Jersey Colts v Tottonians

Jersey Rugby Football Club Colts team kick of this seasons Hampshire League on Sunday 18^th September 2011, with a match against Tottonians Rugby Club.

The Colts have a new coaching team made up of lead coach Ashley Elphinston and assistant coaches Dai Bishop, Donovan Sanders and Graham Howgate and James Ellershaw. Elphinston who plays flanker and is a former Australian Schoolboy, Under 21 and 7's international first played for the Jersey 1^st team in 2009. Having taken on the role of lead coach he is impressed with the standard and quality. Four of the Colts recently tried out for Jersey 1^st team positions and remain serious contenders.

"The Colts are where our potential first team players earn their spurs and is the natural feed up into the first team", explains Alan Williamson. "This is why maintaining a large squad and keeping all the young players interested and active in the game is vitally important. Young players develop at different stages therefore they all remain contenders for the squad or future 1^st team players."

Coaches Bishop and Saunders are Jersey Rugby Cub first team players. The Colts look-up to these guys as this is where they want to be in the game. For their part the coaches have quickly gained the respect of the squad and instilled a strong sense of team play and individual responsibility amongst players. This is reflected in the attendance and enthusiasm shown during the intense training sessions. Coach Howgate has provided some consistency in training and team selection having previously coached many of the Colts players at different age groups.

With such a large squad, selection for the team against Tottonians proved difficult. It was unfortunate that No8 Tom Seedhouse is unable to play on Sunday, Luke Stratford is also recovering from injury, Dom Mayo is attending two weeks of trials at Leicester Tigers and some key players are still out with injury. However Elphinston is not worried. "We are fortunate we have an excellent club structure, a team of quality, experienced coaches a large, keen and committed squad therefore the challenge for selection is strong"

The Colts have ten scheduled matches in this season's Hampshire League, which the Jersey team are usually forced to travel away for. Whilst this first game is away the colts are hopeful that at least four on the fixtures will be played on home soil at St Peter's.

The Colts Team remain grateful for the continued support of Bedell.

Jersey Colts Team:George Banks, Jack Lowe, James Voss, Oliver Smith, Robert Bisson, Edward Howgate, Nick Volpert, Daniel Foley, Like Huelin, Charles Hubert, Christopher Levesley, Jack Burroughs, Nick Dawson, Sam Fuller, Sam Crabtree, Zachary Le Cornu, Warwick Palmer, Alex Sumeerauer, Miles Richardson. Lead Coach Ashley Elphinston, Coach Graham Howgate, Manager Chris Fuller.

Tottonians Rugby Union Football Club was formed in 1962 and now field five senior sides. The club are based at Water Lane in Totton, just outside Southampton. The Tottonians Colts team finished 6^th in last years league.

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JRFC are very grateful for the support of the Wooden Spoon charity who helped fund improvements to provide wheelchair access to the pavilion.