On Thursday last we held a Players Meeting at the club to discuss arrangements for pre season etc. Things kick off tonight with he first of a number of weight sessions. The meeting was well attended with some 37 players in attendance including most of the new faces who will either be returning to the Reds or starting out a new career with the club.

Also announced at the meeting was next years captain….Darren Jacques will assume that role and I am sure you will all join with me and wish Darren the very best in this. The captaincy is a very serious matter and I am sure Darren will carry out the duties well. Darren has had a great career with Redruth where he has gained England Counties honours, County honours and most recently Barbarian honours. He also has the distinction of holding the club’s record for the most consecutive league appearances and has not missed a senior game for the last 3 seasons! I know how much it means to him to have this honour and I am sure he will lead by example ….

So the Lions go 1-0 down following their 26-21 defeat in Durban at the weekend. I think they did incredibly well to come back in the way they did and were, in some ways, unlucky that they did not sneak the victory. At one stage I thought it was going to be a drubbing to say the least … but superior fitness told and once key changes were made they really upped the anti, got on the right side of the ref as far as the scrummage went and gave it their all. Whilst everyone is saying that we finished on top and can take that into the next game, I don’t think you will find such a tame South African side …. plus its at altitude so it will take a superhuman effort from the Lions me thinks …….

Lots said about Phil Vickery as well and how poorly he played, as much as it galls me to say so but I have to agree that he had a job done on him …. he had been outstanding on the tour up until Saturday and I must be honest I don’t think he will play this week. Also I believe they have to bring Simon Shaw into the team …. so Test Team predictions are:-

15 Rob Kearney 14 Tommy Bowe 13 Brian O’Driscoll 12 Jamie Roberts 11 Ugo Monye 10 James Hook 9 Mike Phillips 1 Gethin Jenkins 2 Matthew Rees 3 Adam Jones 4 Simon Shaw 5 Paul O’Connell 6 Tom Croft 7 Martin Williams 8 David Wallace  Replacements: Lee Byrne, Stephen Jones, Harry Ellis, Phil Vickery, Lee Mears, Donncha O’Callaghan, Joe Worsley 

I thought Tom Croft was outstanding on Saturday along with the centre pairing of O’Driscoll and Roberts. Crofts initial omission from the touring party was comical to say the least but he has certainly taken his chances and the coaching team must be more than impressed with his impact.
England prop Tim Payne has got the call from the Lions and goes straight into the team to play the Emerging Boks on Tuesday. He has been called up to replace Andrew Sheridan who has a sore back ….. Payne recently appeared for England in the Tests against Argentina and the non cap international against the Barbarians …. and yes its another London Wasp on tour!!!!!!

My prediction …. my heart says 25-17 to the Lions, my head says 32-17 to the Boks …… 

Some disturbing news from down under ……France centre Mathieu Bastareaud is to return home from his country’s tour of Australasia after reportedly being assaulted in Wellington. The bulky Stade Fran

First up this week …. I went to see Oasis in Cardiff on Friday …. what a gig! I felt like I was in the biggest Karaoke bar in the world…….60,000+ people singing every word of every song they sang … they were awesome!!! In fact all 4 groups were good…first up were The Peth (lead singer of them was Rhys Ifaans the actor) then The Enemy followed by Kasabian …. the atmosphere was superb as well …

We met up with Paul Berryman and Kevin Roberts from Camborne Cricket Club in the Prince of Wales for a couple of beers before the concert and then managed to "worm" our way into the stands to watch the concert …. I have never seen so much beer wasted!! … well I think it was beer they were throwing. It seems that people buy 4 pints, drink one and throw three!!!!!! …. great evening though and really good company … hope you boys got back on Saturday morning in time to play your cricket at Falmouth???? ….

I Spoke with Pete Joyce late last week about how his tour was going in the Far East. It seems he was having a good time but it just seemed that it was tinged with some disappointment ….. he said  " When I wasn’t involved in the first game with Korea, I was obviously gutted and then to rub salt into the wounds we were told that we had to do outreach with school kids out here! However, so far that is one of my top experiences, the kids were so well behaved and I genuinely believe that they enjoyed the games we coached. I think the Koreans spend a lot of time doing structured drills and not playing games of any kind! Its also worth mentioning that grass is a luxury in Korean rugby, with some games being played on "soft dirt" (hard grit!) somewhat similar to our colts field after a long winter! The training pitch was fine and the Korean RFU really looked after us in every way possible, along with the sponsors, one of which was McDonalds which supplied the food! ….. you can imagine the look on my face when I opened the bag and saw pasta salad instead of a big tasty and a McFluffin(a choc mcmuffin smashed into a mcflurri, I invented that as far a I know….try it)!" ……

And so onto Japan and Joycer got his start and played a full part in the game … one in which he said the Japanese never gave up and threw everything they had at the Counties side. Pete also reports that Owen Hambly is ok although he nearly forgot his passport!!… Owen made the bench for the final game but Peter didn’t. My opinion, well it looked very much to me like a very "Northern Flavoured" team …. so there we go!

I see the World Cup 2011 fixtures are out already …..

Game Date	Match	Location	Venue
Sat Sept 10	Scotland v Play-off winner	Invercargill	Rugby Park Stadium
Sat Sept 10	Argentina v England	Christchurch	Stadium Christchurch
Wed Sept 14	Scotland v Europe 1	Dunedin	Carisbrook
Sat Sept 17	Argentina v Play-off winner	Invercargill	Rugby Park Stadium
Sun Sept 18	England v Europe 1	Christchurch	Stadium Christchurch
Sat Sept 24	England v Play-off winner	Dunedin	Carisbrook
Sun Sept 25	Argentina v Scotland	Christchurch	Stadium Christchurch
Wed Sept 28	Europe 1 v Play-off winner	Palmerston North	Arena Manawatu
Sat Oct 1	England v Scotland	Auckland	Eden Park
Sun Oct 2	Argentina v Europe 1	Palmerston North	Arena Manawatu

Get planning ……….

Former New Zealand international lock Chris Jack has poked fun at the standard of European club rugby, calling it ‘easy’. Jack, who has spent the last two seasons with English club Saracens, said he was returning home to New Zealand because he wanted to play a higher level of rugby. "I’m not going back just to muck around. If I wanted to muck around I would have stayed up there," he told reporters in Sydney on Thursday. "I want to come back and I want to play well. If I wanted to play easy rugby I would have stayed up in the northern hemisphere."

The Lions left it late again, but still preserved their unbeaten record. With the Test Match only a few days away now, selection is on the lips of everyone. For what it is worth here is my Test team for the 1st Test that will be played at the ABSA Stadium Durban on Saturday ….. 15 Lee Byrne 14 Tommy Bowe 13 Brian O’Driscoll 12 Jamie Roberts 11 Ugo Monye 10 James Hook 9 Mike Phillips 1 Gethin Jenkins 2 Lee Mears 3 Phil Vickery 4 Nathan Hines 5 Paul O’Connell 6 Tom Croft 7 David Wallace 8 Jamie Heaslip Replacements: Stephen Jones, Rob Kearney, Harry Ellis Euan Murray Matthew Rees Martyn Williams Alan Wyn Jones ……

Poor Leigh Halfpenny……this must be one of the biggest disappointments of his career to date …. after getting over the initial disappointment of having to delay his start on the Lions tour he has suffered a recurrence of the thigh injury and is now on his way home. Halfpenny, whose rise to the Lions ranks from a semi-professional contract at the start of the season has been one of the stories of the season. If you think that is bad luck then what about Ryan Jones. He was called up as Steven Ferris’s replacement, arrived in South Africa on Thursday and was subsequently declared unfit on Friday and was sent back home! Jones suffered a head injury playing for Wales against USA the previous weekend and the Lions medical staff deemed him unfit to take any place on the tour …. at this time no further replacement has been called for.

Bit of news here, the Southern Kings, a team the Lions will face on Tuesday are rumoured to be thinking about including veteran Mike Catt. The Southern Kings are a team that were originally known as the Southern Spears and are in South Africa’s plans to be included in the Super 15. According to Port Elizabeth’s local newspaper the Daily Dispatch, former Grey High School and England utility back Catt could also run out against the British tourists. The list of possible players also includes a host of South Africans who have been plying their trade in Europe including former Springboks De Wet Barry, Neil de Kock, BJ Botha, Daan Human, Gary Botha, Faan Rautenbach and Brent Russell.

Front row coach and a former England and Lions prop Graham Rowntree has been upping the anti ….. The Front Row Union is a pretty unforgiving club to be a part of. There is no room for anything other than the hardest of men. When British & Irish Lions head doctor, James Robson, announced that he had never seen blisters like the ones Andrew Sheridan picked up in the opening game against the Royal XV, everyone felt sympathy for him. After all, we all suffered from blistered feet and it can be very painful. But the sympathy stopped with those outside the FRU. So when Rowntree, a life-member of the FRU and proud of it, was asked how England

New opportunities have been created for Player Sponsorship next season.

ALL players are available for personal sponsorship by any company and/or supporter/individual in a package that suits you.

We will guarantee to promote you on this website 24/7 and match day programme plus via the PA at home games.

Also, as a new sponsor, you will be featured in the local press by way of photo opportunities with the player.

Plus club membership and the opportunity to come along to special exclusive club events.

Redruth Number 8 Mark Bright is one of the players available for sponsorship next season.

Furthermore, if you would like the player to assist you off the pitch, then please let us know.

To discuss Player Sponsorship at Redruth for the new season 2009-10, which kicks off, provisionally, at home with a 3pm start on Saturday, September 5th against Cambridge, call David Penberthy on 07966 532404 or email:

The Club is available for any event booking: parties, weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, work functions etc.

Full bar facilities, catering and music can be provided with plenty of free parking.

Please contact Clubhouse manager Chris Allen on 01209 215520.