On Sunday 6th January, 11 of our team mates had to forget their recent turkey and mince pie fest as they had the opportunity to trial for the London Irish School of Rugby.

This was a whole day of intense skills trials with each member of our team being assessed by experienced L.I. and Hampshire County coaches.

As a squad, we were only able to nominate 5 players, but were assisted by a number of local schools who put forward an additional 6 lads. The coaching team would have loved to put more club players forward, however the S.o.R. capped this years intake at 5. This caused a lot of discussion across the coaches was we have a number of players with good core skills and only just missed nomination.

On the day, there were roughly 120 players put forward for the trials, from various schools and clubs across the county. Each player had to exhibit skills that included such areas as passing off both hands to accurate kicking from hand. In addition, the trial coaches were looking for good understanding and game awareness.

We would like to thank all the players (and parents) for attending what were strenuous trials, with each lad doing both themselves and the club proud. Tim Allen (Head of S.o.R.) said that the bar had again been raised with this years efforts, which is testimony to the fact that our lads were mixing it with high calibre candidates.

The successful candidates have been posted on the Hampshire RFU website and we are delighted to advise that 7 of our players were amongst those named. Many congratulations go to;

Archie Adams
Josh Ellard
Joe Feculak
Henry Massey
Ben Salisbury
Joe Smart-McMullan
Jay Willis

Of course, there were 4 players who, on this occasion were not so fortunate. We are disappointed for those unlucky players, especially as they have bundles of talent and a lot to offer. However, they should not be too disappointed and use the experience to drive them forward for future County selection opportunities.

Well done all!!