RAMS RFC captain Robbie Stapley cannot wait to end his 18-month exile in next month’s pre-season games, writes Richard Ashton.
The number eight was forced to isolate after showing symptoms of coronavirus before the Old Bath Road side’s last National One fixture way back in March 2020, but is looking forward to getting back on the park with his last outing in the 31-15 success at Old Elthamians.
He said: “I miss the competitiveness the most – you turn up on Saturday and that feeling of winning or trying to win – coming back from losing is huge.
“Making a tackle, winning a collision are massive as otherwise I don’t do much competitive other than compete with my brother (Connor) over the most pathetic things.
“You know you love playing, but having been out for so long when you see everyone again, even though it’s hard work, it makes you realise how much you enjoy it.”
With the squad entering their fifth week of pre-season, he continued: “It’s been hard and tough, but we’ve had a lot of people here and the atmosphere’s been really positive.
“Everyone’s maintained their fitness and skills really well, so it’s just a case of piecing it all back together and working together in a game situation.”
Having finished second in the revised table in their debut campaign in National One, Stapley looked back fondly while also issuing a warning as he said: “Everything fell into place before and we’ve got to try and hit the ground running again – it might not go as smoothly as last time as I think we caught
a few sides out early on, but on the other hand, we’ve been together a long time, work well together, are all motivated and when you’re an underdog, you want to do it even more.”
With the majority of the squad committing to the new season and a number of additions improving the depth available, Stapley is delighted with how things are shaping up.
He concluded: “It’s great to have so many people here, but we need everyone to stick around because once you’re two or three games in and people haven’t been picked, that’s when we’ll see if they’re good people or not.
“You always need good people, but so far everyone seems to be gelling really well. Everyone needs to be up for the fight to be selected and we’ll need that.”
