Last season’s Executive will remain the same, with the one addition of Ollie Green who will be joining them under the role of Director of Rugby. Ollie has been around the club since it’s first training session back in 2013, has been a club stalwart ever since then with 79 caps under his belt so far. His decision to get involved with the running of the rugby inside the club would have happened earlier, but being a committed family man, Ollie has had to wait until this season, and we can’t wait to see what Ollie brings.

EXEC

Chairman – Matt Cain
Treasurer – Dan Prince
Secretary – Dan Vials
Director of Rugby – Ollie Green
Director of Communications – Samuel Cane-Groome

New Club Coach

We have also passed a large milestone as a young club; we have hired our first paid coach to steer us forward next season. Jamie Traxon is a level 3 Qualified Coach with experience coaching at our local rivals Fullerians. This is a big step for us, and it can only be the first stage of our development from a one team side to an established club with many teams. Club Players Steve Dalton and Ross Noonan will be working closely with Jamie as a coaching/development team to steer the club in their direction this season.

The club also voted upon our new 1st XV Captain. Jaime Brown will be leading the 1ST XV as we go into 2022/2023. Since joining the club three seasons ago, Jaime has established himself as a physical presence on the pitch as well as being a strong motivating personality on the training paddock, being a large influence in our improvement over the last couple of seasons, especially within the pack.

Preseason

Preseason training will start on Wednesday 6th July. In the last month or so, we have been taking part in our Summer Touch sessions with those slowly ramping up in intensity and quality as we try and remember how to catch and pass after have a break after last season. Having a group of 35 players attending these sessions is immense and bringing those players into what will be our toughest preseason yet, will create some strong bonds and bring us closer as a team than any other group in the past. “Regardless of the situation, regardless of the scoreboard, you’re going to be successful because you’ve put in all the time, all the effort, all the hard work, and you know that it’s going to pay off. Drag your teammates down, let’s go through this together and once we’re at the other side, no teams going to stop us! “

Where are we playing next year?

After winning our league last season, we have been rewarded with a promotion to a higher league. We will now be playing in a Herts Merit Table 2. This is a big step up for us and we can only feel like we deserve it after our performances last season. Lots of new faces in this upcoming league as well as plenty of teams we know well and some we haven’t played for a long time, we don’t know how this league will go, but we know it’s going to be tough and we’re ready for it.

Hertfordshire Merit Table 2
Ampthill Extras (2nd XV)
Bishops Stortford Chindits (4th XV)
Datchworth 2nd XV
Epping & Upper Clapton 2nd XV
Hendon 2nd XV
Hertford 4th XV
Hitchin 2nd XV
Stevenage 1st XV

Upcoming Events

Stay tuned to BRUFC Social Channels for upcoming events in the community, were looking to bring Charity Events and Club Fundraisers and we want to bring Berkhamsted to our little Lockhart Field next season.

2nd XV

Last season we found ourselves in the lucky position at times, to have too many players to give everyone the decent amount of game time that they deserved. This led us to forming the Berkhamsted Mercenaries lead by our own Tim Brickle, where players who were without a place in lineup at the weekend or if our fixture got cancelled, went our the other clubs in the local area and bolstered their forces, with great success not only with results but to build those rugby bonds that make our game special.

This season we are looking to remedy this problem by starting up an occasional 2nd XV side. This will start initially with a game once a month in tandem with our 1st XV, using our 2nd XV fixtures as development for the club, to keep players around and to drag in those ringers that keep saying they’re going to come back and play but never quite make it, you know who you are…

We are looking to keep this a competitive however, slightly more light-hearted and more akin to the Berkhamsted Rugby Club of old, a strong shift on the pitch but a strong shift in the bar afterwards.

If this is something that interests you, please get in touch with Matt Cain, who will be heading up this project for next season.