Archie Bayne-Jardine and Erin Lashley summarise the achievements of the men’s and women’s Chad’s-John’s rugby teams respectively.
Archie
For the men, the start of the 2022/23 season began with a dominant 52-0 victory over South A. As a start to the season, it could not have gone better, welcoming our freshers to the club with a destructive and cohesive performance. The weather, however, was not on our side, with fixtures against Hatfield B and Grey A postponed, while friendlies against Cuths A and Hilde Bede A were cancelled. The new year began with a poor 17-0 loss to Mary’s – missing half our starting XV we struggled in the first half, but rallied in the second to keep them scoreless. In the coming weeks we have a wealth of fixtures, including three league games and a cup fixture against Grey A. Regardless of these results, the club has had a strong year.
Despite fewer players than previously, we have enjoyed consistently high training and social turnouts and a core of strong players are coming through to lead the club forward. At the end of the season I will hand over and leave, alongside Ben Dickson, Alex Scarr-Hall, Samuel King, Ben Sporton, Max Davison, Matt Moran, Adam Swift, Ed Blackman, Nick Tan, Jamie Davidson Grear and Antione Colthier. I have, however, no doubt the future of the club is in safe hands and that we will enjoy a successful second half of the season both on and off the pitch.
Erin
For the 22/23 Season, Chad’s-John’s Women’s are undefeated and currently have a 4-match win streak. At the moment, we are joint with Collingwood at the top of the league, meaning we have it all to play for in our upcoming fixture against them later this term. We are improving each season and have our sights set on winning the league and the floodlit. In the 21/22 season, we narrowly missed out on entering the floodlit as we came 5th in the premiership on points difference, but we are hoping that this season is the season for Chad’s-John’s!
Our improvement is due to the influx of new players (many of whom had never picked up a rugby ball before they came to Durham) and the commitment of all members of the team. We have quite a few players who have also decided to play for DU, representing John’s at the highest level. Rugby may be a typically masculine discipline, but we are proud to showcase the talent women’s rugby has to offer and prove that it is comparable to that of men. Rugby is a sport which requires players to have a variety of skills and is a welcoming sport for anyone, so if this article interests you, why not give it a go? You can contact us via erin.m.lashley@durham.ac.uk.
John's Chronicle 