Chesterfield Panthers RUFC President's Corner

Last week Dunston Road saw activity through the weekend with teams from the Under 7s with our girls and boys teams playing and both our senior 1st XV and 2nd XV playing and winning.

This weekend was a different story with Storm Boelo contributing to a much reduced calendar with many grateful, I’m sure, for the opportunity to avoid the sideways rain and the howling winds.

Rugby is a winter sport and one we love to play in the colder and wetter months but even rugby players have their limits!

The 1st XV had a week off but have a tough game coming this weekend of which more later.

Chesterfield Panthers RUFC 2nd XV

The 2nd XV weren’t so lucky and faced a youthful and determined Sheffield University History side on the 450 foot above sea level playing fields at Norton Lees in Sheffield.

Cold, windy and wet from start to finish made open, running rugby more of a challenge and keeping the ball tight with controlled and disciplined play was the order of the day.

Sheffield Uni History were first to score and to convert and they displayed some fantastic handling as they poked and prodded around the edges of a Chesterfield side that occasionally lost its shape in defence.

Sheffield could have made more of the space they created in the first half but for some impressive individual defending from Chesterfield’s backline.

Chesterfield’s forwards showed their power and experience in the scrum with several won against the head and that discipline through the pack started to show, territory was hard fought but Chesterfield churned forward some hard yards and continued to apply consistent pressure when in possession and were unlucky not to complete two scores into each corner from space created through the middle Once again, a little more discipline and working together as a team would have seen a scoreline tipped far more in Chesterfield’s favour.

That said, a win of 14 – 7 in the conditions Chesterfield were met with shows proper grit and determination.

Chesterfield Panthers RUFC run teams for all ages and abilities and we want to keep growing all our squads. We have fun and we are player focussed, we are a family friendly club, properly managed with all the structure and safeguards in place to make Chesterfield Panthers are great place for kids of all ages to join in.

Our adult men and women’s teams welcome players, with and without experience, to join in training, developing skills and offering the opportunity to test those skills when you are ready.

Anyone thinking about starting or returning to rugby would be very welcome and we’d be delighted to hear from you, either through the website or you can contact me Aaron Firth on [email protected] or on 07549 590368

This weekens, our 1st XV are playing to- of-the-league rivals East Retford away on Saturday. The winners will go top of the table and we anticipate a real close, hard-fought game.

We’d love to see you join us there, or at our next 1st XV home game vs Worksop on the 14th November with free entry, great food and a well stocked bar!

Away from the 1st XV our full fixtures are always available for our Friday, Saturday and Sunday games on www.chesterfieldpanthers.com. We’d also love to see you come and support the teams and enjoy some grass roots rugby.