CURRENT SEASON REPORTS
Saturday 26th January 2008
National 3 South
Clifton 11 Canterbury 18
The rain finally relented to allow rugby to be played at Clifton for the first time in 2008 on Saturday when the home side came up against Canterbury, currently placed 4th in the league. This was always going to be a tough game for the home team which was again suffering from injury and unavailability. There was the welcome return from holiday of Ollie Sills but rather than slotting in to his position at 9 he took over from JB in the 10 jersey. Wayne McMillan had overcome his broken nose suffered at London Scottish last Saturday and started by taking over from Ryan Cox who has picked up an injury of his own. Sam Kent came back into the side at full back taking over from Greg Setherton who was again suffering from injury. Otherwise the team was unchanged from the 15 that fought so well to earn a bonus point at Scottish last week. Read More...
Saturday 19th January 2008
National 3 South
Clifton 26 at London Scottish 60
It isn’t often that a team celebrates a 60 points defeat but on this occasion Clifton deserve congratulations for gaining the first four try bonus of the season and that after having lost two back row players and the one back five forward replacement by half time. That two of those were as a result of the home sides foul play was a disappointment compounded by the inability of the match officials to spot one punch of many thrown by the home sides numbers two and three. A noted referee onlooker was to express surprise that only one player was shown a red card and was frankly amazed that the other miscreants received no punishment at all. Read More...
Saturday 24th November 2007
National 3 South
Clifton 5 at Cinderford 53
Coach Dave Healy once again had to put out a re-fashioned side in the Forest on Saturday. The late withdrawal of Gregg Setherton allied to the non availability of John Barnes resulted in several changes in the back division. This meant Ollie Sills switched to fly half from the bending over position, and Sam Kent, originally selected at 10 moving into the centre next to brother Barney. Ollie Sacco took over the 9 jersey vacated by Ollie Sills. Read More...
Saturday 10th November 2007
National 3 South
Clifton 26 North Walsham 20
Well this was more like it! The casual watcher would never have believed this game was being played between the bottom two sides. It was a corker and included much quality rugby and for the good guys, the right result. Clearly playing at home is currently to the liking of the Clifton side with this result now showing four home wins including the National Trophy while on the road our old rivals North Walsham have failed to trouble the scorers.
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Saturday 3rd November 2007
National 3 South
Clifton 17 Luton 44
This was a return to the poor performance last seen at Ealing two weeks ago. What will disappoint the coaches however is that on paper this was a stronger Clifton team than the one that took the field then. The improvements seen last week in the game against Lydney, in particular the defensive effort, was almost non existent this week. As a result the game was thrown away in the first 15 minutes as Luton ran in for four tries.
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Saturday 28th October 2007
Clifton 22 Lydney 20
It has been a tough season so far and after last weeks disaster at Ealing it was important that Clifton were to put in both an improved performance and regain some pride. The injury list was at least a little shorter this week with John Barnes, John Levis, Greg Setherton and Paul Reid all returning to the match day squad. Tom Lambert reverted to hooker with Wanderers captain Graham Hardy starting at 7. Wayne McMillan started in the second row however as Ryan Cox was sidelined with a foot injury. In the backs JB started at 10 allowing Sam Kent to move back to full back and Greg Setherton took his position in the centre.
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Saturday 20th October 2007
National 3 South
Clifton 17 Ealing 71
Well we woke up with expectation in the air. No not because we were looking forward to our first foray to Ealing for a few years, but because it was World Cup Final day. As far as the Clifton game was concerned it was one to get out of the way. An injury list showing 22 members of the 45 registered players being injured, and one or two others not available, meant we had a Clifton team getting on the coach that was far from coach Dave Healys first choice. Indeed there was a concern that we would be unable to fulfil the fixture at all.
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Saturday 13th October 2007
EDF National Trophy
Clifton 46 Woodford 19
Well this was fun! Clifton were hosting a team founded by Clifton members in the 1920’s wearing the same kit as Clifton and with brothers opposing each other. We also had a first for Clifton with Clare Daniels taking charge of a Clifton first team game and being in spite of being confronted with such similar colours, the change kits were even more similar, doing an excellent job in difficult circumstances. What we do know is that we had a game played in great spirit and with plenty of tries to keep the crowd entertained.
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Saturday 15th September 2007
National 3 South
Clifton 27 - Rosslyn Park 31
Those long standing members of the club are aware of the ability by Clifton to self destruct that has existed in the past. This was a return to those bad old days on Saturday as a comfortable lead of 27 points to 8 was thrown away as the team collectively stopped playing. While this does a disservice to Rosslyn Park, they had been a poor side until the shock of Clifton’s last try finally shook them up and with a change at half back they finally gained some composure in their attacking game.
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Saturday 1st September
National 3 South
Clifton 23 Havant 12
The real action started on Saturday and the good guys managed a win first game up to provide the loyal fans with an early win to start the season. Playing against a Havant team shorn of many of their star players but with the usual physical approach up front Dave Healy’s side overcame a difficult first twenty minutes and survived a 10 minute second half siege to produce all the fluent rugby and take the win that their adventure deserved.
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