FURNESS

Rugby

FURNESS

Rugby

From: Allen Stutchbury

Sent: 13 April 2008 01:00
Subject: Richard Update

Richard turned out for the Randwick 5th Grade side at Woolhara Oval in Sydney's eastern suburbs against a determined Eastern Suburbs team, he played second half only and did suffer with the heat it was 24oC, however he acquitted himself very well and set up two tries, Randwick eventually won 41-12, he said after wards he really enjoyed it, but the pace was a lot quicker than he was used to, this was probably due to the dryer grounds, I took him over to the Manly game after wards and we watched Randwick firsts defeat Manly 31-15, he has settled in well and is sharing a room with the Canadian scrum half from the national sevens squad, so he may come back with some bad habits (hopefully), he is settling in well and when he saw Coogee beach for the first time he said "Jesus Christ how good is this", its the only time I have heard him swear, no job as yet but we will sort something out, he went to the clubs annual race day event at the clubhouse last night so I am expecting to hear the gory details when I catch up with him during the week, hope all well at Furness.

From: Allen Stutchbury
Sent: 28 April 2008 00:10
Subject: Richard Update

      Richard was promoted to 4th grade for the game against West Harbour in Sydney, this is traditionally a very hard game for all grades, this team is made up of mostly islanders Fijians, Samoans and Maoris, needless to say it gets a bit physical, however our man did very well and lasted the full 80 minutes, we eventually won 38-29 in a very tight game , it was a warm day again and Richard had turned a bright shade of red, which had us concerned at first but he came through it OK, we play Eastwood next week in another hard game, arent they all?, I will update you after this game, many thanks for the Furness Shirt, but I think it must have shrunk in the post, I can only get one arm into it, any chance of XL? I will take some photos of Richard at the club this week and send them on to you, cheers Allen

From: Richard Smith

Sent: 9 May 2008 10.4
Subject: Richard Update

Hey Brian
   Sorry I've not been in touch and hope you and Brenda are both well. been trying to keep up with the boys via facebook, but like dad said I've been quite busy. took a while to settle in to a pattern with training and various things. 2nd week in Coogee I worked 4 days with Glen Ella coaching at Crambrook School. then the week after I was working on the erection of the sponsor's stand on Coogee Oval. and this week I've started my 'proper' job 9.30-5.30 at the main sponsor's posh department store: Peter's of Kensington. We have training 6.00-8.30 on Tues n Thurs as well as a sprint session on Monday night and 3 gym sessions a week. the Internet at the club turns itself off at 7pm so can only get on for 30mins or so on Wed n Fri. working on stealing someone's bandwidth every now and again.
   On the rugby front I'm right on the edge of starting for the 4th grade. we have a few good scrum halves at the moment. My house mate, Phil Mack (the Canadian 7s captain and number 9) has been playing 1st grade and that’s only because the Waratahs half back, Josh Valentine, is injured at the moment. Think with some effort and luck I can move up a grade. still not really fit for here and still finding it bloody hot. As far as I know, Stuch has been emailing Dave Maguire and I'll have to ask him if he can take a few pics of my game. I have my 1st game on Coogee oval tomorrow so well up for that. playing 5th grade unfortunately but the 4th grade coaches actually picked 2 teams this week so they could watch the guys on their selection radar in the 5ths and guarantee them a half. Will be on the bench for the 4s as well. 4th's is probably the best place to be at the moment. we're the only unbeaten grade team in the comp and in my opinion the 2nd best coaches in the club.
   Socially... they love their piss!!! I'm sticking to the water most of the time as is standard, although we did have a cocktail party the 1st weekend. A night at the races with all you could drink, so that wasn't bad. Last time I got on it was, I think, the Sunday before last, a few drinking games and we were away. again I wasn't too worse for wear but most of the guys ended themselves around 10.30
   Not a massively comprehensive account of my goings on I know but I'm just writing what I'm thinking without much time. I’ll try and write you a email in notepad every week n then I can just send it rather than trying to get it all done in the 30mins I have after work. hope this gives you something to be going on with.

Hopefully be in touch again soon.
all the best
Rich