Millwall defeat league leaders in historic promotion bid

MILLWALL coach Dave Roberts has laid down the gauntlet to his players that promotion is "in our own hands" after emerging 23-16 winners over league leaders East London.

Previously undefeated East London have now lost their "invincibles" tag after suffering their first loss of the season at Millwall's hands.

The triumph now puts the Isle of Dogs-based Essex Division 1 club in pole position for promotion to London Division 3 - never previously achieved in Millwall's history.

Millwall, who hosted the match at their under threat Millwall Park pitch, are now just one point off second place but have a game in hand.

Roberts said: "The win at the weekend was one of the great moments of the season.

"Millwall inflicted East London's only loss of the season. 

"Our defence and commitment to each other was at the highest standard I've seen from the guys.

"It had a grand final feel to it and the players delivered the energy and skills needed to beat a well-drilled and previously unbeaten opposition.

"As we have been the only team to gain points from a match against East London this season, we are now one point off second place  but we have an extra game to catch up, so our future is in our own hands.

"If we continue to win, we will reach second place and a play-off game to hopefully put Millwall in London Division 3, which as a club we have yet to accomplish in our brief history."

The win is a welcome distraction for the club which faces the threat of having to move away from its Millwall Park home under Tower Hamlets council plans.

Story: Marc Walker
Video: Andrew Hesselden

Millwall win 23-16 against rivals East London

It's a win for Millwall vs East London 23-16!

Email your photos or videos to:

photos@millwallrugby.com
videos@millwallrugby.com

Working Party at the arches tomorrow, 11am

Dockland Settlements - who host us for judo and let us use their minibus - have received planning permission to do up the two arches next to ours.

We've used those arches as a store in recent years, mostly for things that were useful before we got a clubhouse. We now need to throw those things out and a skip is coming tomorrow.

We'd like to see all men's team members and as many other volunteers as possible down at the arches at 11am tomorrow to help with this. We should get through it quite quickly as a club.

For those of you not playing, you can watch the 1st team play top of the table East London and 6 Nations games thereafter.

Many hands make light work. Let's go to it!

Andrew B

On behalf of Club Captain and the Committee.

Millwall Rugby Club - Notification of an EGM at 7.30pm on 21/03/11

Hello Members,

This is just a quick note to let you know that the Club Committee has decided to hold an Extraordinary General Meeting for members on Monday March 21st 2011 at 7.30pm in the Clubhouse.

Currently there are two items on the agenda:

1. Constitution changes designed to improve the workings of the Club and the Committee to bring it inline with the RFU’s best practice guidelines. The details will be circulated prior to the meeting.

2. A general update to members.

A quick reminder that the 1st XV have a local derby clash against top of the table East London on Saturday and that the Clubhouse will be showing the RBS 6 Nations games this weekend.

Regards
David Leftley

Secretary - Millwall Rugby Club

secretary@millwallrugby.com

Rugby Laws on your iPhone

Next time you're thinking of arguing with the ref you can whip out your iPhone and check the rules in the new IRB Laws of Rugby app.

To download it, just visit http://tinyurl.com/rugbyrules on your iPhone.

(PS... arguing with the ref is not such a great idea... even if you're right.)

Randall Powell Coopted to Club Committee

At a meeting of the Full Committee tonight it was agreed to coopt Randall Powell as Club Captain.

As a result of no other nominations being received following the communication on 2nd January, the committee took this as member acceptance/endorsement of appointing Randall to this role.

Randall has been carrying out the duties of Club Captain since before Christmas and we are now pleased to welcome him as a full voting member of the club committee.

Andrew
Communications Officer
on behalf of Club Committee

Thames RFC 10-42 Millwall RFC

MILLWALL 1st XV ran in a total of half a dozen tries to win away at Essex Division 1 rivals Thames on Saturday.

The visitors piled on four scores before half-time and returned to the Isle of Dogs with an important win and an away bonus point.

Man of the match Chris Copping touched down twice and the free-running inside-centre was crowned man-of-the-match.

Coach Dave Roberts paid tribute to Thames' pack but hailed his own stars, including scrum-half Denis Spearman and fly-half Dom Sutherland.

He said: "We started well, scoring early and pushing on to score four tries before half-time to wrap up a bonus point.

"The strength of Thames is up front in their pack, but our forwards provided a fantasic display, playing hard and adapting to whatever Thames threw at them.

"Denis at number nine and Dom at 10 gave us great direction and leadership to allow our backs the space from the work being done up front."

Sign up by Wednesday to Save Millwall Tour 2011

After a meeting on Thursday, the Tour Committee has decided that Tour will not go ahead this year unless we can get a decent number of people signed up to go.

As time for Tour is fast approaching we need to get players signed up as soon as possible and therefore unless Tour has at least 18 players signed up by the end of next Wednesday 23rd February, Tour will not progress further.

So if you are interested in coming on Tour please sign up no later than midnight Wednesday (end of Wednesday).  To sign up please email me at tour@millwallrugby.com

You can read more about the plans for tour here.

Please do not book any flights yet until it is confirmed whether or not Tour will happen.

Bob Fish 

on behalf of Tour Committee

Rugby Club Open Tonight - Fri 18th

The rugby club is open from 6pm tonight come on down and enjoy yourselves

Rugby Tour 2011 Update

Just after Christmas we announced the destination for the 2011 Rugby Tour.

So far, we've haven't had as many of you sign up as we'd have liked and we need to make a decision this week whether we still all want to go.

So, if you are already booked to come on tour or are thinking of coming, please come along to a short meeting on Thursday 17th Feb after training at 2130 at the clubhouse.

If you are interested in coming on tour (price approx £210-240 plus flights) then please contact me (tour@millwallrugby.com) today.

Please do not book any flights before contacting me.

Bob
(Roberto Pescador)

Mondays are the New Tuesdays (sometimes) - Judo Training

Recently coach Dave Roberts, arranged for us to have a Judo training session at the Docklands Settlement Centre.

Due to the success of that, we're going to be training there every second week, starting from Monday 14th February (Valentine's Day) from 8pm to 10pm.  

Wear something you don't mind getting thrown around it - rugby shirt and shorts are ideal as they are made of tougher fabric that doesn't rip easily.

These Judo sessions replace Tuesday Fitness training in the weeks they happen.  On the in-between weeks, fitness training will run either on the park or the paddock as normal.

Mon 14th Feb - Judo 8pm

Tues 22nd Feb - Fitness 7.30pm as normal

Mon 28th Feb - Judo 8pm

Tues 8th March - Fitness 7.30pm as normal

Mon 14th March - Judo 8pm

Tues 15th March - Fitness 7.30pm as normal

Mon 28th March - Judo 8pm

All the sessions are free and open to all.

On behalf of
Randall Powell, Club Captain

Boots Outside Please

Please take off your rugby boots or muddy trainers before entering the clubhouse.

We invested a lot of money in building our clubhouse and finishing it to a high standard. Studs damage our nice tiled flooring and large amounts of  mud gives our cleaner more work; and that costs the club more money.

Thank you in advance for doing your bit to help.

on behalf of Dawn
Clubhouse Manager

RBS 6 Nations Rugby at the Clubhouse this weekend

Today sees the start of the RBS 6 Nations.

Come on down to the clubhouse where we will be showing all the games.  Tonight kicks off with England v Wales with a 7.45 kick off.

Hope to see you all down there.

Date for your Diary - Annual Dinner & Awards

Our Annual Dinner & Awards Ceremony will be on 7th May 2011 at House of Commons in the Palace of Westminster.

Put the date in your diary!  More details will follow.

First Aid Course - 6th March

We’ve recently been looking into the issue of providing better first aid support across all teams.

With this in mind, we are planning to run a one day rugby-specific first aid course at the clubhouse on Sunday 6th March for 10-12 people.

The aim, following this training, is to have at least one qualified first aider at every game. This will become an official position on the team sheets.

Places on this course cost just £65 per person, which you will need to pay in advance by credit/debit card to book your place. However, if you are then the ‘official’ first aider at a game you will be credited for it and after 7 games you will be refunded this payment. So effectively, if you are willing to help out the club, you could benefit from this course and it could cost you nothing.

Ideally we are looking for a mix of people (players and supporters) across all of the teams and this will be a consideration when choosing who will attend the course. If you're allocated a place, please be aware that you'll need to do 4 hours of online training in advance of this course.

I will be making the booking this week, so please reply to let me know asap if you are interested and would like to sign up to be a MRFC first aider.

Once your place has been confirmed it is essential that you complete and attend all of the required training. We hope that you will then support your team and your club and volunteer to be an official first aider when required.

Further details of the course are below.

Rachel
firstaid@millwallrugby.com


Course Details
The RFU Emergency First Aid for Sport course consists of the STA Level 2 Award for Emergency First Aid for Sport which is on the National Qualification Framework (NQF).

This qualification contains two units comprising HSE Emergency First Aid at Work (EFAW) and a Rugby Sports Related Injuries Unit which prepare volunteers, coaches and officials for their work pitch-side. The course emphasises the RFU requirements regarding injury reporting, the management of concussion, spinal injuries and functional testing to determine the ability to "return to play".

The course combines both online and practical elements and provides attendees with the reassurance of a quality training product and accredited tutors. Volunteers, coaches and officials will gain a nationally recognised unitised qualification that is transferable to the workplace, other sports or other qualifications (i.e. coaching). Access to this course is via a unique access code supplied upon purchase.

Organised for the RFU by STA, the cost is £65pp and the Tutor/Student ratio is a maximum of 1:12. Minimum of 10 candidates required to run a course. Sunday training is available.

Length of Course: 10 hours compromising of recommended 4 hours distance learning through the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) and 6 hours contact with a tutor.

Once candidates have registered and paid they will be issued via email an access code for the pre-course learning module. This module MUST be completed and a certificate printed off before their face-to-face course takes place. They will not be able to pass the course without this certificate being examined by the course tutor.

The qualification is valid for 38 months.