RAMS’ captain fantastic Robbie Stapley admitted the time was right to hand over the reins to new leader Max Hayman – and is excited to return to the ranks for the coming campaign.
Having first skippered early in the 2016/17 season, Stapley has led from the front in more than 130 games, helping the side steady themselves and ultimately win promotion from National Two South before securing three runners-up spots at Level Three.
Explaining his decision, he revealed: “I had a chat with (Director of Rugby) Seb (Reynolds) and said ‘I don’t think there’s a better person than Max you could give it to – he’s perfect for the role.”
Having returned to Old Bath Road with his side languishing near the foot of the table in December 2015, Stapley – Rams’ second highest-ever first-team league try scorer with 99 – looked back fondly along with other moments having taken on the captaincy the following season.
He said: “We played Chinnor away for my first game back, and the whole season was just a dogfight. We were second bottom, relegation was a real possibility, but we just clawed our way out of it.
“From there we kept a lot of players and began to build, and it’s those good people who have been so important.
“The first year in National One was special – we were coming up against teams the club had never played before, and then beating them.
“All round there was a great atmosphere, and things have then just built from there.”
With a renewed energy, the No. 8 believes he could yet benefit from being just a player, but said he will always be there to help mentor Hayman.
He continued: “I’m feeling fresh and good. I seem to have found a new love for the gym, trying to get myself fitter to keep up with the new competition.
“I won’t shrug off my responsibilities because the idea is I can still help Max – he’ll have to learn how to deal with a referee whose sometimes not your best friend at the time, the opposition can get in your ear, while hitting line-outs and doing all the other stuff he does.
“But I think he’ll do a great job of it, and it frees me up to concentrate on myself and getting round the park a bit more.”
And with the first block of pre-season coming to an end, Stapley is optimistic for the season ahead.
He ended: “There’s a lot of good vibes around, everybody’s training hard and really pushing – all the guys came back looking fit.
“All the new signings seem nice and I think they’ll fit in well – we’ve not brought too many in so there shouldn’t be too much disruption.”
