Captain’s Corner

We caught up with new Minety 1st XV captain Tom Claxton after the fine home win over Royal Wootton Bassett (and , therefore, before last weekend’s excellent win at Supermarine).

“After 3 matches, and two wins, I’m very pleased with the start that we’ve made to the season.  I know that we lost at Warminster, but they’re a powerful team who will be in at the top end of the table come the end of the season, but even in that loss I saw lots of positives.  We started slowly and we were deservedly punished for our lethargy but we picked up in the second half and out scored them.  We just need to make sure that we learn the lessons that we were dealt on that day.

“Today’s match (against RWB) was exceptional, a really outstanding performance from everyone.  We were able to put out a really strong team and it was pleasing to see so many moves that we’ve practised on the training ground being used so effectively in the game.  A couple of people have spoken to me about how well drilled we are as a team and that kind of game discipline starts life on the training ground on Tuesday evenings.  Our rehearsed moves worked out so well.

“Training is the key to our success on the field and it’s been pleasing to see players attending training in such good numbers across both teams.  It means we can try out moves more effectively and also means that players can swap from the 1st to the 2nds and vica versa and still understand what is going on around them.  We’ve got a good depth in the squad and on our day I believe we can beat anyone in the league; I’m certainly targetting a top 3 position come April.”

So how has being the club captain been, now that he’s experienced a month of league action?  “It’s certainly not as advertised; there’s a lot more work than I imagined but wins bring rewards and I’m really enjoying myself at the moment.”

We’ll be bringing more words of wisdom(!?) from Tom as the season progresses.