Anglian Vipers, probably the newest Open Age team in British Amateur Rugby League, registered the first win in their history nine days ago – on the afternoon of the Betfred Challenge Cup Final, in fact – with a 48-38 win over North Hertfordshire Knights in the East RL Cup.
The nature of the Vipers’ win was entirely in line with the template adhered to by sides at any level, from the lowest divisions of the amateur leagues to the pinnacle of the international game.
Anglian Vipers tell the tale succinctly themselves: “The first half was a similar story to the previous two games played; giving possession away cheaply and conceding early tries. However, the Vipers are learning fast and in the second half they protected the ball, completed structured sets of six tackles and scored great tries with fast attacking rugby. The final score reflected a game played in great spirit and refereed sensibly and fairly by the North Herts coach due to a late notice of the ‘no show’ of the official nominated by the RFL.
“It’s now onto next week’s Cup semi-final against Bedford Tigers, one of the strongest sides in the area where Vipers will look for more improvement and a similar result. Following this, on 11 June, Anglian Vipers will once again travel for a league fixture against Bedford Tigers with, also, the launch of the Anglian Vipers Ladies team.
“If you’re interested in playing then training is every Monday, starting at 19.00, held at the club’s home base of Wymondham Rugby Club. Male and female players are welcome. If you would like to watch good, hard hitting, fast, non-stop rugby then watch out on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for the next home fixture which is currently planned for 18 June.”
Many folk who have been involved in setting up new teams or clubs will empathise with the unbridled enthusiasm that permeates that passage. There’s nothing quite like those early matches – especially those that are won, although the Vipers’ defeat at Bedford on Saturday might have been a potentially useful wakeup call – and you really do get the feeling that Anglian Vipers could make a real impact over the next few years. It’s great, for example, that a Women’s team is being formed, and another uplifting point in the report was that the North Herts coach refereed the game, and obviously fairly.
There’s plenty of good things happening beyond the traditional heartlands, and I recommend readers to have a look at the next issue of Rugby League World, which will carry an interview I did last week with Midlands Hurricanes CEO Alan Robinson, who has extremely strong ties to the amateur game in the Midlands.
Next Saturday’s Open Age fixtures are listed elsewhere in this issue, and I’ll be monitoring progress in the Midlands League with added interest this year.
I’ll also, in common with many others, be watching how the National Conference League progresses in the second half of the campaign. We’ve had a number of postponements this season, caused by the inability of clubs to raise a team, with the latest arising on Saturday, when Hunslet Warriors had to call off their trip to Normanton in Division Two, and there were some worryingly big wins last week. Hopefully those were because of the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations although, with the summer holidays beckoning, more of the same cannot really be ruled out.
NCL bosses have had to relax their approach to such announcements as the Warriors had to make, which would once have meant a £500 fine, automatic demotion and, for teams in the bottom tier, expulsion.
How times have changed, not least in the requirement that all member clubs had to run a second team.
I suspect that if the flagship league applied all its minimum standard rules – certainly as I recall them – we’d have few teams taking part these days. A sign of the times, I think, for all team sports, although I’m yet again bolstered by events in Wales, where the home side beat England in an Under 16s international on Saturday in a game at Llanelli that followed an East v West Under 14s clash, with a very healthy crowd turning up for the occasion.
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