Holmes Chapel 1st XV saw themselves move into first place in Freshlet Division 4 South with a scrappy yet important 33-12 win over Trafford Metrovicks 3rd XV. Despite some good passages of play, the game was too stop-start to ever really get going, and neither side will feel they really did themselves justice. However it was the visitors who claimed the spoils and although it’s far too early to get excited just yet, the start Chapel have made this season is certainly encouraging. 18 year-olds Jack Cottam, Ally Lightfoot and Callum Grant-Smith were among the tryscorers underlining the youthful nature of the team this season.

Read the full match report here (courtesy of Jack Baskerville) or pick up a copy of the Crewe Chronicle or Knutsford Guardian.

The other 2 unbeaten sides in Division 4 South went head-to-head as Sandbach 3rd XV overcame Northwich 3rd XV to keep level on points with Chapel. There were also good wins for Old Bedians, Macclesfield, Crewe, Whitchurch and Lymm.

This weekend Chapel are back at Station Road and will entertain Linley & Kidsgrove 2nd XV. Linley have had a tough start to the season but will be keen to notch their first win so the Chapel boys should not be expecting an easy ride on Saturday. With strong availability so far this season – not to mention a winning record – selection won’t be easy and whatever side takes the field will be looking to improve on our previous performance.

Kick-off is at 3pm – why not make a day of it and watch Chapel in action before heading to The Vic Club for England v Wales? We hope to see you there.

Captain’s Log

Chapel Captain Dom Moss on the win at Trafford, training and this weekend’s game against Linley.

A tough away trip to Trafford MV's saw us win our third game on the bounce of the new season. Lessons were learnt about our overall discipline this week and will hopefully improve future performances.

Another Tuesday training session was well attended where Stanny went back to basics and we had a simple but enjoyable session.

Hopefully this lighthearted approach will allow us to go into Saturday's home game vs Linley full of confidence and with a bit more freedom in our play than was evident at Trafford.

Training will be moving to a 3G facility within the next couple of weeks and may mean a day swap to Wednesday's.

Saturday's game is a 3 o'clock KO at home to Linley 3's. The meet time will be 13:15 at the Vic Club to get changed or 13:45 at the AP already changed.

We will be watching England on Saturday night down the Vic Club so get your passes out.

See you on Saturday.

Dom.

Vets XV aka The Ancients

If you fancy a run-out this season but don’t want to embarrass yourself trying to keep up with players less than half your age then there’s always The Ancients! With the game against Knutsford Vets looming, some of our (very, very) senior players have been heard discussing tactics. Things like, “how will we make sure the lads don’t go to The Swan on auto-pilot?” or “which of his impressive repertoire of songs will we get Birchy to sing after the game?”

Keep these dates in your diary:

10th October 2015
19th December 2015
20th February 2016
13th March 2016
16th April 2016

The North West Mercenaries

The Mercs remain unbeaten in Division 5 South but sadly had another rugby-free weekend with Sandbach 4th XV unable to complete the fixture. The Mercs remain amongst the high-flyers though with a maximum 12 points from 12 so far this season. Their season continues this weekend away at Linley 3rd XV. Kick-off is 3pm.

Chapel Hit the Small Screen

Not content with invading the North West’s rugby pitches, last Friday evening HCRUFC invited themselves into living rooms across the region for a feature on the Rugby World Cup. BBC North West Tonight brought a film crew to The Vic Club as the lads were getting warmed up ready for the England v Fiji opener. Lots of players and members made the effort to come down early and wave to their mums while Dom Moss, Jonathan Stanway and Dave Steer all showed signs of having a promising career in broadcasting (although probably best sticking to radio lads, eh?).

Experienced TV star Rob Moore turned down the chance to speak on camera when both the club and the BBC refused to pay the whopping appearance fee he was requesting. Rob's exact words were “Don't you know who I am? I was on The Real Housewives of Cheshire. And I was once asked to be on Take Me Out. I don't get out of bed for less than £5k these days. Now, did anyone get that reporter's number?”

Our thanks to BBC North West Tonight for the feature and The Vic Club for allowing it to be filmed on the premises.

Next week on TV, don't miss Tom Emerson on 15 to 1, Gazza on A Place in the Sun and Dan Martin on Pointless.

The 2015 Rugby World Cup

The tournament kicked off with a real bang with England getting the job done against Fiji and, of course, the incredible match in Brighton as Japan beat South Africa. It already looks set to be one of the best events yet and HCRUFC are following the action at every turn.

Who’s Going?

Andy Partington was lucky enough to attend the opening fixture on Friday evening and while he doesn’t remember anything after half time, he assures us that he had a great time. Another face in the crowd was Ian Lightfoot who saw Wales open their campaign against Uruguay in Cardiff.

This week:

Chapel will be well represented at HQ in the crucial encounter between England and Wales on Saturday night. Andy Partington (hoping not to be recognised by security) will be joined by Darren Saffill, Ian “Stumpy” Gordon Simon Birch and Steve Hatton.

Australia v Uruguay at Villa Park will also be well attended – this one will be watched by the O’Hare brothers (Tom, Rob and Ed), Joe Foulkes, Phil Davies and Andy Davies. And in other news, some German bloke is crossing the Pennines to watch Scotland v USA at Elland Road.

Full list of attendees:

England v Wales – Andy Partington, Darren Saffill, Stumpy, Birchy, Steve Hatton
Scotland v USA – German
Australia v Uruguay – Rob, Tom and Ed O’Hare, Joe Foulkes, Phil Davies, Andy Davies
England v Australia – Steve Hatton
Wales v Fiji – Lighty
Wales v Australia – Lighty
Scotland v South Africa - Dave Steer
Ireland v Italy – Martin Cummins
New Zealand v Tonga – Doug Canavan
England v Uruguay – Harry Jeanes, Darren Saffill, Andy Partington, Tony Steele, Makka, Spoof, Cookie, Steve Hatton
Quarter Finals – Lighty
The Final – Steve Hatton, Tony Steele

Let us know if you're going to a game so we can give you a shout-out and send us your photos for our RWC 2015 album.

Predictions League

The League is up and running with 27 entrants! Make sure you keep your predictions coming in and give yourself a chance of winning the bottle of alcoholic beverage that will be presented at the RWC Final / Halloween Do.

It’s 10 points for correct overall winner, 5pts for correct group winner and 3pts for correct prediction of each group match.

Standings

Jed Wragg 30
Joe Maddock 30
Jon Griffin 27
Ian Lightfoot 27
Stanny 27
Rob Moore 27
Andy Partington 27
Dave Steer 27
Steve Hatton 27
Doug Canavan 27
Ollie Lawrence 24
Terry Emerson 24
Harry Jeanes 21
Gavin Paton 21
Mike Corfield 21
Dan Martin 18
Will Mitchell 12
Joe Foulkes 12
Jack Baskerville 12
Andy Davies 12
Jim Moss 9
Dom Moss 9
Callum Grant-Smith 9
Jason Whitehead 9
Ed Chappell 9
Mike Lightfoot 3
Ally Lightfoot 3

When & Where to Watch?

Games this weekend - including England vs. Wales - will be screened at The Vic Club so come down and watch with your mates.

The fixture list is printed in the Social Calendar section and all these games will be shown at The Vic Club so we hope to see you there.

A couple of exceptions:

England v Uruguay, Saturday 10 October – Following the league match at Old Bedians (Didsbury) the lads will be heading into Manchester to watch the game on the big screen. Club colours or shirts to be worn please – promises to be a great day and night out.

The World Cup Final, Saturday 31 October – This will be held as a club event followed by the Halloween Party and the venue is confirmed as Middlewich Town Football Club. Stay tuned for more details.

Video of the Week

Jack “The Professor” Baskerville is now back online but is so busy planning his next strike action that yet again he hasn’t been able to bring us a video. Fortunately, he’s been rescued by Skipper Moss who found this collection of big hits from the last World Cup in 2011. Was it really 4 years ago?

Enjoy the video here

The Beardy Horror Show

Disturbing news from London Town over the weekend as Chapel’s Joe Maddock (occasionally quoted in The Weekly Roundup) visited the Rocky Horror Show. The outfit he wore for the occasion raised a few eyebrows to say the least – even among the cross-dressing veterans of HCRUFC – and to be honest people have every right to be disgusted. Doesn’t he know that white beads with a black dress is just so 2014?

If you can stomach it the photos can be found on Facebook.

Ask El Tel

More expert Rugby World Cup related advice from everyone’s favourite Agony Uncle.

El Tel

Hello and Bonjour

I'm afraid I have a dilemma. I really struggle to watch this current England side and I worry about our chances in the World Cup this year. It's not like when I was playing and we had Johnno, Backy, Lol, Billy Whizz and The Fun Bus - man that was a great side.

What makes it worse is because I now have friends from all over the rugby world, if England don't do well I won't be able to invite everyone round for a barbecue at my pad in Toulon. I'm scared they'll spend the whole time making fun of our fall from grace.

Any advice on how I can help the current crop of players over the next few weeks?

Thank You and Merci

Saint J, Shores of The Mediterranean

P.S. Have I ever told you about the time I dropped for World Cup Glory?

Dearest Saint JW

I was very surprised to get your letter as I thought that you had taken up French citizenship with all the love that you found down there in sunny Toulon. After all the Guinness advert swore blind that Les Galois loved you and wouldn’t let you go, so it’s good to know you do remember your old chums and supporters slumming it back here in Blighty.

Don’t worry about the Reverend Stuart’s side - they will do their level best to make sure that you aren’t embarrassed in front of your new cheese eating surrender monkey friends (as the USA team call them). However in the unlikely event that there are any problems may I suggest that you invite your old chums from sunny Cape Town and Jo’burg. After all I am sure that they will want to talk about anything other than the rugby!

Further if our snail eating chums start to get a bit uppity just ask them how many times they have won the Webb Ellis Cup and how many finals have they been in? A quick rendition of “Three finals and three defeats, doo dah, etc” should put them in their place. And if that doesn’t work just try the old British trick, get them drunk…

Anyway with regard to “that” drop goal, when Johnno (the shiny-domed HC one, not the beetle-browed England one) and I were in Dublin recently we met your chum Pope Johnno (the beetle-browed England one, not the shiny-domed HC one) at the airport. When we mentioned about 2003 and that drop goal he went a funny shade of red and shouted “Is that **** still talking about that ******** drop goal…? What about the blood I shed leading from the front, what about Josh and Greeny’s 5 ******* tries each, how many tries did he ******* score? Just ponced around to steal the glory….. and then after the Cup win Lol ended up running a call centre, poor old Bracko ended up on Strictly Come ******** Dancing followed by Cohey, Vickers ended up advertising that **** HP sauce, and poor old “Is my nose straight yet” Tins got to shack up with a princess… suppose not all bad then…..” I think we can safely say he still has a soft spot for you.

Anyway if times get hard just pop into the Vic on Saturday night and we will buy you a pint and a packet of pork scratchings.

Love and kisses

El Tel

PS we still love seeing “that” drop goal but don’t tell Pope Johnno (the beetle-browed England one, not the shiny-domed HC one)

Go West!

Another club social event has been confirmed as Mark “Makka” Mcenaney revealed that the Blue & Gold will be embarking on our annual pilgrimage to Oswestry via a team bus. The date is February 13 and Wales v Scotland kicks off at 4.50pm so we will stick around to watch it in the Oswestry clubhouse. Bring friends, family and significant others to enjoy what is always one of the best fixtures of the season both on and off the field.

Makka’s Tour Sleep Counter (sponsored by Joe Maddock’s Fact of the Week)

260 Sleeps To Go!

Joe says:

“McDonald's salads contain up to 60% more fat than their burgers. Which is great news for me because while my diet includes about 6 Big Macs a week, I wouldn’t eat a bowl of salad even if it was deep-fried in chocolate sauce, drenched in lager and served with a free pair of fishnet stockings.”