PRFC 2008/09 Season review

Since its humble beginnings in 2003 PRFC has continued to grow and expand. With expansion has come great success – most notably the NAMS final in 2008, where our boys were defeated in extra-extra time with the cruellest of blows, a shoddy drop-goal by the Cardiff Medics’ fly-half following 110 minutes of pulsating rugby action. Following the NAMS final we said farewell to a number of talented players from year 5 but the core of the team that played in the final were eligible to play in the 2008/09 season and so we began the season with high hopes that a successful season was up for grabs.

We began the season in imperious form against PRFC Alumni, Exeter University Engineers and Plymouth Navy Command Centre with comfortable wins. Both these games allowed the management team to assess numerous talented freshers and dentistry students, and the future looked bright. Once the elective students had returned from their travels we decided to face our arch-rivals Cardiff in the first NAMS fixture of the season. Cardiff were now competing in BUSA/BUCS Premier and as our statisticians pointed out they were getting beaten heavily on a weekly basis and we sniffed a chance for our first victory against them. After a scrappy and tight match Cardiff pipped us to the post by a couple of points, which was extremely disappointed. We gathered ourselves in order to play an away fixture against Southampton Medics which we won and celebrated in great style at the infamous Jesters nightclub in Southampton. One player was heard to utter the word ‘epic’ to describe the night’s antics. With spirits high, matches were then played against local club sides Topsham and Truro – providing most of the squad with game-time. Following a match against Bristol Medics we played one of the squad’s favourite fixtures against Exeter freshers. What a delight it was to defeat them yet again – superb. 

Following an away defeat to Cardiff we headed down to London to play against the United Hospitals freshers’ team. United Hospitals is a club that combines players from all 5 London medical schools and so we knew this was going to be a serious challenge for the squad to face. And true to form, our navigation skills let us down once we were outside of Devon and Cornwall allowing us only 15 minutes for a team warm-up. This great start to proceedings was matched by us conceding two early tries – good work all round so far. However, in the display of the season and even with injuries to key personnel and torrential weather condition we were able to weather the storm and come out as victors by 3 points. Job done and celebrations followed at timepiece under the false pretence of our Christmas social.

Following the Christmas holidays we came back raring to go but a combination of fourth year workload, exams, and shocking weather led to a number of matches being called off and so some of the drive disappeared. Bristol and Truo were defeated at home and we only managed to hang on to a draw against Southampton in the final NAMS group match of the season. Against Southampton one of our comrades suffered a nasty compound fracture of his tibia whilst we were ahead on the scoreboard and we seem to go a bit AWOL for the rest of the match. Results favoured us and we were drawn to play against Warwick Medical School away in the NAMS quarter-final. Earlier in the season we had taken a scratch side up to play against them and found a well-drilled, athletic, and skilful side. Therefore, we knew we would have to pull out all the stops to progress through to the semi-finals. On the day we played some wonderful rugby, with the forwards fronting up to a much bigger pack and the backs out thinking their more experienced counterparts. We were frustrated in large part by the referee’s slightly one-sided view of the breakdown but all in all I feel we were beaten by a better side on the day. We played some commendable rugby and Warwick were left in no doubt about Peninsula’s commitment, passion, and determination. It was a sorry end to our NAMS journey but we will take a lot of positives from the campaign and we must remember that we have an extremely young and raw squad from which to mount a challenge in coming seasons.

The season ended on a rather last-minute organised tour to the academic city of Oxford where we won both matches against competitive opposition (Worcester College and Oxford Harlequins Colts). This was all the more remarkable as most players were still under the influence and suffered some disturbed sleep from someone claiming to be a tomb-raider – Oxford does have some strange characters. For the first time this year, and owing from the drive of Neil, Conor, and JLo, we managed to organise a very successful tri-campus varsity in Exeter. The eventual victors were Exeter but the real winner as Neil would testify was RUGBY. The competition was great fun and thoroughly enjoyed by all players and spectators and we hope to make it an annual event from now on.

So following a positive start to the season, it rather ended up in disappointment (apart for the tour and varsity). But as with all great clubs we are hoping to learn the lessons from the last campaign and build on the positives in the 2009/10 season that is fast approaching. And what a season it is set to be. As a club PRFC is hoping to have more events on all three PCMD sites – including training sessions, matches and socials. More importantly, we are inviting as many people (experienced or rookies) who 
would like to play or learn rugby to feel free to join in. We are also looking to recruit female PCMD students that would like form part of our Ladies Rugby Team which is set to organise fixtures in the 2009/10 season.

Another important event in the coming season is the match on Tuesday 3rd November against the Royal Marines in order to raise money for Help for Heroes Charity (www.medicsrugbychallenge.co.uk). This should be a fantastic event and one in which I implore you all to be a part of. 
I would like to take this opportunity to thank our coach Daniel Vaughan, who has shared and imparted his experience and knowledge to all of us. Also, I would like to thank the outgoing President, David Harris, and all the fifth years that are leaving us – Gus Smith, Ted Rawsthorne, and David McConnell – for all their contributions to PRFC. I would also like to thank Freddie, Pete, and Will for their services to PRFC this season. 

Final thanks to our team sponsors – Medical Money Management (www.medicalmoneymanagement.co.uk). 

BRING ON 2009/10 SEASON

ALL WELCOME