tries ex-Bath, made an important
uncharted territory with their coach Scrum-half Danny Smith scored came from all areas of the pitch.” contribution. Former Wales back
driver doubtless relieved about the 11 tries while Xavier Andre and fellow Developments off the ﬁ eld have Jarvis top-scored with 266 points,
beneﬁ ts of ‘Sat Nav’ with places back-rower Matt Stockdale each kept pace with those on it at the most threequarter John Marlin ran in 12
like Sedgley Park, Esher and picked up seven apiece. northerly club in the national leagues tries, while full-back Tim Mosey,
Launceston, home of the Cornish
All Blacks, appearing on the radar.
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Some things did become familiar,
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with former Wigan Warriors rugby
league wing Chris Ashton crossing
the opposing line 39 times, a league
record, and full-back Reihana
amassing 28 touchdowns in his
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L

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points tally of 262. Wing Paul Diggin
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scored 17 tries and Barry Everitt, a
newcomer from London Irish,
landed 32 kicks out of 40.
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Newbury ran the Saints closest,
losing 23-22 at Franklin’s Gardens in

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December, while Nottingham held
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the champions to 17-10 at Meadow
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Lane and 16-10 at Northampton.
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Competitive though National One is,
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the Saints return to the stratosphere,
this time having only parallel funding
M with their Premiership rivals,
A compared with the far-from-level
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ﬁ nancial ﬁ eld they enjoyed lower
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down. In recent times, unless it was
Rotherham or Leeds, the team that
goes up stays up – that’s the
challenge beckoning Mallinder & Co.
NATIONAL TWO
OTLEY G
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Captain Ian Shuttleworth
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Coaches Mike Wright (DoR), Peter Up, up and away: Saints won a league and EDF double
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Clegg (head), Mark Luffman
(ﬁ rst-team), Mike Barnett, Paul Gray NATIONAL THREE NORTH and one that has 35 acres of fully from Brisbane, collected nine tries.
MARKET-TOWN rugby doesn’t TYNEDALE serviced land. A £350,000 Bay lost only three of their 26
come better than at Otley, which Captain Phil Belgian development opened in mid-April, matches to reach National Two and
belies its population of only 14,000 Coaches Tom Borthwick (head), which included new changing rooms, were supported by a dedicated
by making an immediate climb back Ian Peel (assistant) a meeting room, storage facilities back-room team that was headed
to National One. They won all except WINNING the title with ﬁ ve games and a disabled access ramp. by president Michael Leah and
three of 26 matches, conceding a in hand illustrated the power and also included secretary Arthur
double to third-placed Stourbridge panache that Corbridge-based NATIONAL THREE SOUTH Edwards, chief executive Roger
and losing at Manchester, who were Tynedale invested in their season. It MOUNTS BAY Moyle, team manager Bernie
promoted with them. The strongest was essentially a club achievement Captain Nick Burnett Durrant, trainer Des Thomas and
defence in the league contributed to in arguably the ﬁ nest campaign in Coaches Ricky Pellow (DoR), Adrian physiotherapist Trevor Churchﬁ eld.
the biggest points difference, with their 132-year history. Apart from the Bick (forwards), Phil Angove Cinderford also won promotion
full-back/wing Robin Kitching scoring ﬁ rst, second and third teams all (assistant), Lee Jarvis (backs) after beating visitors Darlington
15 tries and 230 points overall. He winning their leagues and the ﬁ rsts THIS league title was Mounts Bay’s Mowden Park 15-14 in a play-off.
Rugby World’s club guide returns next season. In the meantime, if you have any stories and/or pictures for our clubs editor Michael Austin, please phone him on 01400 282189, fax 01400 281662, email michael_austin@freelance.ipcmedia.com or write to 22 Church St, Long Bennington, nr Newark, Notts, NG23 5EN
116 JULY 2008 RUGBY WORLD
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