Good Friday great sport!

Hungerford RFC hosted neighbours Newbury at the annual Good Friday charity clash.  It was a draw.  It’s always a draw.

Very blustery and with rain threatening, conditions weren’t quite perfect but it was fabulous that it could be staged, having been cancelled last year because the Triangle Field pitch was water-logged.  And a crowd of several hundred supporters turned out to see the contest.

Played in good spirits, and beer flowing freely among the teams, players were a revolving mix of young, old, veterans, officials (managers and coaches), almost anyone prepared to pull on a pair of boots for their team.  But the competitiveness and tough determination to dominate the game was nevertheless evident, and fortunes ebbed and flowed.  There was some good, open and fast play and quite a few cracking tries, some converted, some not.  Take a look at the photo of the Blues Manager Kevin Rhoads below, which perfectly sums up the side-by-side pluck and party that typified the play.

Everyone on the pitch was swapped in and out except one – the referee.  Russell Clark, a Berkshire “ref” from Baughurst, refereed not one but two games, back-to-back (the Colts teams squared off at 1 o’clock, ahead of the Senior teams at 3 o’clock).  A former player, having done 27 seasons as a referee and overseen a mighty 40 games this season, he was impressively barely out of puff.

What a great afternoon of local sport.  See you next year!

Photos by kind permission of Red Water Images