I am happy to report that Sudbury Tigers are fifth in Eastern Counties Division 3 South. We have played 8, won 6 and lost 2, with a very healthy points difference of 155. Since the last report we have played Halstead Templars at home and unfortunately lost 29-5. We have tried to hold a fixture with Ipswich YM, only to have it rearranged twice, and we are still yet to play this match.

We then played Bury 4s on the last Saturday before Christmas and won 75-5. We scored 11 tries. However, disappointingly Charlie Green (pictured) only got 10 conversions from every angle on the pitch, but missed one. He is a constant disappointment to us. This was summed up in the comments on the Facebook page when one player exclaimed “What a loser”.

Scorelines are very volatile as teams fight hard to field sides at this level, and sides who have suffered heavy defeats are complaining much about suspecting their opposition fielding artificially strong sides. I am happy to report that the Tigers side is a true third team, comprising players who do not play for the Twos, or have not been selected by them.

Third team players’ aspirations are on a higher plane. Running from scrum to scrum and not dying, playing a whole half without smoking or actually squeezing in to the ‘spray on’ shirts and displaying fine examples of ‘moobs’, are the goals that are far more important than mere scores.

Our thanks go to John Carroll who kindly refereed our game against Bury St Edmunds, Jennie Stammers for taking images and posting them online and, as always, Jim Rodger-Brown for his first aid and constant support.

We wish you all a Happy New Year.

Mike Beckett
From the Chelmsford programme January 14