Nov 06 3 pm th
Newbury v Witney
Witney RFC
Sat 6th Dec 2025
Chairman’s Welcome
First Things First!
This IS Rugby!
As we approach the festive season, with all the parties and socialising, it is sometimes hard to remember those less fortunate than ourselves. That’s not to say we shouldn’t celebrate, we have every right to let our hair down, I would even go so far as to say give yourselves a pat on the back. They say charity begins at home, not quite true as it would appear it begins at Witney RFC. The Club have, over 2025 raised money for numerous causes, far too many to mention here but it does show just how thoughtful, caring and generous Club members are. It is hard to continually hit the same people for donations but hit you we do and you keep giving.
A massive thankyou to all who have walked, ran, swam, cycled, jumped, organised game nights, quizzes and slept (outdoors in winter) in aid of charity, I hope you enjoyed doing it as much as I did mine. But as important as the doers, are all of you who gave your well-earned cash to support all the worthwhile causes, huge thank you and we hope that you can keep supporting those less fortunate in 2026.
GREATDAY evenGREATerDAY
A massive thank you to all our fabulous sponsors!
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THE VIPER’S BITe
Hungerford 35 : 24 Witney II
A tough day on the road away to Hungerford, but plenty to take away and build on. Our tries came from Charlie Penton, Owen Fillary, and a brace from Josh Whitehead. Charlie slotted 2 from 4 conversions. All things considered, coming away with a try bonus gave us something to show for the effort, something more, at least, than Matt Clarke’s yellow card. No game this weekend for the Vipers, who will no doubt use the free time to get all their Christmas shopping done… or, far more realistically, you’ll find them propping up the bar in The Angel.
Sat 13 Dec 2025
Witney II v Didcot
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RUCKS, PINTS, REPEAT BARMY BY NATURE
Chipping Norton II 25 : 40 Witney III
After last week’s success, we decided to stack the bench again with six subs. Unfortunately, Dylan’s other half arrived early and nabbed the side of the pitch without the sun, leaving the rest of us freezing all game. Cheers for that. We had Hannah back on physio duty too, which meant no malingering — anyone limping mysteriously recovered the moment she looked their way.
For many of the lads, it was the first time playing at Chippy in actual sunshine… though Chippy got the last laugh by “forgetting” to turn the boiler on. Cold showers after the game are not character-building, no matter what anyone says. We played well and really should have won by more than 40–25.
Tries: Eddie Alexander (2), Alex Foggett, Alex Bellenie, Lee Taylor, Chris Cope
Conversions: Jamie Hoyle (5)
Man of the Match: Alex Foggett — for driving down from Liverpool just to play.
Tit of the Day: Dan Tyrrell — for coming off claiming he felt ill while doing his best to avoid Hannah, who would absolutely have told him to man up.
RUCKS, PINTS, REPEAT
BARMY BY NATURE
On the 7 December 1941 the Japanese Naval Airforce attacked Pearl Harbour. The attack resulted in 2,403 deaths and 1,178 injuries; most deaths occurred on USS Arizona when a bomb penetrated the forward ammunition store.
The Arizona sank and remains a memorial to the dead to this day. The attack prompted the United States' entry into World War II and President Franklin D. Roosevelt described it as "a date which will live in infamy".
Yesterday I opened my electricity bill and my water bill together…..
I was shocked!
Academy The Future’s Bright!
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Witney Calling!
There are new global law trials implemented for the 2025/26 season. These include banning the "crocodile roll" at rucks to enhance safety, players in offside positions after a kick, a time limit for players contesting a lineout, and the removal of a scrum option for free kicks, Additionally, the 20-minute red card for technical offences is moving to a global trial, and there's a new law "protecting the 9" to prevent players from being played at the base of scrums and rucks.
More details on the Rugby Laws can be found Here
Whilst we are on the subject of the laws of the game, we feel duty bound to remind you of the terrific support we get from the guys in the middle, the Referees. These men and women give up their time to officiate and make the games possible. They cannot possibly see everything and whilst we support with line runners, they cannot help with the real time decision making required. They don’t have two officials running the line and a 4 TMO with video playback so cut them some slack. th Mistakes will be made, offences go unseen, and sometimes it can appear from the sidelines that we are getting a hard deal. By all means voice your support for our wonderful teams, but abuse of the officials will not be tolerated from players, coaches, supporters or Club members. Let’s keep it good natured, enjoy the game and make the officials want to visit Hailey Road.
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What’s On @ Hailey Road!
A Bit of Wizardry
Last Saturday our Walking Rugby Team, the Wizards played host to Fairford Walkers on a very pleasant afternoon at Hailey Road. With plenty of players available we split our resources and fielded 2 distinct teams with Gareth Lewis leading the Alphas and John Hughes running the Deltas.
Fairford were quite a bit younger and with a couple of very quick players caused us quite some problems in defence, something we will be working on in our Thursday evening sessions. I believe Fairford edged it over the 4 games, but really who was counting? Well Gareth was counting and as he ran out of fingers who knows what the final tally was.
The real winner was rugby and it was very refreshing to receive, in the shape of Fairford, a team that exemplified the best of rugby, it really was a pleasure to host them. Good luck in the future as you grow your walking rugby effort.
Man of the Match, the excellent Jack Clay, well done young man.
What’s On @ Hailey Road!
A massive thank you to all our fabulous sponsors!
How would you like 10% off everything you buy over the bar? With a WRFC Members Discount Card that’s exactly what you get. 10% off all your beers, teas, coffees, sandwiches etc. For a small anual fee, currently £25, you get a year’s worth of discounted products. That’s approximately 50p a week, so one pint of lager a week and you have made your money back, 2 pints and your saving at a level appreciated by Yorkshiremen.
To qualify for the card you need to be a signed up member of the Club.
Interested? email me or speak to any of the marvellous bar staff. ian.loughborough@witneyrugby.co.uk
Nations’ Competition
Nations’ Competition
We are hoping that the tickets, including teh finals, come through the rfu and so watch out for release announcements!
The Reality is:
You have to be over 35 years old and have been a member of Witney RFC for at least 4 weeks before match day. Sound like this could be for you? Why not come along to Club training night; Tuesdays and Thursdays.
If you need to ease back in gently, we have Walking and Touch Rugby on Thursday evenings. Contact Simon Copperwheat on: 07904 360561
