Alumni News

Alumni vs. 1st XV

This years alumni match is on Sunday 4th January 2009 in Chiswick, West London. Please check back later for more infomation.

Palatinates Soar with Falcons

No less than 6 current and former DURFC players were involved in Newcastle Falcons Development teams’ first outing of the pre-season as they travelled to Jed Forest RFC on Friday 17^th August. The Falcons completed a comprehensive defeat of their Scottish counterparts, running out 62-0 winners against a Jed Forest team coached by former Falcon’s scrum-half Gary Armstrong.

The star of the show was former Anthropologist Tom Dillon (St. Chads) who touched down with two tries, the first of which came from a deft chip and chase in the Jed Forest 22. Superb performances were provided by two other former students, Rob Vickers and Stuart Walker. Explosive hooker and former DURFC captain Vickers (Van Mildert), a former Sport in the Community and Business Masters student, was heavily involved with the 2006/7 DURFC squad in his role as the club’s strength and conditioning coach and is continuing to progress through the ranks at the Newcastle club becoming part of their full-time playing roster. Former languages student Walker (Hatfield) put in a particularly impressive display in the second row as part of a dominant line-out on the night and the future looks bright despite picking up a knock in training this week.

Current students Peter Browne, Greg Irvin, and Rob McDermott were also given opportunities to shine in the development side with all three putting in solid performances. Second year Theology student Browne (St. Chads) made the switch from his usual DURFC position of second row to No. 8 for the Falcons on the night, and showed good pace from the base of the scrum and impressive handling ability on a regular basis throughout the 80 minutes. Grey College student Greg Irvin, currently studying for a Masters in Management, made an impressive impact from the bench with a typical display of uncompromising running and an uncanny eye for a gap, whilst fellow Masters student McDermott (Trevelyan) also showed some good signs on his debut for the Falcons.

DURFC enjoy close links with Guinness Premiership outfit Newcastle Falcons with many current and former players being involved at all levels. The current 2007/8 squad also contains former DURFC players Ben Woods and Ollie Phillips, and as well as playing links, the two clubs enjoy coaching links with Academy coach Ian Peel providing several sessions for DURFC’s 1^st XV in the 2006/7 season and current Falcons player Ed Williamson being involved with DURFC coaching as well.

For more information on former DURFC players please view the alumni pages of durfc.com , and watch out for 2005/6 Club Captain Richard Campbell’s regular article in which he catches up with DURFC players of the past.