EDF ENERGY RUGBY NEWS

Tewkesbury RFC are just two games away from a dream Twickenham EDF Energy Junior Vase Final appearance and Club Director John Williams is hoping his side can realise their dreams and end the season on a high after a tragic start to the rugby year.

The Gloucestershire side lost two of their members to the floods in July, Bram and Chris Lane. The father and son were overcome by fumes as they used a pump to clear floodwater from a club building. The Lane’s were an integral part of the club, with Bram having been its treasurer and also fulfilling a large number of other duties.

Since then the club have rallied together and have enjoyed an impressive season on the pitch. They are currently vying for promotion from Gloucester 1 and are competing in the latter stages of the EDF Energy Junior Vase.

Williams said: “The season has been going very well despite such tragic events in July. In a way, that defined the season for us. It threw everyone together even more and in some ways gave our season a new meaning.

“Certainly as we look ahead to this quarter-final fixture I know Bram would have been at the heart of this weekend’s preparations and I know he would have been very excited at this stage of the season, so for us winning this game and maybe even the next and getting the chance to play at Twickenham would be the icing on the cake.”

Tewkesbury RFC have once before made the quarter-finals of the Junior Vase, but then they could  not overcome a Hoylake RFC. Williams is hoping that this Saturday’s opposition, Cheshunt, will not prove such formidable opposition.

He added: “We have reached this stage of the Vase before, but this time we would like to go further than the last eight. Our coach, Kevin Powederly, has seen Cheshunt in action and we have done as much research as possible on them.

“I think we have got every chance on the day, we are a strong side particularly upfront but we also acknowledge that Cheshunt must be a handy side as they have got this far in the tournament.

“For us we are enjoying this season. We are third in the league and probably should be second. We hope to get a play-off place and go for promotion. This has been our first season with Kevin and he has come here and brought in some new ideas and it has been very positive.

“All matches are important but the EDF Energy Junior Vase is a nice break from league action and then there’s the added attraction of playing in a Twickenham final. The players are cautiously dreaming of a Twickenham final, of course they all think about it as we are so close now.”

EDF Energy Junior Vase, quarter final draw (ties to be played on Saturday February 23rd)

London & South East/South West
Cheshunt v Tewkesbury
Southmead v Chiswick

North/Midlands
West Leeds v Doncaster Phoenix
Wisbech v Castleford

ends

Notes to editors
EDF Energy is supporting rugby from the grassroots to the elite – through the EDF Energy Cup, EDF Energy National Trophy, EDF Energy Intermediate Cup, EDF Energy Senior and Junior Vase. At grassroots, the energy company is introducing 112,000 primary school children to the sport through the EDF Energy National Schools Rugby Programme. Parent company EDF was a sponsor of the IRB Rugby World Cup 2007 and EDF Energy an ITV broadcast sponsor. EDF is also a major partner of European Rugby Cup Ltd, organiser of the Heineken Cup and the European Challenge Cup.