North Midlands President Steve Guy has paid tribute to former Hereford chairman David Benjamin who passed away suddenly on July 18 at Hereford County Hospital.

"I knew him from my early days of referring in the mid 1970s when Hereford were playing at the old Rockfield Road ground in the city," Guy said.

"I know of the invaluable work he has done with the club whilst playing and then after his retirement.

"He was a leading light and someone I would always see at the club when I visited.

"I last saw him at Luctonians President's lunch at end of January when we had a good chat. He told me he went to school with Dave Burke, who is the Lucs President, and that he was also Burkie's best man.

"I would like to extend on behalf of North Midlands RFU our deepest sympathy to his wife and family in their sad loss, also to Hereford RFC.Dave will be sadly missed."

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The RFU have undertaken a review called the "Player pathway". This scopes the development routes for all players from the age of 16 to achieve the ultimate of playing for England at whatever level. International rugby now has many levels from England, The Saxons, Under 20's, Under 18's, Students, Universities, Colleges, Counties and this year Counties Under 20's.

As part of re-structuring there is a ruling that the England Counties Under 20's will be made up from players who have taken part in the National Counties Under 20 Championship. The administrative rules, which have not yet been brought into operation, also states that Counties can only select from Level 3 and below Clubs. Therefore North Midlands Under 20's will not be able to select from Worcester Academies, Moseley and Birmingham Solihull if the regulation goes through.

Without the usual support of those Level 2 Clubs NMU20DC is now looking to gain the assistance of all Clubs in the CB. It is now essential that you, being most directly involved with the players of the age group required, identify to us those whom you think are capable of playing at that level. Some players may have been identified through the Houghton-Harris competition and are no longer available to us.

We operate 3 fixtures at Under 19 level, The Sable Trophy against Warwickshire (Home and Away) in October and Yorkshire in late November. For the Under 20's there are usually 3 warm-up fixtures in December and January before the National Counties Under 20 Championship in the Midlands start in February. At this time the Midlands is split into 2 leagues with the winners of both progressing in the Championship and hopefully to the final at Twickenham. They also play each other for the Midlands Championship trophy.

The Midlands then forms a team to play a traditional match against London and the South East. There will be some form of Divisional Contest for the England Under 20's selectors to produce their side.

North Midlands has a reasonable record in the Championship achieving 3 finals, winning one. Two notable ex-North Midlands U.20's are Jake Abbott and James Rodwell both made the England Sevens Squad.

Please help by identifying those players you consider suitable for County rugby to either myself or the Team Manger, Dave Ireland, our details are listed below. We have a "Get-together" on Sunday 12th September at 12.30pm on the All-Weather pitch at Moseley.




Gordon Wood – 01952-419966 or 07986-868958 or gordon.wood1@mypostoffice.co.uk

Dave Ireland – 0121-745-6007 or 07813-666729 or info@birminghamrunner.com

Moseley Women's Rugby Football Club are seeking a new head coach.

Moseley are an ambitious & progressive club that have been promoted two out of three seasons and last year finished fourth in Championship 2 (Midlands).

We are now seeking a professional and dedicated individual qualified to coaching level 2 or above to structure, plan and implement a coaching strategy in conjunction with the playing captain for the coming season.

Sessions are on Tuesdays & Thursdays 7-9pm and games are Sunday 2-5ish, which we would also like you to attend to manage the team with the playing captain on the day.

We would ideally look for a mid August start to bring our newly appointed coach on board in the midst of our preseason training and would look for a 3 season commitment to us, should an initial trial period prove to be successful with both the team and the new coach.

What we offer: -
 Up to £25 per session (dependent on qualification and negotiable), 2 sessions per week (2 x training sessions per week + match day on Sundays in line with our fixtures)
 Supportive and proactive committee who encourage development
 Coaching courses may be paid for by Moseley Women's RFC by prior approval of the committee
 Attendance at RFU conferences may also be paid for by Moseley Women's RFC by prior approval of the committee

If you are interested in applying for this position, please email your rugby CV to Moira Boot (07889 020233), Club Captain of Moseley Women's RFC (moiraboot@aol.com) or call Michelle Gwynne, Playing Captain, on 07732519871 to discuss informally and for further details.

Dan Tanner, the RFU's Community Rugby Coach for Birmingham, has organised four summer rugby camps for youngsters in the city.

The camps will be staged at the Old Saltleians and Old Yardleians clubs next month and will be run by RFU-qualified coaches.

The Old Saltleians sessions will be on August 2 to 3 for seven to 11 year-olds and from August 5 to 6 for 12 to 16 year-olds.

At Old Yardleians the sessions will take place on August 23 and 24 for seven to 11 year-olds and from August 26 to 27 for 12 to 16 year-olds.

All sessions are open to boys and girls and will run from 10am to 3pm.

Each session costs £30 and includes a free England Rugby goodie bag.

Further details and booking information can be obtained from Dan Tanner on 07590 890 818 or at: DanTanner@therfu.com

CHRIS Sigsworth, a former National Development Manager for the Swedish Rugby Union, has been appointed the new RFU Rugby Development Manager for Birmingham.

Sigsworth, who moves to the Midlands after three years in Sweden, previously worked for five years as a Rugby Development Officer in Middlesex.

The Birmingham post is newly-created and follows a re-organisation of Rugby Development Officers in the West Midlands.

"As rugby people in North Midlands will be aware that, as as part of the RFU restructure, there was some reorganisation of the RDO areas to ensure consistency of delivery across the country," said Steve Peters the RFU Regional Rugby Development Manager for West Midlands.

"As part of this Ben Waterhouse, on completion of the handover to Chris, will move to Worcestershire and South Warwickshire and a new RDO post was created in Birmingham which Chris has been appointed to with a real focus on club development.

"Chris will manage the Community Rugby Coaches team in Birmingham and the relationships with Championship clubs Moseley and Birmingham & Solihull.

"Chris has already worked as an RDO so is very familiar with the job and working with clubs, schools, colleges and universities both in the inner city and suburban situation."

Sigsworth is a coaching science graduate from Liverpool John Moores University and a three unions and IRB accredited coach educator.

"I very much look forward to meeting with all the Constituent Body and club officers in person and to continue the great work that Ben has done in the area," Sigsworth said.

O2 today announces the launch of O2 Rugby Reunion, a nationwide initiative supported by the Rugby Football Union (RFU) to encourage players who have drifted away from rugby to get back involved and put a team together. Teams will be invited to take part in one or more of a series of touch rugby events across the UK, culminating in a finale event on 12th September with a chance of meeting some of the current England Rugby team.

Aimed at reigniting players' passion for rugby, O2 Rugby Reunion uses Facebook to reconnect players with their old teams and make it easy for them to start playing again. Using the specially created O2 Rugby Reunion Facebook application a captain can register a team and interest in a specific touch rugby event, send invites to friends and confirm attendance at the event(s) once a minimum of six team members have been recruited. Teams can then opt to take part in either the 'fun' or 'competitive' category for their local event. Teams can also come along on the day and take part.

O2 has teamed up with 2003 World Cup winner and current London Irish Attack Coach Mike Catt to help raise awareness of the campaign. Commenting on the initiative Mike Catt said: "As both a coach and past England player I truly believe in the importance of keeping young players in the game. Rugby is a fun, sociable sport for players and fans alike and I hope that through O2 Rugby Reunion more players can reunite with their old team mates and rediscover their love of the game."

Former North Midlands Under-20 number eight James Rodwell has been included in England's initial 17-man training squad preparing to take part in the Rugby Sevens at the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.

Rodwell, who plays his club rugby for Moseley, is among an experienced group which features 13 players who appeared in the IRB Sevens World Series last season, including world record points scorer Ben Gollings, the sole survivor from Melbourne 2006 when England were silver medallists.

The only uncapped player is Miles Mantella, the 18-year-old Harlequins back who led Millfield to National Schools Sevens titles in 2009 and 2010.

Rodwell is one of seven players Gollings, Greg Barden, Kevin Barrett, Chris Cracknell, Isoa Damudamu and Dan Norton are the others – who were in the teams that clinched the Wellington and London Sevens titles in 2009.

The intensive 12-week training programme – based at the National Sports Centre at Bisham Abbey and the Lensbury Club in Teddington – includes England's first ever appearance at the Middlesex Sevens playing as a Help For Heroes side on August 14.

Head coach Ben Ryan will work with additional players before the final team is nominated in September and England then go to New Delhi where the Sevens event takes place on October 11 and 12. They face Australia, Namibia and Sri Lanka in the pool stages.

"I'm very pleased with this initial training squad and we'll also look at more players during the build-up before we nominate our team," said Ryan.

"We've got experience, we've got youth and we have the expertise of taking part in big competitions. It gives us the backbone you need to bring through some exciting young players.

"This is the longest time we've ever had together and with that comes greater understanding and the ability to train to play in different ways against different teams and within individual games.

"It will also have a great impact on our conditioning. Sevens players are specialised athletes and our aim is to be fitter, faster and in better shape than we've ever been.

"We've made great strides in applying new technology to what we're doing and we work in partnership with bodies like UK Sport to make sure we are pushing back the boundaries in terms of our physical, technical and tactical preparation.

"Learning from others and creating synergy with other sports is very important to us and we're looking forward to being an integral part of the England team at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, then in Glasgow in 2014 and as part of the build-up to Rugby Sevens inclusion in the Olympics in 2016.

"The objective for these players now is to get selected and then to deliver for a winning England team at the Commonwealth Games.

"There will big guns in New Delhi like New Zealand, who have won three gold medals since Rugby Sevens was introduced to the Games in Kuala Lumpur in 1998, which means we're certainly not going to be the favourites.

"But we believe and trust in the players selected and that our preparation will be right going to Delhi so that we'll be in the best possible shape when we're on the start line."

Tickets for the Middlesex Sevens at Twickenham Stadium on August 14 are on sale priced from £20 for adults. Visit ticketmaster.co.uk or middlesexrugbysevens.com for more details.
Commonwealth Games Training Group
Greg Barden (Royal Navy)
Kevin Barrett (Saracens)
John Brake
Dan Caprice
Alex Cheesman (Oxford University)
Chris Cracknell
Isoa Damudamu (British Army)
Ben Gollings
Simon Hunt (Birmingham and Solihull)
Ollie Lindsay-Hague (Harlequins)*
Miles Mantella (Harlequins)
Dan Norton (Bristol Rugby)
Tom Powell
James Rodwell
Nick Royle
Mathew Turner
Christian Wade (London Wasps)
Commonwealth Games Rugby Sevens, October 11-12
Pool A: New Zealand, Scotland, Canada, Guyana
Pool B: South Africa, Wales, Tonga, India
Pool C: Samoa, Kenya, Uganda, Papua New Guinea
Pool D: England, Australia, Namibia, Sri Lanka
*Ollie Lindsay-Hague is recovering from injury and will join the training group when fit.

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