Local Rugby

In the week that Dudley Kingswinford Rugby Club beat the formerly mighty Manchester 137-0 and their local rivals Stourbridge lost again to leave them hovering dangerously above relegation it was interesting to see both coaches making the same point but for different reasons.

DK player coach Jon Higgins went on record to warn of the dangers of being too ambitious, pointing out that former Championship team Manchester's rapid and humiliating plummet down the leagues with hardly a point scored until this season is simply a result of their unsustainable finances drying up and the desertion of their paid journeymen, while in contrast DK's starting line-up included 13 of their former Colts.

On the other side of that coin, it seems Stourbridge's coach Neil Mitchell is well aware of the dangers of basing success on imported paid players and what relegation might mean. Here's what he said:

“If you look at Wharfedale or Cinderford they have a core of players from the local area who are real brothers in arms. We don’t have that but we have got to find it.

“I want the players to take more responsibility, run the lineouts, draw up a team charter because everyone is going to have to muck in. I don’t want anyone thinking ‘What happens if we go down?’ or phoning this agents because we need to stick together.”