Club officials were quick to arrange a back-up fixture against former Raging Bull Shield rivals Chinnor at St Peter on Saturday 9 October, after their intended visitors, Bishop’s Stortford, forfeited.
Athletic were beaten on the opening day of the 2021/22 campaign – 42-24 at Brunel University on 4 September – and head coach Myles Landick was keen to avoid a month-long wait for a chance to bounce back from being extended any further. His side did face Royals RFC at Grainville a fortnight ago, but players from both teams were mixed together for the second half.
‘We needed to get a game and a lot of hard work has gone on behind the scenes to get Chinnor over,’ said Landick.
‘Not having a game wasn’t really an option. The boys have been working really hard in training and we need to start rewarding them with games. And we need to build up to the Siam, because we know that will be extremely tough for us.
‘Having this game means we can continue with the lunch upstairs before the game [for about 100 supporters] and have music after. It should be a great day.
‘We’re treating it as a league game and then we have Esher, Ampthill and Richmond before the Siam Cup. We need to ready the troops and get some rugby under belts from next weekend onwards.’
