For the first time in many years, veterans rugby is back at Newbury RFC as the Newbury Bulldogs launched themselves at Monk’s Lane with a close and thoroughly entertaining match against Hungerford RFC vets.

Newbury Bulldogs is part of the club’s ‘Community Rugby’ strategy designed to grow participation in this amazing sport across many formats of the game. Too many players retire from the sport in their early thirties as the physicality of competitive league rugby takes its toll, and family and work commitments become more challenging.

After the call went out for veterans (minimum age 35+), a staggering 48 former players immediately registered their interest in dusting their boots off and running on to the pitch again. Some hadn't played since school days, or for many years. In the end, a total of 35 available players appeared on a somewhat ‘busy’ pre-game team sheet for the inaugural match so that everyone available had a chance to get involved.

There’s something very special about Friday-night sport under floodlights and as darkness fell and the bar opened, an estimated 300+ supporters gathered and a fantastic atmosphere started to build.

Summary of the game

The opening of the game was positive from both sides, with the quality of early play surprisingly good. It was clear from early that Hungerford vets were here to hand the Bulldogs a first-match home defeat. However after a solid 15 minutes and a strong run and offload from Martin Wright at lock, Yann Cullum cantered over the line to score the first try of the game (Score: 5-0).

With the next period of play in Hungerford’s half of the pitch, Newbury’s half-back combination began to click and stretch the Hungerford defence, with the ball moving well through the back line, resulting with James McCarthy at right wing breaking through and dotting the ball down between the sticks, easily converted by fly half Neil Owen (12-0). A few minutes later more opportunities and space on the right hand side allowed James McCarthy in with Newbury's second try, converted by Neil Owen again (19-0).

Hungerford were down but still very much in the game with another period of attractive play and good defence from Bulldogs. Hungerford’s powerful back line was a handful, with many strong runs giving the Bulldog back line some unwanted tackling practice. Eventually Hungerford’s inside centre broke the line and bounced and crashed his way over the try line out wide with two Newbury players hanging off him and no conversion made.

Despite an intense half of play, both sides finished the half in surprisingly good shape with the score at 19-5 and with only a couple of substitutions for minor niggles.

The Bulldogs team was largely replaced as planned for the second half, given numbers and an eagerness to get every player game time. The balance of play changed during the start of the second half as a result, with a new bunch of dogs finding their feet and at key positions and Hungerford still bringing their game strongly. Hungerford scored three more tries (19-10, 19-15, 19-22) during a scrappy period for the Bulldogs, who couldn’t find any rhythm or shape to their play and eventually found themselves behind on the scoreboard for the first time in the match.

With time nearly up, Hungerford forced into touch near the Hungerford 22 and it looked too late to save the game. However, after a line out on the right side, the ball was moved quickly through the hands to Simon Niven at right wing. With blistering pace, the Hungerford defence was outflanked and a try between the posts, leaving a simple conversion for Jason Matthews (26-22).

It wrapped up a superb and close game, with smiles all round, good spirits, no injuries and a fantastic advert for veterans rugby!

We are thankful that some of the Bulldogs graciously agreed to play in a Hungerford shirt for periods of the game, making it the game we all wanted on the night. Thank you to Lorne Lee at Scrum-Half for Hungerford in the first half; while for the second half thanks to Simon Adams at flanker and Tony Flynn - a handful for the Bulldogs defence playing as Hungerford's hooker.

Finally huge credit and thanks goes to our Newbury referee, Stuart Codling, who did a fantastic job officiating the game with a smile, sense of humour and fairness. Due to shortages, there were no neutral RFU referees available to officiate this friendly match.

The Bulldogs look forward to returning to our friends at Hungerford RFC for another fantastic game of rugby very soon!