April 24, 2023

Time now for a quick weekly roundup of results and fixtures as the season gets underway. Let's start with the Open Age Men, who undertook a pre-season fixture away to Coventry Bears. By all accounts the sun shone, the rain stayed away and the Eagles managed to prevail by 38 - 30 in a high scoring, closely contested match.

Thanks to all the players, volunteers and officials who made the journey, to coaches Kevin and Graeme and to the Bears for hosting us. You are welcome down here any time so we can return the compliment.

                                                                  The Eagles Open Age Men at Coventry Bears

If you'd like some action shots of the fixture, these are viewable on our Facebook Page by following this link.

The U14s hosted London Skolars back at Old Cranleighans on Saturday. Unfortunately a very tough and well drilled Skolars team beat us by 54-4. It's early in the season and a lot of our players were getting their first taste of competitive Rugby League, so there's plenty of time to improve.

Well done to the Skolars for making the journey and to our own players, parents, coaches and volunteers and the match officials. We look forward to a return fixture later in the season.

We don't have a picture of the game, which prompts a friendly reminder that if you do take a nice photo, please share it!

With the U16s training back at Old Cranleighans with a weekend off we come on to our final fixture, the U12s 9s tournament at Brixton Bulls.

We played 2 fixtures each against tough local rivals Brixton Bulls and Bromley Bengals.

Brixton Bulls are always talented and committed but Bromley seemed to have been eating extra weetabix over the off season, with some very big and fast players taking the field for them.

Despite that we did well. At U12s tournaments Rugby League is always the winner but the players keep score even if the coaches and referees are a bit nonchalant about it (sort of!), so you can see the results in the picture below.

There has been an enormous uplift in player numbers in the U11 - 12s age groups this season. This means there are going to be lots of opportunities for players in these age groups to play and train in a competitive but friendly environment, so if that sounds like fun then come along. Well done to the players and thanks to all the parents, volunteers and coaches Jamie, Hari and Charlie.

So overall a good start to the season. We'll be back at base for training on Tuesday 19.00 - 20.15 (Open Age Men, U18s) and Thursday 19.00 - 20.15 (U11 - U16) with Saturday training between 10 - 11.30 for mixed primaries, Junior Girls & Women and any team which does not have a competitive fixture by arrangement with their coaches. If you haven't been yet please come. We're open to all and you'll be warmly welcomed.