This week's pitch inspection

 Or pitches are getting better each week.  More rain please, but not on Friday / Saturday as we're going to attempt to go camping again for one night this Friday.

First game of the season for April

 And a win against the Ma Mas.  A tough game and April is covered in bruises.  Makes a change.

My first game has been pushed back a couple of weeks as it's a league game and the RFU has postponed all games in Kent due to the hardness of the grounds.

There's actually signs of grass

 Mostly rock hard mud and weeds though. The minis rugby season starts on Sunday!

Travellers

 We have some new additions to our playing pitches this morning.  Overnight some travellers decided to break a gate and set up camp.  Apparently, they'll be gone by Friday. 

Head shot

 I popped to the club on Saturday to watch a development team team play against Tunbridge Wells.  They were also doing headshots for social media so I had mine done too.

Looking a little parched

 They're looking terrible at the minute, let's hope we get some rain soon.  At least the 1st team pitch is getting watered.

3rd and 4th team pitches

2nd team pitch

1st team pitch

Chiddingstone touch rugby

 I played for the Badgers over in Chiddingston on Saturday.  We got hammered in the first two games then lost again in the final game of the group.  It was much closer though and good fun.  I got the train to Penshurst then cycled to the ground with a friend.  Then cycled all the way back to Leigh to say hello to some friends playing cricket, then cycled home to quickly get showered and changed as we were due at a friend's 40th back in Leigh!

The kids got a couple of games too.

My leg's not great.  I got a nasty friction burn when sliding on the hard ground.

Final voucher

 It was a bit too wet for touch rugby this evening with a chance of lightning, we had a childminder booked so we went out for a date night instead.  We had £50 / £150 vouchers left from the u6s rugby clubs so decided to use them.  Steak night at the Ivy House.

We won the league

 The 2s and 3s won the league last season, here are some photos from the award ceremony, 

Twickenham on Saturday

 Along with around 50 other TJs members we popped along to see the harlequins play at Twickenham.  It was along day 2h each way but we had a good time and was good to see everyone again after the season finished a couple of weeks ago.

I wasn't a bad rugby player

 When clearing out the shed I showed the kids all the trophies i'd won when I was a kid (including one of Steve's that I have for some reason).  Player of the year, clubman of the year, players player and a 2nd team player of the year.  Not bad.

Well that was messy

 We had our annual prize giving at TJS on Saturday.  It was a family event to begin with then the kangaroo court started and it all ended in debauchery.  We had to leave early as we had a gig to go to over in Tunbridge Wells.

Lonely sock

 One lone TJs sock on the u6s pitch.

Double winners

 Our 2s and 3s won each of our respective leagues this year.  The 2s won it with a game to spare, we won it on the last game of the season on Saturday.  Our 1st team were at home as well so there was a big party and there was much merriment. I was tempted to play but my surgeon and physio said definitely not!  So I aired on the side of caution resisted.  My shoulder is getting better every day but not quite ready for contact.  I have a physio appointment in a couple of weeks where it will be months after the surgery.  I'm playing rugby next Wednesday so hopefully it'll be okay for that.

Next season though!

Flo won an award

It was our last rugby session of the season on Sunday and at the end we had a prize giving and a massive water fight.  She won the Spirit of rugby award!  Well done Florence.  We ended up staying for quite a while as the weather was so nice and ended up going to a Turkish restaurant with 2 other families for dinner.  A fairly big day in the end.  We got a special thanks from our fellow coaches in the u6s, we got £150 voucher for a local pub / restaurant.

Roast beef sandwiches

 I made these roast beef sandwiches last weekend.  I took a few along to watch the rugby and they went down very well. 

Useless tags

 When learning to play rugby you start off with tags.  You get a velcro belt and a couple of tags to simulate a tackle which they pick up in u9s.  During the winter the tags get covered in mud and fall off as soon a there is a slight gust of wind, i.e a slow walk.  This weekend April washed them, let's see if they work next week.

Pizza and rugby

 What's not to like?  We had 3 rugby coaching families over on Saturday including their kids.  We made pizzas for everyone before watching the rugby.

My attempt at a calzone

The best pizza

Arwen helping

Rugby training

 We had good numbers on Sunday for our rugby training.  Here's Arthur outrunning one of the other boys.

Doh!

 I went to a rugby training course on Monday night and only realised i'd brought the wrong boot bag when I got there.