Chiswick RFC Named 'Team of The Month'
Local team makes the headlines in Rugby World Magazine
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Success hasn't come easy for Chiswick whose future was jeopardised by an arson attack in 1999 that left them without a clubhouse. With players leaving, it took Herculean efforts from a dedicated few to keep the club afloat. Bit by bit, as money allowed, a new structure was erected - while the players used a next-door rowing club.
And the installation of showers this season completed a project that has, in the words of first XV captain Marc Jones, "given the club a soul".
Training numbers at the Herts/Middlesex One club have shot up and the club is marking their 50th anniversary season in fitting style: wins over Old Merchant Taylors (30-3), Verulamians (30-10) and Old Millhillians (45-12) helping the firsts end January clear at the top, while they also saw off Eastleigh (18-7) as part of a run that took them to the last eight of the EDF Energy Junior Vase, with the hope of further progress.
Jones, a 6ft 4in wing once of Swansea U21s, is avering a try a game, while centre Ben Cheston and athletic locks Aran Delaney and Sam Hood are others at the heart of a coruscating Chiswick squad so intent on improving that they requested three sessions a week for the two gruelling months of pre-season.
Andy Barrington has galvanised the side in his first season as head coach, but he says: "It has little to do with me. We have a large group of very talented players all committed to being as good as they can. My job is just to keep the enthusiasm going. We don't worry about losing, only about dropping the standards."
Chiswick are the Rugby World / Canterbury Team of the Month and win a personalised set of 22 Canterbury kitbags.
The award is open to any side in Europe outside a country's top division.
March 7, 2008