AECC RFC 2009-10 Season Review

AECC RFC Season Review

AECC (playing as Bournemouth University 2nds) finished the season as champions of the British Universities and College Sports Leagues, Western Conference 4A (I know, catchy).

Season Highlights (a.k.a. “Mick’s Picks”)

Receiving Parking Tickets at Exeter, chatting up Southampton Uni Netball Club over the phone, Mick’s celebrations against Bristol… These are just the tip of the iceberg of a great season full of highlights. Having sifted through the match reports, here is the best of the best, divided into appropriate sections of course.

Worst Banter

Plenty of front runners for this one! There were calls of “aren’t you guys supposed to be medics?” at Bath Spa, an insult which no-one on the bemused AECC team could decipher. Plymouth 1^st team had many honourable mentions, calling Callum Forrest a “Jessie”, someone telling Jonny Coller “you’re a lemon, mate”, Joe Frost suffering the indignity of being told he had “s*** socks” and perhaps most baffling, “leave him alone, he’s my housemate”. Exeter University at home featured one player shouting “Ref! Ref! Inappropriate use of the boot!” which Joe Frost rightly pointed out, was far too verbose a sentence for that player to be angry. Finally, when Bristol University came to visit, their scrum-half clearly felt superior to the idiotic Mike Richards, asking him “you’re just a simpleton, aren’t you?” which may have offended Richards were he smart enough to work out what it meant.

Frosty’s Quotes

Of particular amusement to me were Joe Frost’s occasional post-match insights. Here are a couple of the best:

“Rise above the storm and you will find the sunshine”

Following last week’s debacle, no-one was holding their breath for Coach Frost’s post-match assessment, but he was in “euphoric” mood, praising the “team spirit”, also “commenting” on the “bouncebackability” of the team after “coming from behind” to “win” in difficult “circumstances, finally “quoting” Al Pacino from off of Any Given Sunday, saying (and I quote) “well done lads, that was alright that.”

"Yeah of course the boys are obviously disappointed with the loss but at the end of the day, it's a game of two halves and on any given Wednesday you're either gonna win or you're gonna lose. On the other hand, it's not over till the fat lady sings and I think we've proved that today, the boys played their hearts out and you can't ask for more than that. Rugby, like life, is a game of inches and unfortunately we came up a few yards short today. Ultimately though I don't think the boys will let it keep them down. Why? Because in the words of the one and only Antoine Bru, win or lose, we always booze."

In addition, a log has been kept of Coach Frost’s mood all year, and now we can present the results of a season-long study into one man’s state of mind:

As you can see, Frosty’s mood generally reflects the performance of his squad. You will not the relative euphoria of winning in Cardiff and Glamorgan under difficult circumstances, and the win at Plymouth which all but guaranteed the title. Also the well-documented drop in mood following the home performance against Bristol.

Best Nicknames

Luke “Cheggers” Pegna, Ben “Weatherman” Rutter, “Karl” Hurkett, and whatever we’re calling Ryan Allen this week are probably my favourites.

Worst Reasons for Missing Matches

Several runners-up here. Project vivas (Mike Richards, Simon Tottle) – though these are fair enough. Learning to drive is certainly up there (Kevin Marillier – this is every Wednesday of the Spring Term by the way), but the absolute standout has to go to Dean Matthews who missed the cup fixture at Plymouth because he was retaking his GCC exam!

Glamorgan Road Trip

I believe the rugby club set a first here in offering a free minibus ride to an AECC fixture for supporters. Following the predictable lack of interest, 15 hardy souls packed themselves onto a separate minibus to the players (at least, for the journey there) and joined in all the fun associated with a road trip. Hopefully this will be repeated next year as everyone looked like they were having fun in the bar when we got back!

Quotable Quotes

“You don’t get points for water, Falco!”  - Jon Coller

“Questionable effort”  - Stroon

“Just call me the weatherman, ‘cos I bring the rain!” – Rutter

Any Morrisons fact - Stroon

Most Inspiring Pre-Match Talk

Prior to the Cardiff away game, Matt Bateman will forever be remembered for uttering the immortal words “We’re gonna f***in’ f*** these f***ers”. It must have worked – the boys ran out 17-0 winners!

Results and Statistics

Exeter University 4th	12-29	AECC
Bristol University 4th	0-30	AECC
Bath Spa University 1st	5-45*	AECC
AECC	HWO	Plymouth Marjons 2nd
Cardiff III	0-17	AECC
Plymouth University 1st	17-3*	AECC
AECC	35-5	Plymouth University 2nd
AECC	13-10	Exeter University 4th
AECC	41-0	Bristol University 4th
Glamorgan University 3rd	12-17	AECC
AECC	13-0	Cardiff University 3rd
Plymouth University 2nd	10-35	AECC
AECC	88-0	Glamorgan University 3rd
Plymouth Marjons 2nd	AWO	AECC

* Denotes Cup Match

The league table above is not quite right, due to reporting inaccuracies. From our own records, we have played 10, won 10, scoring 308 points and conceding just 49 in the league. Statistics enthusiasts will note that this equates to scoring an average of 30.8 points a game and conceding just 4.9, an incredible defensive record. Below is couple of graphs showing how good we are.

The chart on the right also gives a much more vivid account of the ferocity of the AECC defence. Excluding the two Marjons walkovers, five clean sheets were kept. In a season of 12 games, that’s not bad! In fact, in the league, the most the AECC conceded in any match was 12 points, with the cup defeat at Plymouth the only time they scored less than 13 in 80 minutes.

In the cup competition, the boys went down valiantly at Plymouth University 1sts 17-3 following a 45-5 demolition of Bath Spa.

Top Scorers

AECC’s top points scorer this year was “inspirational” captain Matt Bateman with a fitting haul of 69 (wahey!) Over the course of the season, though, this does not add up with a team that has won 11 of its 12 games! Matt only discovered his kicking boots halfway through the season, and to add to this, the AECC had twenty different try scorers this year – an egalitarian outfit if there ever was one!

However, they say that if all men are equal, some are more equal than others – here are the top try scorers. As you can see, the top scorer in our highly successful league campaign was Alex Horne, with an impressive six tries. With two tries in the cup game against Bath Spa, Tom Waller has most tries overall this season.

Man of the Match & Dick of the Day

The prestigious Man of the Match award is decided by one’s peers every week. Alex Horne has laid claim to this three times this season, more than any other. The Dick of the Day award is pretty self-explanatory. With double the amount of awards as anyone else this season, Tom Waller is the AECC RFC’s biggest dick, a most ironic outcome.

Bad Boys

Though no-one received a red card this year whilst playing for the AECC, 6 yellow cards were meted out by exasperated refs. Callum Forrest is the standout “bad boy” of the club, with twice as many minutes in the “sin bin” as anyone else. Should anyone be interested, the club is looking for an attractive female to administer a spanking.

As you can see from our chronologically-correct graph, the yellow cards received by AECC players were at their peak at the start of the season. In fact, following the ridiculous FOUR yellow cards received against a hapless Bath Spa side, the AECC managed to avoid any yellow cards for the remainder of the season.

List of Players Used (40)

Struan Brown, Tom Waller, Beau Henrickson (BU), Ben Rutter (BU), Rye Buffery (Spud, BU), Rhy Edwards (BU), Brendan Bignell (BU), Dan Taylor (BU), Angelo Battiston, Alex Horne, Callum Forrest, Dean Matthews, Sindre Busk Witzoe, Dominik Jaskulski, Mike Richards, Tom Pooley, Damian Le Roux, Iain Crombie, Luke Pegna (BU), Guy Falco, Rob Beaven, Luc Meersseman, Kristian Friis, Matt Bateman (capt), Harvey Bell (BU), Robert Todd, Joe Frost, Joe Williams, Alan Ryan, Simon Tottle, Clive Hurkett, Pieter Le Roux, Jimmy Holman (BU), Ed Crawford, Kevin Marillier, Tom Donaldson, Ryan Singer (BU), Ricky Davis, Jon Coller, Alex Broomsgrove.

Finally, the RFC would like to thank its sponsors – The SU, the continued support of Dr Alan Tyler and the newfound support of Ricky’s dad!

AECC RFC: Not bad for a touch team.

Win or lose, we always booze

(but not in Toggler’s)