Windsor still in the hunt for promotion
Windsor RFC: Royals hoping to finish as a best performing runner-up
Windsor racked up the points with another convincing home win over Buckingham on Saturday, extending their winning run in the Counties 1 Tribute Southern North Division to 12 matches.
While it seems unlikely they’ll catch up with league leaders Beaconsfield with only four matches to play, they can still dream of promotion if they’re one of the six best performing runners-up at their level across the country. Beaconsfield have won all 18 of their matches so far, while Windsor have won 15 of their games.
With 76 points from their opening 18 games, they are very much in the running to do that, and captain Chris Emmett insists they’ll be looking to round off the season as strongly as possible to ensure they give themselves the best possible chance of going up.
On Saturday, they crushed fifthplaced Buckingham for a second time this season, winning 53-17. It was the fourth time in their last five matches they’ve managed to score more than 50 points in a game and the comprehensive home wins sets them up nicely for their final four league matches.
“It was good to finally play after some weeks of bad weather and it was another pleasing result and five points,” said captain Emmett. “We’ve got a lot of competition for places and have had some key guys out injured as well, but we should have a few of those returning this weekend. One of the real positives is that we’ve brought through a lot of young players through the colts and excolts which has added a lot of depth.
“Finishing first is going to be a real stretch, because I can’t see Beaconsfield losing three or four games, although they do have some tough games against Wallingford, Oxford Harlequins, and us on the last day of the season. But from our understanding we may be one of the top six runners up across the country and that gives us a chance of being promoted in second. That’s within our control if we can keep playing well.
“And then once the league season is over, we’ll be going into the Papa John’s Cup which we hope to have a good run in as well.”
A tricky looking trip to fourthplaced Wallingford awaits on Saturday before Andy Symons’s side round things off at home to Chinnor 3rds (March 23) and home to leaders Beaconsfield (April 6) with a game at Rams 3rds also to be squeezed.
The Royals then move on to the end of season Papa Johns sponsored Counties 1 Championship and a game against Wanstead at Home Park on Saturday, April 13.
“It won’t be easy at Wallingford,” added Emmett. “When we played them at home it was a funny old game because the referee arrived late and when we ended the game it was pretty dark on the pitch. But, yeah, we got the win then (24-12). Wallingford’s results have been a bit mixed and Buckingham, who we played at the weekend, are only one position below them in fifth.
“But they’re a very physical side, have a big forward pack and a strong scrum which lays the foundation for them. It’s going to be a huge challenge this weekend but we’re very focused on this. We want to put our best team out and try to get the W and five points, but we know it’s going to be probably our toughest match since we played Oxford Harlequins away.
“They’ll have a big crowd and their best boys available, I’m sure.”
He added: “We didn’t enter the Papa John’s Cup last year; we were still building post Covid, and I know a lot of other teams pulled out of it as well. But we’re very keen to have a good run at it this year with a much bigger squad. It’s also a good incentive that the final of the competition is at Twickenham. We want to do well and go all the way if we can.
“I don’t know a huge amount about Wanstead. A few of the boys have done a bit of research but we’ll be looking to go on a long run in the cup.”