Dear 200 Club Member,
Welcome to Newsletter number 25.
The 200 Club draw for February has been made and these are the winners
£200 – Number 63 – Paul Alexander – The “Treasurer” of Walking Rugby
£100 - Number 39 – Rachael Rubin – The wife of the late Jerry Rubin, ex 1st XV player
£50 – Number 155 – Graham Emmerson – Rhino supporter and former Landlord of the Three Guineas Pub in Reading. Congratulations to our winners, spend your winnings wisely.
The 200 Club are continuing to spend money on the Rugby Club. The new warm-up tops for the Senior sides have arrived and were used for the first time last weekend. We have funded a “200” shirt for Alex Dorliac, who played his 200th game for the 1st XV against Aylesbury on February 16th. He is only the 4th Reading player to reach 200 League matches. He has scored 110 tries in these games. Our congratulations to him.
There are a few more projects in the pipeline which will be announced next month.
The 1st XV have lost their last three games against Aylesbury, Bicester and Buckingham, all sides near the top of the table but now have two games against lower opposition. They play High Wycombe, away, on March 23rd before the last home game on April 6th versus Littlemore. There will be a VP lunch before this game. Come for lunch and catch up with your friends before the end of the season.
Hopefully we can get 2 wins and move us further up the table.
Whilst the 1st XV have not been doing so well recently, the Under 18 Girls performed magnificently in their Area Semi-Finals against Basingstoke and Old Albanians, winning both matches in a 3 way tie. This brought them into the area Final against London Scottish at Aylesbury. In gale conditions they won 17-15 with a converted try in the last few minutes to become Area 2 Champions. Congratulations to our Under 18 Girls, and their support team, a great achievement.
The Under 15 Girls also did well and made the Area Semi Finals but didn’t get through to the Final.
Well done to these two Girls teams.
The Rhinos, the veterans team, will finish the season in either 2nd or 3rd place in the TVIL South Division. This will secure a place at High Wycombe RFC on March 30th, where the top three sides from the South Division will play off against their North Division counterparts.
This will be followed at the end of April by the 30th annual tour, which sees Captain Keith Searle and Tour Manager Paddy Murphy lead the party to Sofia in Bulgaria.
Well done and good luck to the Rhinos.
Last month, I published the old date for the memorial match, it will be on Sunday May 12th. This is also the Mini/Junior Presentation Day and we will have the April draw for the 200 Club. There will be £1000 given out in prizes.
Other dates which I hope that you are aware are:
April 6th 2019 – VP lunch and match v Littlemore
May 12th 2019 – Memorial Game;
May 16th 2019 – AGM.
We have had a couple of drop outs from the 200 Club membership so there are a few spaces available if you wish to buy a second or third number. Remember we have the “Bumper Draw” coming up in two months with £1000 on offer in prizes.
Come to the Club to meet old friends, or even new ones, support the teams and help to increase the bar profits.
Enjoy the rugby this afternoon,
Best wishes,
Graham