Captain Emmett returning to a happy camp after holiday in New Zealand
Chris Emmett (right) has expressed his delight with Windsor RFC maintaining their winning streak in the Counties 1 Tribute Southern North having recently spent three weeks away from the club in New Zealand.
Co-captain of the Royals, Emmett travelled to the other side of the world with his wife for Christmas Day before returning home in mid-January. And in his absence, Windsor thumped Milton Keynes and Bletchley, to shrink the gap on league leaders Beaconsfield to 14 points.
Given the latest results, it remains to be seen if the number eight can slot back into the lineup this weekend when Andy Symons’ men face Oxford Harlequins 2nds. The Quins – currently sitting in third place – emerged 29-33 winners at Home Park in October.
“I want to play every minute I can for Windsor, but I am also under no illusions that the guys have played really well while I’ve been away on holiday,” said Emmett.
“The guys have absolutely smashed the start of this year.
It was good to hear them win against Milton Keynes and then pick up a victory more recently against Bletchley who we lost to last year away from home - we definitely owed them one.
“From what I’ve heard, the guys put in one of their best attacking performances this season and there were some really good tries scored. A big thank you should go to Reading rugby club for hosting us too. The game would have been postponed otherwise and it’s never ideal when you get a game moved to a weekend you’re not expecting to play.
“Obviously we had no game at the weekend, but we’ve got a really big fixture coming up this Saturday against Oxford Harlequins. They are just below us in the league and we lost to them very narrowly at home earlier in the season with a few key players away.
Fingers crossed we’ll be pretty much near full-strength this time. We want to get a big W there to continue the run.”
Emmett added: “Oxford Harlequins as a rugby club have literally climbed so much over the last few years. I know their director of rugby. He was my coach when I played at Henley many years ago before I came to Windsor.
“Both 1s and 2s have a certain way of playing. They play a loose, expansive game but I think we should have won in October. There were a few conversions and penalties we missed and two of our most important players in Ben GrantAdamson and Allen Crawshaw were unavailable.
“This weekend, we should have a pretty good squad to pick from and hopefully I will be involved. My holiday to New Zealand was pretty active and I have been back in the gym since returning so I feel ready to go.”
Following their match with Oxford Harlequins 2nds on Saturday, Windsor will next be in action on February 3 when they host Bracknell 2nds.
W Marlow will be hoping other results go their way in the Regional 2 Thames Division this weekend as they wait to return to action in a hugely significant clash against bottom club Fullerians on Saturday.
Rory Greenslade-Jones's side can ill-afford to lose their clash with Fullerians as they look to make ground up on the sides just above them in the table.
Second bottom Marlow have struggled for form of late, losing their last six matches, but this home game against the league's bottom side could provide the perfect springboard to a more positive end to the season.