Following a thrilling series of qualifying rounds, Leicestershire Rugby Union are delighted to be in a unique position where both the men’s and ladies representative sides will be playing in final matches of the Bill Beaumont County Championship and Gill Burns County Championship at Twickenham on Saturday 8th June. This will be the sixth time in nine years for the men and the second for the ladies, both winning in 2017. With both teams making the finals only two years after winning, it will be unprecedented if they win either or both matches again.

The men’s campaign began with a home walkover against Staffordshire who were sadly unable to raise a squad. Their second game was away to Warwickshire which resulted in a 0-78 score. Making the finals all hinged on the third and final match for the men which was at home to East Midlands. This was a much tighter match with the full time score 29-22. With a change to the qualifying rounds this year, the men went straight through to the finals. Leon Brown, team manager says:

“The men’s team are incredibly proud and honoured to be able to represent the county at Twickenham. This is only enhanced by the fact that with them on the same day in their own final are the ladies; broadcasting the quality and value of rugby to all people within our great county. Despite only having two games to get there, the path was far from easy with a high level of commitment needed in a small window, which at the end of the season, is a lot to ask to those who choose to play county because they want to. This leads to the “club mentality” within the squad of 30+ for whom many have not had the chance to play but continued to train and aid the wider team in their objectives. Without a doubt Leicestershire are en route to Twickenham with a win in site, but the journey and evidence again of two teams there, on the same day; reiterates the product for rugby in Leicestershire, is a product for everyone to enjoy and flourish within.”

The ladies route to the final began with their first match away to our neighbours Warwickshire. They comfortably won this match 5-31. Next was to be the ladies only guaranteed home match which was against Staffordshire. The ladies successfully won this 52-0. They went on to play Cheshire away and came home with another victory with the final score 12-26. As Leicestershire had won all three games, they qualified for the semi-finals with a home fixture to Hertfordshire. This was a much tighter game with Hertfordshire leading most of the game and hungry for the win and chance to play in the finals for the first time at Twickenham. But Leicestershire ladies did not give up and with a Herts player receiving a red card in the final minutes of the game, Leicestershire score the last try to win and make it to their second final. Final score 24-22.

Trevor Goddard, Ladies Team Manager comments:

“Leicestershire Ladies are incredibly proud of there achievements over the past three years in the Gill Burns Div 2 County Cup Competition. Having reached the Final in the 2016/17 season the team remarkably came from a 29-12 deficit at half time to score 20 unanswered points to beat Essex at Richmond RFC at their first attempt.

The following year they reached the Semi Finals losing to Eastern Counties.

This year after topping our pool we drew a home Semi Final game against a very strong Hertfordshire. In a superbly contested and physical match Leicestershire were always having to come from behind and with no quarter being given by either side it took till the last play of the game for us to overcome the visitors and in doing so reach the Final again and the icing on the cake for all of the girls involved in this campaign is that it will be contested at Twickenham the home of English Rugby on 8th of June.

A superb achievement by all concerned and showing that Leicestershire Women’s Rugby is continually growing and improving with the aim to provide a quality environment and opportunity for all to play this game.

We are pleased to be appearing at Twickenham alongside the Leicestershire men as they again reach their Final and we wish them luck and hope to repeat the double winner’s accolade of 2016/17 with the same this year.

We thank Leicestershire Rugby Union, our sponsors Principle Financial Services for their continued support, and Birstall RFC which has been our home for the past two seasons for training and games.”

Squads will be announced after both teams have finished their final training sessions this week, with everyone keen for a spot.

With both finals on the same day, both at Twickenham, Leicestershire supporters have really got behind the teams and have filled a number of supporter’s coaches to travel down to the game. Entry to watch the games is FREE and all supporters are welcome to come and show their support. For more details please see our website http://leicestershirerugbyunion.co.uk/news/we-are-off-to-twickenham-match-and-travel-information

Both matches will be live streamed on the RFU website also.

Ladies match – KO 1pm

Men’s match – KO 3pm

We are delighted that both of our ladies and men’s county representative sides are to be playing in the finals of the Gill Burns County Championship and the Bill Beaumont County Championship on Saturday 8th June at Twickenham.

Both matches will be played at Twickenham for the first time and on the same day.

Entry to the games is FREE! You do not require a ticket for entry, so just turn up on the day.

The ladies final kicks off at 1pm with the men’s at 3pm.

Squad Members’ Young Children/Babes in Arms – There are no hospitality boxes available for your Squad’s families. As a result, they must contact the Ticket Office who’ll allocate spaces in the appropriate area.

Wheelchair/Non-Wheelchair Easy Access – Tel: 020 8831 6666 option 4 / www.englandrugby.com/tickethelp

Disabled Packages are available for disabled blue badge holders or those with other documentation confirming disabled status
Anyone requiring wheelchair or non-wheelchair + easy access seating are advised to contact the RFU Ticket Office via www.englandrugby.com/tickethelp to request a booking form or download the form from the main England Rugby website: https://www.eticketing.co.uk/rfu/Common/CustomPage/Index/3

Travel

Leicestershire Rugby Union will be providing match day supporters coaches to take supporters to the game. A seat on the  coach will cost a mere £10 per seat. It is the same price for adults and children. We do require payment in advance to secure the coaches. And we will take as many coaches that we can fill. Please pay via the following Paypal link  Coaches will be travelling to and from on the same day, no overnighters.

Please come and support your county teams! We won both finals on 2017 which was a huge achievement, so to make it to the finals 2 years later is unprecedented. It would be amazing to win either or both again and you can be a part of that history.

Pick up points and times

09:10 – Birstall RFC for coach No 1. This will travel to meet coach No 2 at
09:50 – Leicester Premier Inn, Narborough Rd, Leicester for coach N0 2.
10:15 –  Lutterworth Travelodge
12:20/12:30 – Arrive at Twickenham
1pm – Ladies KO
3pm  – Men KO

We would like to get the first supporters coach away by 6pm and will only leave once full.

Please note that the second coach will leave once we are happy everyone is on board. This could be 7pm.

If have not confirmed your preffered pick up point, please email devofficer@leicestershirerugbyunion.co.uk as soon as possible so we know we have correct spaces and can check everyone is on board.

Please ensure you arrive in good time to park your car as coaches will be leaving on time to make sure we get to Twickenham ready to be seated for the first game.

On the evening on May 7th 2019, during the County Cup finals at Welford Road, Leicestershire Rugby Union also hosted an awards ceremony for the Mitsubishi Motors Voluntary Recognition programme in association with the RFU. Also recognised at the reception were this years candidates for the Leadership Academy.

The evening of presentations was kicked off by LRU Chairman, Paul Green who welcomed our honoured guests the Lord Lieutenant for Leicestershire, Mr Mike Kapur OBE, The Deputy Lord Lieutenant for Rutland, Captain Jamie Weir and Chairman of Leicestershire County County, Mr Ozzy O’Shea.

Paul handed over to Andrew Johnson from the RFU and one of the team who produce the programme to give a brief overview of the course and how important it is to mentor and guide our future leaders through the game and to help with the running of our clubs and grassroots rugby. Andrew thanked all the mentors on this years course for giving up their time to guide the participants and assist with their questions and projects for them to take back to their clubs for implementation. Thank you mentors! The candidates were then invited up to receive an individual award in recognition for their hard work.

Following the Leadership Academy presentations, Helen Wrighten, Volunteer co-ordinator, introduced  the next guests to present the awards for Volunteers in the county. A surprise celebrity in the form or Jonny May, England International and Leicester Tigers player was kept a secret from the nominees until the evening. Jonny was accompanied by Hannah from Mitsubishi Motors and Anna McDonnell, Acting RFU RDO.

Each nominee was presented with a framed certificate, Mitsubishi Motors gift and either a crystal goblet or hip flask. This year’s nominees were:

Paul Cribb, Ashby
Ian Whittle, Ashby
Lloyd Hankins, Ashby
Sam Wotherspoon, Fulhurst College
Jason Reid, Hinckley
David Callaghan, Leicester Forest
James Schreder
Marc Birr, Leicestershire Rugby Union
Gail Bates, Leicestershire Rugby Union
Dean Toon, Leicestershire Rugby Union
Geoff Blackburn, Leicestershire Referees Society
Guy Wood, Loughborough
David Seymour, Loughborough
David Burrows, Melton
Josh Price, New College
Chris De Luca, Oadby Wyggs
Scott Lydon, Old Newtonians
Henry Mitchell, Quorn
Nick Farmer, Shepshed
Lee Ralph, Shepshed
Shona Green, South Leicester
Stuart Marsden, South Leicester
Paul Stone, South Leicester
Eleanor Wilkinson, Ashby

Finally, from all the  nominees, one person was selected as the Leicestershire volunteer of the year, and will be invited to attend a meal and presentation at Twickenham in September where 3 people will be chosen as the national volunteers of the year. That person was Lloyd Hankin from Ashby RFC for his work and dedication towards growing the girls section at Ashby RFC and the women and girls game in general. Congratulations Lloyd.

For more photos from the evening, please follow this link where you will be able to download any images for your own albums or club noticeboards.

May 7th 2019 was the day Leicestershire Rugby Union hosted both the colts and senior men’s County Cup finals at Welford Road for a season finale.

The first match of the night was between Syston RFC and Market Harborough RUFC colts, kicking off at 6pm. The first half saw Syston in the lead for most of the time until Harborough delivered possibly the best try of the evening which was finished by Joe Laferty between the posts. Watch it on our You Tube channel – you will be impressed!

With Harborough now in the lead 15-13, Syston upped their game and put 2 more tries down from Will Westwood and Will Hutchings. Harborough continued to dig deep, but couldn’t quite find the line before the whistle blew with the final score 26 – 22 and the 2019 Laurence Fenton, Leicestershire Rugby Union County Colts Champions are Syston RFC. Congratulations.

During the interlude between games, Leicestershire Rugby Union President, Steve Rice presented trophies to Merit league winners and runners up and also a cheque to The Royal British Legion for money raised at the 100 year Memorial Game played in November between Leicestershire Servicemen and The Royal Signals Army Rugby team. The cheque was presented to the Lord Lieutenant of Leicestershire, Mike Kapur OBE and Phil Waldren from The Royal British Legion. 

Next up to play on the Welford Road turf were the senior teams. Syston RFC and Oadby Wyggs RFC. Syston were the defending champions but Oadby had not made the final since 1981, so both clubs were chomping at the bit to get the game underway.

Syston swiftly put 10 points on the board but after a yellow card and one man down, Oadby took advantage and scored 2 tries to take the score to 10 – 12 before Syston were awarded a penalty and another 3 points taking the score to 13-12 at half time.

After the break, Syston came out on full power and quickly took the score up to 28-12. But Oadby responded and didn’t give up. The final score was very respectable but Syston were victorious to take the double win at Welford Road. Full Time 33-27. Congratulations to the senior men at Syston RFC who retained their title as Leicestershire Rugby Union County Cup Champions.

We hope that all the players and supporters enjoyed both games at Welford Road. Thanks again to Leicester Tigers for allowing us to play on their pitch. Leicestershire are very lucky to have a Premiership club open their ground to us and supporting grassroots rugby.

Also a big thank you to everyone who supports all rugby in Leicestershire throughout the season. In particular, the volunteers at each and every club who are integral to everything that we do. Events like this do not happen on their own and everyone plays their part.

Thank you to Ian Palfreyman Photography for taking photos throughout the evening. Photos are available from his website

Here’s to a great 2019/20 season!