Category: Rugby News

Alex Sutherland – Bournemouth Rugby

Alex joined us for the 2013/4 season and scored, as left wing, on his full League debut against Dings Crusaders in N2S.

He quickly established himself as a 1st XVer largely on the wing but anywhere really, outside fly-half. In 2014/4 was Man of the Match, FB/2tc4p v Old Patesians h 38-31. In his third season Alex was awarded a 1st XV Honours tie, passed 50 starts and scored 100 career points. He was also selected as full-back for Hampshire in the County Championship Shield campaign, playing full-back in the final at Twickenham when they won 33-11 against Staffordshire and kicking four out of five conversions.

Alex wasn’t around much for the next three seasons but did play for the 75th time against Dings Crusaders in January 2018.

In 2019/0, now largely established as the full-back, Alex played his 100th League game when he was full-back against Bury St Edmunds in March.

This season, which has proved to be his last, his two tries against Old Centralians in March took him past 200 points. Man of the Match, FB v Royal Wootton Bassett, 9 April 2022.

Alex has been a loyal supporter of the Bournemouth cause over these past nine seasons although latterly, for reasons outside anyone’s control, we have not seen as much of him as we would have liked. This loss has only been compounded by Alex hanging up his boots so early in his career, perhaps even prematurely. ‘Thank you’ Alex for being with us and we wish you well for the future.

Doug Warren

Career Stats

Full-back: 46/12t20c6p

Right Wing: 13

OS Centre: 20/4t4c

IS Centre: 6/3t

Left Wing: 5/t

Started: 90/23t28c6p

Substitute: 38/3t

Played: 118/26t28c6p

1st XV Honours Tie: 12 Sep 2015

Joe Rees – Bournemouth Rugby

Joe joined us for the 2013/4 season introduced by our No 8 Tommy Booth. From the Isle of Wight, Joe initially commuted from the island but eventually settled over here. Joe quickly established himself in the 1st XV despite going in at the deep end as we were in National 2 South (level 4) at the time and set a club League debut season record of 28 starts. His value as a team member was recognised by fellow team members when he was awarded The Yarwood Trophy, the winner of the award being decided by the players.

His consistency of playing for the 1st’s was recognised when in only his second season he was awarded a 1st Honours tie in March, recognition of the loyalty shown by a player having made, in Joe’s case, 50 1st XV appearances. At the end of the season, he was awarded his second trophy, this time The John Plank Trophy, awarded to the Player of the Year as decided by the committee. Joe also played for Hampshire in the County Championship Shield. A back row player it was in this his second season that Joe established himself as the first choice No 8.

The following season Joe captained the side for the first time and established a new record of 27 consecutive starts as a No 8, overtaking Gavin Hart’s mark of 24 set in 2011/2. In May he played Openside flanker for Hampshire in the County Championship final at Twickenham, winning 33-11 against Staffordshire. Perhaps almost inevitably Joe was awarded The Bill Johnston Cup as captain of the year.

In April the following season, Joe played for the 100th time for the 1st XV and was again selected to play for Hampshire in the Bill Beaumont Senior Men’s County Championship (Division 2). For the second time Joe was awarded The Sam Yarwood Trophy and was a nominee for the The John Plank Travel Trophy.

In the first game the following season, Joe started his 100th game for the 1st XV and a couple of games later, overtook Andrew Freeman’s record of 64 appearances as No 8 set in 2004/5. In the South play-off away to Guernsey, Joe sets a new record of 87 appearances as No 8 and is captain for the 50th time and, at the end of the season, awarded The Bill Johnston Cup for the second time.

In March the following season, Joe set a new record of 99 appearances as No 8 and was nominee for The Bill Johnston Cup.

In September of the following season, Joe started his 100th game as No 8 and in November, started his 150th game.

This season Joe has reached 129 starts as a No 8 and will register 175 starts if selected for the last game of the season away to Weston-super-Mare,

This is a remarkable 9-season record, one of which was voided by the coronavirus pandemic, and Joe has been one of the most consistent players for the 1st XV, never having a ‘bad game’. We hope he has enjoyed his rugby with us at Bournemouth, but it is always a matter of some regret that we have to say ‘goodbye’ to such a player. ‘Thank you’ Joe, you have been a great servant to Bournemouth. You will be missed of course but we all wish you well for the future.

Career Stats

Lock: 13/4C/t

BS Flanker: 12

OS Flanker: 20/2t

No 8: 129/70C/12t. This is the club career-appearances record for a No 8.

Starts: 174/76C/13t

Substitute: 3

Played: 177/76C/13t.

5 Bournemouth Players selected for Bath U17’s match

This weekend will see 5 Bournemouth Rugby players make the squad for Bath Under 17’s as the take on Harlequins. Andrew Eary, Adam Dew, Rory Crum are in the starting XV, Ryan Woodford is on the bench and Ollie Vincent is the travelling reserve. No other club is represented within the Bath academy with 5 players from one team for the match. We are incredibly proud of all 5 boys for their achievement to make the squad.

Steve Eary Father to Andrew he has had the opportunity this week to watch them all train at Farleigh House yesterday. ‘’Its great to see all of them train. I have said it before to Greg, but he must be immensely proud to think he helped 4-5 boys to that level. And especially my lad who got there is such a short space of time due to Gregs time and taking a chance on him. As he didn’t have a clue 4 years ago what a rugby ball was.’’

The opportunity of a pathway that the players take to further their rugby careers is down to their hard work and dedication as a player and the hard work and dedication that all our youth team coaches and managers put into their teams. It goes beyond just turning up up to train players, it arranging games, planning sessions, individually looking at players and seeing how they can be developed and development of the whole team and attending CPD’s and courses to further their own development to be able to pass the skills onto the players.

3 Further U14 Players Selected for Bath Developing Player Programme

We are delighted to announce that a further 3 of our U14 players have been selected for the Bath Developing Player Programme (DPP), bringing the total number of entrants to 11 for this age group.

Further to the second round of trials held on the 26th of February, the following players have been selected to join their 8 team mates already in DPP programmes.

George Hampshaw

Sam Hatton

Harry Williams

From the whole of Bournemouth Rugby, well done and congratulations.

The DPP engages players aged 13 – 16 years old and is a development programme which interacts with and complements school, club and county playing programmes, to provide further development opportunities for young players without the conflict of competition.

These programme’s are nationally managed by the Rugby Football Union (RFU) and delivered locally through a partnership between the RFU, the Regional Academies and Constituent Bodies.

DPP represents the entry point to the talent pathway for professional rugby and represents the place where players will be identified and developed with a view to selecting those players with the greatest long-term potential to join the club academy at U17 level.

MATCH REPORT | Bedouins vs Blandford

Bedouins vs Blandford

Sat, 12 February 2022, KO 2pm at Chapel Gate

Match Sponsors:

Result: Bedouins 66 v 19 Blandford

Bedouins mean business against Blandford

As Blandford approached the chapel, the Bedouins conjured some desert sun to create perfect rugby conditions on a soft green pitch 3. Manager for the day, Wayne Shatwell, ably prepared the team with passing and tackling drills. Wayne and a healthy fistful of Haribo star mix set the tone for the Bedouins efforts to erase the memory of their recent closely fought defeat at Blandford.

From the kick off it was clear that Bournemouth meant business, with forwards leading the charge with some aggressive running from Bonz Bereton and Joe Phillips – two men who were engines of early phases and tip passing throughout the game. With only minutes on the clock the ball was spread right and, with Bmth forwards and backs rucking in tandem, Harrison Taylor charged through the gap that was created to place down for first blood to the reds – 5-0

The second strike came from a move straight off the training ground with typically quick ball from Matt Coxen and Carl Holdsworth setting the bmth backs loose. Yann cross field kicked to Stuart Lane on the wing, who drew his opposite number and released Mark Forsyth. Mark applied blistering pace to cross the line and jink through for a great kicking position. Welsh wizard Gareth Hicks, now adjusted to the random kicking tee he had been thrown for his first attempt, slotted home the conversion. 12-0 to the Bedouins.

Yann Maciejewski, playing 13 for the day, had arrived in the game in his own sweet time with shoulder pads in place. He maintained the momentum with another fine strike as Bournemouth kept the ball alive after the re-start. The frenchman charged through a crowd of Blandford limbs to emerge blood splattered but victorious with Bmth’s 3rdtry of the game. Hicks converted again to make the score 19-0.
Nick Hill had delivered second row and marauded throughout with a bloodthirsty enthusiasm, putting his body on the line and sadly being forced to retired from the field by the referee after a clash of heads. His mark had already been well made on the game though – packing tonnes of energy into the key opening phase of the game.
Blandford had not come just to make up the numbers, though. Their team for this game had youth in abundance from local army trainees and colts. While the Bedouins backs had been typically robust up to that point, one of Blandford’s youngsters applied the gas and stepped through to the corner to put down just ahead of the chasing Forsyth. Blandford failed to convert, making the score 19-5. After their initial shock the visitors seemed energized by their score, and just before half time one of their bigger lads showed that they had some threat in the forwards too – taking the score to 19-12 as the teams broke for half time.

Half time allowed The Bedouins to regroup and they came quickly out of the blocks in the second half. Carl Holdsworth began to work through another pre-planned Bedouins move. He spotted the chance to hit a grubber kick through for Mark Forsyth, freed to join the line by Max Taylor keeping a tidy regard as full back for a change. The kick execution was so good that it flipped up into the on-rushing Forsyth, who burst through for his second try of the game. Again Hicks converted taking the score to 26-12

Another period of strong scrummaging and line outs ensued, with Kenny Woodhead, Carl Wheeler and Simon Pell delivering consistent steer to a well oiled forwards performance that was providing the base for the Bedouins backs to express themselves. The red wall broke for just one final moment in the game, though, with Blandford once again showing they had fight left in them with a big ball-carrying blast to the line and out of hand conversion from their adventurous South African born centre. 26-17

After more great work from Max Taylor mopping up any kicks from Blandford, again the Bedouins responded quickly. The ball was fed via another move to the right side for Stuart Lane to weave through the line and face up to the big centre, offloading at the last moment to on-rushing Carl Holdsworth to put down for another converted showcase try from the backs. 33-17 and the floodgates were starting to open up. James Mills had grafted tirelessly in the front row up to this point and offered himself up for carry after carry. Carl Wheeler took up the charge and gained more yards with typically strong and incisive forward play, and Millsy grabbed the baton to charge through over the line with a Blandford player clutching at his shirt and pulling to no avail – he was not to be denied. 40-17.
Ian Moore had arrived from the sidelines to bring something different to the Bedouins attack. The try that followed was 100% pure Moore. An opportunist quickly-taken kick caused panic in the Blandford back line and Mooro capitalised by rushing on and showing more footballing skills on the loose ball to poke it through the defensive line. He put the final diving touch to his own work. Like a metronome Hicks struck again to convert. 47 played 17 and a modest crowd of valued and increasingly lubricated Bmth supporters were beginning to cheer every part of the Bedouins show with the full confidence of victory in sight.

The Bedouins forwards cooked up their own plan for a centre stage move to add to the fun. A driving mall was called and moving forward, like a powerful chained camel train baying in unison, they drove over 30 yards. The ever alert Kenny Woodhead then picked off the back of the maul to touch down. Much to the surprise of the Bedouins and disgust of Hicks, a penalty try was called for two Blandford infringements – the second being an attempt to copy Ian Moore’s level of backchat that instead backfired. 54-17.

Next came the turn of Ryan Rogers. The legend that is ‘social Ryan’ was back in his preferred spot on the Bedouin’s wing at 11 and celebrated with a massive uncatchable steam train of a run down the left to put down. 61-17

After the re-start and another decent turnover from the Bedouins forwards Matt Coxen, who at scrum half had clearly had a great day in the office already, chose to treat himself to a dummy and run through the gap to make his own mark with a well deserved try. This took the Bedouins to 66-17. Gareth Hicks, missed a Figian style out of hand kick after the whistle but was already metaphorically smoking a post match cigar with nothing left to prove at this point.

Man of the match – impossible to choose. Honourable mention to our absent illustrious leader Tim Robbins for helping the 3s to field a full set of forwards, and all the Bedouins youngsters who also stepped up to 3s for their Wimborne game. Well done to you all from the old men!
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The under 11s club player of the month is Jacob Chamberlain

Jacob has been a long serving member of Bournemouth rugby club, joining the team several years ago when it was all about tag rugby. We could see from a young age that Jacob was fearless and would thrive in the club and rugby culture here at Bournemouth rugby.

Since we have progressed into contact rugby he has grown in confidence, skill level and determination to take on all the coaching points our team of coaches have given him. It is a great attribute of Jacobs that he will try and put into practise all the feedback he receives. You see this in the drills, the training sessions and matches that Jacob takes part in. Watching Jacob develop into the rugby player and young man he is is a testament to his dedication to listen and improve. He is fearless in the tackle and is often seen putting big tackles in on players who might be a bit bigger but 99% of the time Jacob comes out the winner. You will often find Jacob at the bottom of a maul or ruck but he always has a smile of his face when he is getting back into position.

He is a credit to our age group, our great club, his parents, Leigh and Michelle who drive him around to all our fixtures and training but most importantly he is a credit to himself.

Keep up the good work Jacob, you can be very proud of the player you are becoming.

MATCH REPORT | Trojans V Bournemouth U14’s

Trojans v Bournemouth U14's

Sun, 6 February 2022, KO 11.30am at Trojans, Stoneham Lane

Match Sponsors: 

Result: Trojans 17 v 20 Bournemouth

Bournemouth U14 through to Hampshire Cup Final

Our U14 team has battled through to the Hampshire Cup Final after sealing a 17-20 victory away to Trojans. The semi-final was played in windy and muddy conditions, making life difficult for our kickers and backs, but the grunt up front worked well in the tight, despite Trojans having a slight edge in the scrum and line out.

All the boys defended magnificently, with relative club newcomer Harrison Sansom particularly putting in a massive tackling shift at flanker, and the hard work paid off. After a 22 drop out from Trojan’s was caught well in a tricky wind by scrum half Dan Williams, he went on the attack and released Centre James Wheeler to make a strong run for the corner to secure an unconverted try. Further pressure in the opponent’s 22 led to Trojan’s dropping the ball after a strong tackle by Captain Felix Vincent, who sprinted from the scrum to nail Trojan’s Fly Half. James pounced, gathered the ball and ran in a try between the posts which he then converted. Korbin Clark was unlucky not to add a third soon after, when a well distributed ball from a line out just inside Trojan’s half found its way to our flying 13, who ran a full 30 metres, chipped over the defence but just couldn’t gather the ball after it had crossed the try line. Trojans secured a penalty just before the break, meaning Bournemouth were 3-12 up at the half time whistle.

The second half began with Trojans infringing just outside the 22, and once again James stepped up to kick the 3 points. Trojan’s dug deep in the second half and started to gain the ascendency. After a prolonged period of pressure near the Bournemouth try line, they were awarded a penalty try to make the score 10-15. Bournemouth raised their game once again and, after a hard-fought ruck just outside the Trojan’s 22, replacement scrum half Oli Evans dug the ball out to find James waiting to receive his pass and run in his hat trick in the corner. Given the wind, it was un-surprising that touchline kick specialist Korbin just missed the conversion.

Trojan’s rallied again and kicked into our territory, with a loose ball being gathered and leading to their final try under the sticks, which again was converted. During a nervous final 5 minutes, Bournemouth played the territory game and pinned Trojan’s down in their 22 to see out the win.

Man of the match, named by Trojan’s, was Alex Lilly ,after a strong and disciplined performance at Number 8. However, the whole squad deserve the plaudits for a great team effort.

We look forward to the final on March 20th against Alton.

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Job Opportunity – Business Development Manager

Business Development Manager

Bournemouth Rugby is an established Community Rugby Club, offering Rugby to all ages from watching to taking part. Over the years since its foundation in 1893, Bournemouth Rugby has built up a reputation for being accessible to everyone. Currently the club has 24 teams from Little Lions starting at 2 years old, Youth, Girls, Adults, Ladies, Touch and Wheelchair Rugby

We are seeking a Business Development Manager to join our successful team. The successful candidate will be responsible for the generation of partnerships for the club, in line with budgets and club strategy.

The successful Business Development Manager will need the following qualifications, experience, and attributes:

  • Proven Business Development Manager, capable of achieving sales goals and targets
  • Highly personable character who builds long term relationships
  • Able to produce new sales opportunities through lead generation and lead conversion
  • Long term and big picture thinker, considerate of club wide objectives
  • Contacts within key organisations that can be utilised to create business development prospects will be advantageous

Role Summary

  • Pro-actively sourcing potential partners
  • Sustain and grow partnership revenue income
  • Developing and presenting creative and bespoke partnership proposals
  • Seek opportunities for existing partners to increase levels of engagement and partnership
  • Management, direction, and delivery of all incumbent partners’ contractual rights
  • Ensuring all partners are integrated and achieve their business objectives
  • Establishing a permanent market presence
  • Ongoing management sales leads to help achieve annual business objectives and revenue targets

️Key Tasks and Activities

  • Develop leads with prospective contacts across the industry network
  • Create activation proposals for partners that align with their strategy
  • Represent Bournemouth Rugby at Networking Events and attendance at 1st XV Team Home Match Days
  • Creatively use partnerships assets to build and demonstrate innovative marketing programs and materials which add genuine value to potential clients
  • Develop bespoke presentations, including market research and data to build powerful and persuasive proposals based on the marketing objectives and the business needs of potential clients
  • Keep abreast of all actions being undertaken by others in connection to partnership activities
  • Be a point of contact internally and externally for the management of all partner related activity
  • Ensure all internal teams are fully aware of all campaign activities of sponsors
  • Manage all contractual rights and work with sponsors to deliver their activation rights
  • Oversea the sponsorship team, (as or when people are in post), in line with Bournemouth Rugby policies, procedures and values

Role Commercial Terms

Location
Home Working, with travel required to meet all stakeholders

Hours
As required

Contractual Status
Freelance (Attractive Commission Terms)

Find out more and apply

To apply and find out more information email our Operations Manager Gemma Buchanan with a convering letter and CV at operations@bournemouth-rugby.co.uk

Bournemouth players selected for Premiership Development programme

Bournemouth Rugby is pleased to announce that 8 of our under 14’s players have been selected by Premiership Rugby Clubs to enter their Developing Player Programme (DPP).

The DPP engages players aged 13 – 16 years old and is a development programme which interacts with and complements school, club and county playing programmes, to provide further development opportunities for young players without the conflict of competition.

These programme’s are nationally managed by the Rugby Football Union (RFU) and delivered locally through a partnership between the RFU, the Regional Academies and Constituent Bodies. 

DPP represents the entry point to the talent pathway for professional rugby and represents the place where players will be identified and developed with a view to selecting those players with the greatest long-term potential to join the club academy at U17 level.

A huge congratulations to our players, that have been selected

For Bath, the selected players are:

Korbin Clark

Jack Gallacher

Finn Marshall

Jacka Ware

James Wheeler

Dan Williams

Felix Vincent

For London Irish,  the selected player is:

Carson Parry

This success by our U14’s is down to both the hard work of both players and to our talented U14’s volunteer coaches who’s hard work and dedication is paying off with so many players selected for the DPP programme. From the whole of Bournemouth Rugby well done and congratulations.

Steve Bernard Foundation Charity Draw

Saturday 25th September saw the conclusion for the Charity Draw after the 1st XV home match against Drybrook. Bournemouth Rugby had joined together with the Steve Bernard Foundation to raise money for the club and the foundation. A massive thank you to everyone who supported this and we are delighted to announce that we raised £1,920.

The Steve Bernard Foundation was set up in memory of the affectionately named Stevie B following his tragic passing in a car accident in November 2005. Following his death, his family and friends were inundated with support and donations. It seemed right, even in the earliest stages that these funds should go to that which Steve loved best, Sport.

Since the foundation was formed in February 2006, it has gone on to raise more than £450,000 for sporting projects based across Bournemouth, Dorset and the South Coast. To date, the foundation has supported more than 400 projects covering more than 30 sports and 4 continents.

The foundation, run entirely by volunteers, has offered guidance, financial support and predominantly equipment to a range of good causes ranging from supporting the AFC Bournemouth Ability Counts Team to potential Olympic athletes of the future; from providing new kit to local boxing clubs to funding outreach projects in Thailand, Uganda and Kenya.

Everything which has been achieved has been guided by Steve’s memory and an incredible passion for sport. We love what we do and we would love for you to join us on our journey.

For more information visit www.stevebernardfoundation.com

Prize Ticket Winner
1st Charlie Ewels England Shirt 0552 Leigh Hancox
2nd Photoshoot DK Capture Photography 4531 Edward Foster
3rd £100 Primere Voucher 4513 Charles Browne
4th Johnny Wilkinson Montage 4559 Simon Hortop
5th Rugby Polo Shirt 5013 Warren East
6th Wine and Chocolates 4705 Adam Higgins
7th Ball and Kicking Tee 2053 Tank
8th Ball and Kicking Tee 2122 Laura Sinden
9th Bournemouth Rugby Gift Bag 4194 John Hortop
10th Bournemouth Rugby Gift Bag 5149 Brian Ford