Welwyn RFC are proud to be a Saracens Partner Club.

Club Update 29/03/06

Next Home Game...

Saracens vs London Wasps

Sunday 16th April

Kick Off 15:00

The next home game see Saracens play host to last years champions London Wasps. Hopefully after the excellent recent good form Saracens can continue to deliver the goods and set their sights on a European place.  

Headlines...

Saracens Easter Coaching Courses…

As Easter rapidly approaches and you are looking for something to do why not get involved and book onto one our Easter coaching courses. The courses are specifically aimed at young people aged between 8-17 and are a great chance to receive coaching from our professional players and qualified coaching staff.

The courses available during Easter are:

Date:                Weds 5th April – Fri 7th April

Venue:              Letchworth RFC

Date:                Tues 11th April- Thursday 13th April

Venue:              Saracens Amateurs

Normal Price £114.00

Online Price on £100.00

If you would like to book onto one of these courses or require further information please see www.rugbycamps.com or email richardgregg@saracens.net

Super Sarries slay Warriors...

Saracens registered a convincing 29-15 win over Worcester Warriors at Vicarage Road Stadium in Round 18 of the Guinness Premiership running in four tries to clinch the all important bonus point as they continued in their late season rally to stay clear of relegation.

First half scores from Tevita Vaikona and Mark Bartholomuesz were added to in the second period by superb efforts from Mosese Rauluni and Dan Scarbrough as Saracens broke free of their shackles to play some sparkling rugby. The visitors managed two last minute consolation tries but it was too little too late as up until then the Saracens defence had been awesome.

As the players walked from the pitch news came in from Adams Park that Wasps had beaten Leeds Tykes, which has now set up another crucial game at Headingley in a fortnight's time.

Player News...

Defence won us the game - Says Ford...

Saracens climbed to eighth in the Guinness Premiership after a bonus-point victory over Worcester Warriors at Vicarage Road on Sunday.

The Ford said: “It was an important result for us. We prepared really well over the last few weeks and after the good win at Sale, we were able to build on that today. We spent last week in Portugal on a training camp and that was fantastic for us. To work with the players 24-7 was excellent and I said to them after the game that it was probably the best we have prepared all year and we saw the results on the field. It’s good to know that what we worked on came to fruition.

“The defence was magnificent and that is certainly something we have been working on. At the start of the second half when we were under pressure, had they scored it could have been a different game, but we were able to hold them out and then went upfield to score again. That passage of play probably won us the game.

“Portugal was good in terms of building team spirit. We started to get it back against Bristol and then Eddie came on board and the edge has been back in training. Just his presence on the field has been excellent and we’ve built on that as a coaching team and just tweaked a few things here and there and its paid dividends. Our solid defence has been very important, but it’s much more than just that. When we were stuck on our try line today, the players were tackling as if they were willing to die for each other and that is magnificent.”

Quartet head for Dubai World Championships...

Four Saracens youngsters flew to Dubai with the England U19 side this week as preparations begin for the U19 World Championships next month.

Adam Powell, Tom Mercey, Andy Saull and Ben Thomas have all been included in the squad for the tournament which begins for England on Wednesday 5th April when they face Ireland. Then it’s a clash against Argentina on Sunday 9th April before the final group game against current world champions South Africa on Thursday 13th April.

The semi-finals are on Monday 17th April and the final on Friday 21st April. The England v Ireland, England v South Africa match, semis and final will be screened live on Sky.

Other News...

Fans Forum date set...

Saracens’ Annual Fans’ Forum, which, for the second year running, is being supported by the SSA, will take place on Wednesday 12th April at Vicarage Road Stadium, 7.30pm.

The Top Table will feature Saracens’ captain Hugh Vyvyan , Head Coach Mike Ford, Eddie Jones and Chief Executive Mike Sinderberry.

Following on from the positive feedback from last year’s event, the Q&A session will once again be followed by a video presentation from the coaches, giving supporters the opportunity to hear first hand from Mike Ford former Wallaby Coach Eddie Jones.

The evening is open to all supporters (aged 18 or over) and further details will be posted on saracens.com and the SSA’s site (www.allezlesnoirs.com) in due course

Leeds away tickets available now...

Leeds Tykes v Saracens on Sunday 9th April are currently on sale.
 
We have seating at £20 for adults and £15 for concessions and standing at £15 for adults and £10 for concessions.

To book your tickets or for more information, please contact the Ticket Office on 01923 475222.

Mother's Day winners announced...

Thanks to all the Mums who registered for our “Make Mother’s Day” promo. 7 lucky mums’ names were drawn at the game on Sunday and the prize winners were as follows:

1st Prize – a ‘relax’ spa day at The Grove – Christine Hickey
2nd Prize – a pair of authentic Australian sheepskin boots courtesy of Ugs & Kisses - Karen Hilton
Runners-up – a family edition of Cranium - Christine Ansley, Karen Campion, Carol Fort, Cathy Williams-Gunn & Jane Price
(The winning mums will be contacted this week with details of their prizes).

And Christine Denton was picked out by our roving camera to take home a beautiful hand-tied bouquet, courtesy of local florist Beatrice Bray.

A huge thank you to the very generous companies who donated these marvellous prizes and made these Saracens-supporting mums’ Mother’s Day even more special.

Community News...

Cobus Visagie Scrummage Clinic…

Prior to the Saracens A team game against Bath A on Monday evening the Community Team organised a Coaching Clinic with international prop Cobus Visagie. The session was fully subscribed and held as part of the Powergen National Community Rugby Programme – supporting grass roots rugby throughout the country.

The clinic involved Visagie working with players from Old Albanians Development Squad and Hertfordshire U20s. The players were used to demonstrate various principles of scrummaging. The focus of the session was how to use the scrum as an attacking weapon, and taught coaches why to wheel the scrum and good how to do it.

The techniques discussed included body positions, foot positions, what to do with the head, neck & shoulders, and how to get into an effective position to put pressure on the opposition. Time was also spent discussing how the front row and second row can work together to maintain a powerful drive and how important this was.

Kobus’ coaching input into the Saracens Squad over the last couple of seasons has been impressive with the team now having one of the best scrums in the Premiership. Once again in the A team game that evening the pack dominated well in the set piece, before they over came Bath 37-12.

Hopefully all those coaches that attended this session learnt a lot and local clubs can look forward to dominant scrums for the rest of the season!!??

Thanks must go to OAs for hosting the session and to Cobus for his time – in fact I think he was disappointed that we ran out of time – he could have talked about scrummaging all night long!!!

If you would like more information about the Saracens Club Partnership Programme and how your coaches could gain from attending our coach development sessions email davehesketh@saracens.net.

Powergen Tag Festivals…

Last week saw the continuation of the delivery of the Powergen National Rugby Community Programme. Over 40 schools attended the festivals held at Welwyn and Fullerians Rugby Clubs incorporating over 500 children.

The Welwyn festival was a little bit special when the winners Watchlytes school found out they would be representing Saracens at Premiership final held at Twickenham on the 27th May. Twickenham is a big step up from the playing fields of Welwyn Rugby club but Saracens would like to wish the school the best of luck and hope you are all excited about what promises to be a huge event.

Fullerians were the hosts for the second Powergen Tag Festival and Laurence Haines Primary School turn out victors as they beat St johns Primary school in a close final. Laurence Haines School have recently been setting the pace for Tag rugby as they have set up a local league for all local primary schools in the Watford area. This is just another example of where all the Saracens Foundation in conjunction with the PNRCP has helped increase the participation rates of children in rugby.

As the season is coming to an end Saracens will continue to deliver the PNRCP and continue with their mission to 'enhance the lives of young people through sport'.

 

 

Any comments, additions, errors or omissions send an email here.