Millwall – 1 Try (Rachel Castola, Con. Georgia Kurowska Kyffin)

“We all played our hearts out and it was great to see the potential and fight in this team. The forwards and backs worked together smoothly, despite not having done a huge number of team run throughs. A lot of points to work on, but I’m excited to see how we progress. There is so much heart in this team.” – Jackie Esono, Captain

Key Moment:

• Rachel’s try – she received the ball on the half way line; stepped multiple defenders; outpaced the full back and scored between the posts. This was skilfully converted by Georgia.

There were sustained periods of excellent defending, where Millwall kept Chesham off their try line with strong and powerful tackles. This was the Millwall debut for five new players, who showed themselves to all be excellent additions to the line-up. This was the first match of the league which we are looking to build on as the season begins in earnest. Our next home game is on 15th September against Windsor Ladies.

As preparation for the coming league season for both teams, Millwall played King’s Cross Steelers away at East London RFC on Saturday 31st August.  Steelers, who only last week were crowned Male Team of the Year at the 2019 Guinness National Rugby Awards, managed a try within the first minute from a charged down kick putting the pressure onto Millwall early. Harry Barrett crossed over the whitewash for Millwall in the second half with a successful conversion by Harry Peters to keep the game closely contested but the end result saw a score of Millwall 7 – 24 King’s Cross Steelers.

Millwall Men’s Chair Shekhar Palit noted “It was a bit of a scrappy game, but a great test against strong opposition.  A lot to be pleased about as we gear up towards the start of the season.”

The next pre-season match for Millwall Rugby is at home at Hackney Marshes next Saturday 7th September vs. King’s College Hospital. Kick off 3pm. Millwall Rugby Club is recruiting players of all experience levels; men, women and children. Contact info@millwallrugby.com or visit www.millwallrugby.com for more information.

Millwall – 2 tries, Tunde Adeyemi

 “An excellent match with many of our players playing out of position and lots of new team numbers demonstrating a great foundation for future matches. Great defensive play.” – Rachel Castola, Ladies Chair

Key moments:

• Tunde Adeyemi sidesteps two defenders and the opposition’s fullback to score her first try.

• Rachel Castola makes a break through the defensive line and passes to Tunde running a support line who scores her second try.

• Jackie Eson supported by others holds up the opposition’s number 12 and prevents another try.

This was a pre-season friendly acting as preparation for the coming league season for both teams. Our next game is away at Chesham Ladies on Sunday 8th September. Our next home game is on 15th September against Windsor Ladies.

 Millwall Rugby Club is recruiting players of all experience levels; men, women and children. Contact communications@millwallrugby.com or visit www.millwallrugby.com.

Millwall’s losing streak continued this past weekend, succumbing to an Old Cooperians team full of pace and power.

Despite a positive start in which Rio Cooper put the men in black and red 3-0 up, Old Cooperians soon started to exert their dominance with a sweeping move finishing under the posts.

Millwall weren’t disheartened however and looked strong when they put the phases together but without an end product. Strong tackling from Bruno Brods and scrumhalf Miguel Bremer kept Cooperians at bay, but they could only be kept out for so long and two more quick tries followed.

The final play of the half belonged to Millwall though. Cooper stole a ball from the back of a ruck on his 22, before offloading to Bremer who stormed up the pitch. Brilliant interchanging between Brods and Andy Matthews followed, before a fortuitous chip and chase ended up in Matthews hands to dot down.

The second half played out similar to this first, with Old Cooperians attacking from anywhere on the pitch and scoring some great tries, before Millwall grabbed another that was of note.

Cooper made a half break before offloading to Matthews on a sharp angle, who sped off before passing the ball on to Brods. He then excellently handed off the full back before scoring out wide.

Millwall need to dig deep to get through this streak and it won’t come easy as they take on Barking this Friday night.

Millwall took the short trip to Ilford Wanderers this Saturday gone, hoping to rid themselves of the monkey that was clinging so tightly to their backs. 

Welcoming back names such as Grant Thompson and with the weather playing perfectly into Millwall’s hands, the atmosphere in the changing room was positive.

However, it was Ilford who came out quickest and after a few hard and fast lines, they earnt a penalty to put themselves 3-0 up. 

Millwall started to put a few phases together and, had dragged the opposition pack into the middle of the park, flung the ball smartly out wide to Thompson, who powered past three defenders to score on the touch line. Cooper squeezed over the conversion from out wide. 

Ilford powered back and managed to score two tries in quick succession, putting themselves into a comfortable position. 

Millwall’s half time chat was all about keeping the ball in attack and pushing hard in defence - two things they had heard countless times before. Lacklustre defence allowed the Ilford forwards to power over either side of two Millwall tries - firstly, a powerful drive from Eoin McCabe, the second a smart dummy from Rio Cooper to open up the space before giving Andy Matthews the ball to race over from 5 metres out - before the Ilford 10 grabbed another five pointer after charging down a chip and chase and outpacing the back line. 

Despite another late try from Thompson, the Millwall 15 had left too many opportunities unfinished and found themselves 10 points down at the final whistle. 

After a poor start to the season Millwall knew that they were in for a hard game against a strong Chelmsford side, so far undefeated in London Essex 3. The Millwall side featured a number of changes from the previous week and included the welcome return of club captain, Ronan Murray, and winger Matt Hopkins from long-term injury.

Millwall kicked off and started the game well, clearly surprising the Chelmsford side who were expecting an easy ride. Millwall retained the ball very well for the first 10 minutes of the game putting serious pressure on the Chelmsford defence that held out well. Millwall eventually found some space on the right wing with flanker Bruno Brodes finding space to feed back inside to fullback Luke Wilson to sprint clear under the posts for the first score of the game. Fly-half Simon Mason added the simple conversion.

Unfortunately, for Millwall this was as good as it got for them in the game. Chelmsford fought back strongly retaining the ball well. Millwall’s indiscipline cost them, as it had in the previous two games, and allowed Chelmsford the opportunity for a penalty attempt which their fly-halve duly converted.

As the first half progressed Chelmsford managed to press home their advantage and showed why they will be strong competitors this season with strong running from their forwards accompanied by a couple of breaks from their back line. With Millwall struggling to get onto the ball Chelmsford were awarded a penalty try from a 5m scrum to take the lead.

From the ensuing kick off, Millwall were again penalised with Alex Dola Lami going off feet at a ruck. With the ref loosing patience Dola Lami was sent to the sin-bin. Chelmsford took advantage of the numerical advantage to run in a couple of further tries through strong play from the back line taking advantage of the open space. Despite a half time score of 22-7, this was by far Millwall’s best display so far in the season.

Over the half-time break coach Matt was forced to make some changes with both Mason and James Dyer being forced to leave the field with head injuries.

Millwall were mainly on the back foot in the second half with Chelmsford dominating the ball. Millwall tackled well throughout never giving up however, Chelmsford’s superiority told as they ran in a further 4 tries in the second half. Millwall had a couple of chances in the second half with both Chris Prowse and Hopkins making breaks however they couldn’t quite finish them of and Chelmsford ran out deserved winners 46-7. Although another tough result for the men in black and red there are some positives to take for the next game against Ilford.

Captain Ronan Murray -  ‘A tough result for the boys again today although I can’t fault our effort against a high quality Chelmsford side. It is clear that the standard of the league has improved this year and we are going to have to work really hard in training to up our standards and start picking up some wins.’

Millwall hosted Kings Cross Steelers this Saturday, hoping to put right the many wrongs that had been highlighted the previous week against Braintree. As Steelers had been promoted to the league and with some familiar faces returning Millwall had targeted this game as a must win.

However, following a positive opening thirty seconds for Millwall, it was Steelers who were in charge. Wave after wave of attack ran against Millwall’s defence and it was only some last ditch try-line defence that kept out the visitors.

Millwall’s basics let them down and some inexcusable defence allowed Steeler’s 10 to break through the defence on more than one occasion. One such break, followed by quick phases from the forwards led to space being left out wide for the 13 to slide under the posts. 7-0.

Following some positive running from Alex Lami and Eion McCabe, Millwall managed to pull 3 back just before the break through a Rio Cooper penalty and considered themselves rather lucky to be just 4 down at half time.

Steeler’s started the second half exactly where they had left off. A five metre scrum allowed them to once again exert their dominance over the Millwall pack, for the ball to be whipped out to the winger to score in the corner. To make matters worse, Ollie Jardine managed to get himself binned for a high tackle whilst trying to stop the try.

The next ten minutes only allowed Steelers to dig their heels in and two more quick tries ensured the game got away from Millwall. The final ten minutes was a comedy of errors on behalf of Millwall’s backs. Firstly, the ball dribbled through the legs of one player to allow Steeler’s another score, before a catastrophic moment of miscommunication ensured the ball was passed to a flying Steeler to score at the final whistle.

Millwall are going to have to dig deep if they are going to get out of this rut.

Millwall kicked off this years campaign against Braintree following a mixed pre season. Losses against Woodford and Southwark didn’t reflect the effort put in by the personnel available, with wedding season, sesh lyf and work engagements ensuring that the squad had been well and truly rotated before the opening match.

These three hurdles also meant that the opening 18 included a number of debutants. Jacob Lloyd and Dom Alden joined the returning Dan Faram to fill the back row, Matt Krizek started in the second row for his first game, Adam Page stepped up to the 1s, and Matt Pownall and Chris Prowse slotted in to the backs to make their debuts for the club.

Millwall kicked off and started well, managing to retain the kick and set phases on the opposition 22 before a basic handling error let them down. Braintree were already on fire, breaking out from the resulting scrum and after two or three phases, they were over the whitewash for the opening score.

Millwall dusted themselves down and went about their game plan once again. However, two penalties in quick succession meant they were soon defending their line again, and with the referee playing another advantage, the Braintree 12 broke free from the back of a mail to glide over. 10-0

Millwall needed to do something quickly to get themselves back into the game. With Braintree attaching hard again on Millwall’s 22, Ollie Jardine reached out for the interception. With the ball looping in the air, Jardine managed to catch it off his toes and race away. With the opposition winger in hot pursuit, he put in a sweet chip that bounced into the path of the supporting Rio Cooper, who looked up to see Harry Barrett chasing on the opposite wing. Cooper put boot to ball and were it not for an incredibly unfortunate final bounce, Barrett would have been over for Millwall’s opening points.

This chance seemed to rejuvenate the boys somewhat. Millwall started finding gaps and were it not for a forward pass from Cooper, Chiranthe Ulapane would have been under the posts.

Shortly afterwards, Millwall’s chances took another bartering with the forced substitution of Matt Pownall. Having started brightly, he brilliantly retrieved the ol’ Garryowen, only for an awkward hit to his knee to send him to hospital.

James Dyer made his return to the club completely out of position but did himself proud at 12, hitting hard and running well.

The half finished at 10-0.

Braintree clearly wanted the game more, as they came out of the blocks flying from half time and had scored another two tries and a penalty within 7minutes. 27-0.

Millwall’s frustration became evident and a spell of stupid penalties meant that whatever good positioning they had they would soon turn over to the more aggressive Braintree.

A good break from the Braintree 10 allowed them to score out-wide again, before Millwall finally managed to score themselves- new 8 Jacob Lloyd, who didn’t stop running all day, managing to drag three defenders over on the fifteen metre line. Cooper converted. Despite the good finish, Braintree were to have the final word, their 8 breaking from the back of a scrum five metres out.

Final score Millwall 7-37 Braintree

Coach Matt: Tough opening game to start the season for the 1st team, which coincided with a disrupted preseason. Despite the scoreline, there were some pleasing phases in attack and without a high error count in defence, I'm sure the scoreline could have been much closer. With so many new faces, it's going to take some time for it to come together, but looking forward to seeing how the side can progress in the coming weeks

Milwall RFC captain Ronan Murray has revealed they have had plenty of transition but is still confident in his squad ahead of the London Three Essex season, writes Jacob Ranson.

The Tower Hamlets-based club finished as runners-up to Basildon last season and will be hoping to go a step further this time round to bag the title.

Despite plenty of squad changes the skipper expects them to be very strong once again this term.

“Millwall has always been a very transitional club. Being located in the city means people come and go quite often,” Murray said.

“We have lost some players, however we have had some great players come down to pre-season and the squad is looking really good.

“I’m confident more will join throughout the season.”

Murray expects Millwall to perform week in, week out and become a family throughout the campaign.

“I have every confidence in this squad to perform throughout the season,” he added. “Millwall is like a family, we play for one another, we socialise with each other, and we win and lose together.

“I am really excited for this season to start and cannot wait to get into the action.”

Murray also revealed the club has moved to strengthen their coaching staff to help improve in the areas where they fell short last season.

“We have just acquired a forwards coach,” he siad.

“This will allow us to focus on some of our weaknesses in the pack and around the park.

“Regular specialised insight in the forwards is something which we have not had the past few seasons so this will be a fantastic opportunity to improve in these areas.”

Millwall will field three male teams and a female team this term and Murray says the ladies also want to build on their success from last season, adding: “Millwall fields three men’s teams and a ladies team so is a great place to play all kinds of rugby depending on what people are looking for.

“Following a phenomenal season last year, having topped their league, the ladies team have been promoted and stand a great chance of being competitive again this season.”

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