The rugby season is now back in full swing for Finsbury Park RFC, who are celebrating their 10th season as an amateur rugby club this year.
North London’s fastest growing rugby club, training every Tuesday and Thursday at Downhills Park, boast two senior men's sides and are both now two fixtures into the season each with promotion for both sides the aim from Coach Gareth Chapman.
"With a lot of hard work being put in over the last year and a half it's been great to finally get the lads back playing rugby. Now’s our chance to show what we can do as a club.
"With a lot of new faces we are building two strong squads and the aim being for both squads to fight hard and achieve promotion.
"It’s never easy but there is a strong team ethic in the club and everyone is working together to achieve our goal."
The first weekend saw both teams get off to a winning start with the first-team beating Harrow RFC 36-10 and second XV winning 31-14 against Quintin Rugby.
However, a mixed in game week two saw a narrow 15-18 defeat against a good Hendon outfit for the first team, whilst the second XV continued their good form to beat Amersham & Chiltern RFC 24-14 and now sit proudly at the top of the Herts & Middlesex Merit 4SW table.
Second XV captain James Pattison said: "It’s been so good to get back out on the pitch and hitting contact properly again.
"There’s a real buzz around the club at the moment in our landmark 10th season, a real appreciation for the reintroduction of the game we all love and missed.
"It’s even better that we’re getting results on the pitch and enjoying our rugby, too. I’m looking forward to the rest of the season."
Last weekend saw the club celebrate the first player to earn 100 caps for the North London outfit, with club captain Fred Bromley presented with his centineray cap by club president Sean Burke.
Since joining the club, Fred has gone on to chalk up 76 wins, 7 wins and one MOTM performance, and has been an intrinsic part of the clubs development and journey.
Unfortunately results on the pitch didn’t go our way with narrow losses for the 1st and 2nd XVs against Cheshunt and Pinner & Grammarians 15-9 and 10-3 respectively.
The aim for promotion is still very much achievable, though, and the Fins look forward to both the well earned rest week this weekend and the return fixtures in due course.
Interested in playing for Finsbury Park RFC? Get in touch on social media, via info@finsburyparkrfc.co.uk or head over to www.finsburyparkrfc.co.uk
Training is every Tuesday and Thursday at Downhills Park, 6.30pm, with matches on Saturdays.
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