A warm welcome to our loyal supporters for our final home game of the season today, who no doubt will once again bring a great atmosphere to Penns Place for the visit of Newbury. I’d also like to welcome the Newbury playing, coaching, and supporting contingent to Petersfield today. I’m sure they will show their endeavour to play an expansive game of rugby that has served them well in the upper echelons of the rugby pyramid for many years.

The stakes are high for this weekend’s fixture as we look to settle the score from the reverse fixture, which was arguably one of our most under-par performances over the past two seasons, where Newbury were deserved winners. We are a very different side from the one that took the field that day—not in personnel, but in mindset—and the group has shown their quality more frequently since Christmas, with a far more dogged attitude to compete in every fixture. We have learned the hard way this season that no matter the opposition, you cannot just turn up and expect to win without putting the graft in. Therefore, we will be razor-sharp in our focus for the 80 minutes this weekend.

This weekend also marks another notable achievement in our player development programme, with senior Colt Tommy Spencer making both his full and home debut for the first team. A try-scoring debut from the bench away to Winchester last time out was a great way to introduce himself to senior rugby, and today sees him start the game in more familiar territory in the midfield. Tommy is the fourth member of the current Colts team to play in the 1st team this season and the first to make an appearance in the starting line-up. This illustrates the great work being done through our Colts Coaching & Development team, led by Nick Blumlein, to bridge the gap and facilitate the transition between Colts and senior rugby.

Not only has this new coaching structure for the 24/25 season accelerated the development of players in U18 rugby to step up and experience senior rugby—including several others having runouts for our 2nd team—but we have also seen huge strides forward within the Colts group as a collective. They are fulfilling all the key objectives at Colts level: enjoyment, inclusion, development, and performance. These young men have not only stepped into new territory in Division 1 but also find themselves second in the table with one league game to play and a cup semi-final against a strong Havant Academy side. The progress has been remarkable in such a short space of time. Huge credit must go to the coaching and management team for driving this, as well as a big pat on the back for the playing group for their engagement and buy-in. We are very much looking forward to seeing many of that group at senior pre-season training come the end of June.

Our player development hasn’t stopped there this season. We had a terrific turnout of over 90 kids across the U7–U16 age groups at our three-day coaching camp back in October. Several first-team players, as well as guest coach Connor Slevin from Harlequins, delivered an enjoyable three days, tailoring engaging sessions and fun games for each age group to learn and develop new skills. We are excited to bring our second three-day camp during the Easter Break, running from Monday, 14 April, to Wednesday, 16 April. With several minis and juniors already signed up, spaces are limited, so don’t leave it too late to book and avoid disappointment.

We have also kicked off our new ‘Matchday Experience’ initiative, delivering focused coaching sessions to dedicated age groups on Saturday mornings before 1st team league games. These sessions, delivered by our first-team players, aim to continue developing the future stars of Petersfield and Hampshire rugby. The U9s, U14s, and U16 girls’ teams have been the first to participate in this programme, and the feedback has been fantastic. We will continue to develop this programme to integrate our senior first-team players with the minis, juniors, youth, and girls’ sections to help motivate and inspire the youth of today. Please keep an eye out for opportunities for your age groups to get involved next season!

We have other initiatives in the pipeline for the summer and next season to maintain the momentum of integrating the senior brand of rugby across the age groups, driving the ‘One Club’ mentality, and bringing life to the ‘Petersfield Way’ of rugby development.

We hope you’ve all enjoyed our maiden season at Level 6 in the rugby pyramid, and we hope to close our home fixtures with an exciting performance and an all-important victory. Let’s make some noise and get behind the boys!

Up the Rams!