Manor Park RFC

The 27-year-old rejected the £6 salary a week and instead upped sticks and moved south with the Army to Blandford.
Here, his coach and two team mates pay tribute to the Juke.

Former head coach and current club chairman, Nick Bishop, played a key role in encouraging Darral to the club, and twisting his arm into becoming a registered player.

He said: “14 months ago I received a mail from a young man asking about turning out for a game of rugby claiming google had pointed him toward our website.

"Personally I am not religious nor am I a believer in the black arts, indeed I consider myself a sceptic but on this occasion I believe God, Allah and Ganesh had contrived that day in late October 2009.

"Just returning from active service in Afghanistan, Rugby enthusiast, Darral Jukes, was posted to Gamecock Barracks in Bramcote, Nuneaton, and not content with playing regularly for the Signals midweek needed a local club to come and perfect his game.

"I invited him to training (an offer he never really took me up on) but instead turned up with his kit and joined the academy at KEGS where a handful of students of our beautiful game remarked “he looked quite quick”

"As head coach at the time, and with that kind of review, I immediately set about blackmailing him until I had his signature on a registration form.

"With the paperwork in place I took a career limiting gamble, here I had a new guy who by all accounts was ‘quite quick’ along with the unavailability of our regular full back. I put my job on the line and handed him his debut for Manor Park at full back away against Rugby Welsh.

"My gamble paid off and by the time he had scored his 3rd try that afternoon I had a tear in my eye. Despite the fact he had not yet trained under me I wept like a proud parent knowing that all those early mornings and long weekends had been worth it.

"Despite him rarely training I take full credit for moulding him into the player he has become and when fit again I expect he could once again push for 1st team rugby at Manor Park.

"The rest is well published history, arguably the best strike rate in the clubs history and a modest man to boot. It was and is a pleasure knowing and working with ‘Jukesy’ and he knows that he will ‘nearly’ always be welcome at Manor Park RFC.

"Unfortunately whilst the Welsh national team are not just capable of but are most likely to beat England there is no room in our club for another gloating Welshman.

"He has earned himself many nicknames in his short time at the club; ‘juggsy’ for his hat-trick of hat-tricks; Jukesy because it’s his surname with a ‘Y’ on the end; Darral (said in a really poor welsh accent & only used by his confidant, Adam Jardine) but I will leave you with this…. I call him ‘THE TRUTH’ because if you happen to be playing against this welsh wizard ‘THE TRUTH’ Hurts and you can’t handle ‘THE TRUTH’.
"Thanks to God, Google, Ganesh and Allah for sending Jukesy our way.
Good luck for the future to Darral, Julie, Zach and Bo from all at Manor Park RFC.”

Darral made many friends at the club, but his closest was Adam Jardine with the pair’s wife/fiancée Lucy and Julie also striking a friendship.

Adam said: “ have thoroughly enjoyed my time playing with Darral, as I know every player at the club that has played with him has.

“Not so sure players who played against him share the same view! He is a fantastic talent on the pitch, the best I’ve had the pleasure of playing with.

“The first game I played with Darral was in the second team as I couldn’t travel away for the first team game, and Darral had just joined the club. He scored a hat trick and I scored two, both of my tries were finishing off great runs from Darral, we seemed to click.

“After the game Darral had to buy a jug as he scored a hat trick, and me and him stood at the bar drinking it! That was when I first got to know Darral and he has since become one of my closest friends, a friend for life.

“He is a great laugh on and off the pitch, the worst dancer I have ever seen and the biggest lightweight! I’ve had some great laughs with Jukesy, like him dressed as Goofy walking around waving at everyone in the nightclub! There will be more to come I’m sure, fancy tour Jukesy? Can he come please Julie?

“My fiancé and his wife Julie have become very good friends, which make makes life harder for me and Darral, as they gang up on us. We have all enjoyed a holiday together, and hopefully it was the first of many.

"They both have a great son in Zach, and are expecting a little girl soon, they are a great family and will be missed when they leave.

“I know after the experience of playing “Civvie” rugby, Jukesy is planning to play when he moves to Blandford and is back to fitness. He has also assured me that he will be pointing anyone who wants to play rugby and are moving to Bramcote to the direction of Manor Park RFC!

“So farewell Jukes, I know that we will keep in touch, but don’t be a stranger to the club and people in and around it. TIDY BUTT!”

Club press officer and fixture secretary Bobby Bridge, said: “Darral came to us and had a huge impact.
“He clearly had massive amounts of ability but he was deadly focused on his game and took every minute on the pitch seriously, playing with so much passion and desire.

“It was clear he was a cut above the rest, so he could have maybe eased up and played in second gear, but there was no chance of that, I remember on a number of occasions him going red with rage over a poorly executed move or a pass in the wrong direction (not his!).

“Darral’s debut coincided with my second game back from the first team after a lengthy injury spell, and we went on to score 29 tries in three games, Darral getting ten of them by himself – I’d like to think the dramatic burst of form was down to me, but really it was down to Darral linking brilliantly with our backline.

“He was quick to praise the likes of Dan Joyce for “putting him in the position” to score, and it was good to know we had another player who could score from nowhere.

“It was just so unfortunate he got injured this campaign, because he was willing to commute back from Dorset for fixtures to complete the season – which speaks realms about how much the club has got under his skin.

“Although, with Darral in the team we would have probably scored 8-10 more tries and be in the top two likely for promotion then be without him in the league above!

“As well as bringing his immense rugby playing ability, he also brought with him high levels of passion and professionalism, as well as encouraging some of his colleagues at Bramcote Barracks to play for the club creating a strong link between the two – so he has left us a last legacy from which we will continue to benefit from.”