With the cold snap in December and the festive break, it seems a while since we had senior rugby action , but Teddington RFC were back with a bang last weekend with 3 teams going out looking to kick start 2023 in style.

The 1st XV travelled down to Croydon to take on familiar opponents Old Whitgiftians. The fixture earlier in the season at Bushy Park was a tight affair which the Antlers narrowly came on top - this one was no different.

The conditions were not as conducive to running rugby as they were back in October, so this one was always going to be more of an attritional contest.

Old Whitgiftians fielded a sizeable pack who provided a real challenge in the early exchanges. Playing up the slope in the first half the Antlers managed to limit the score to a 3-0 deficit by the break and turning around there was confidence that the league leaders could get the job done.

Harry Smith kept up his impressive try scoring record this season by making it 5-3 and then Kerry BOYD sealed the victory with a second try.

No flowing rugby this week, but the most important thing was securing the 4 points and cementing our position at the top of the league.

It's now very much looking like a 4 way battle at the top to secure the 2 promotion slots and Teddington remain in pole position with 10 games to go. 

Final Score Old Whitgiftians RFC 3 Teddington RFC 10. Man of the Match - Max AITKEN

A strong Teddington 2nd XV welcomed Weybridge Vandals for a friendly at Bushy Park. The trend for the 2nd XV has been slow starts for much of the season and again that proved to be the case conceding 3 first half tries and soon trailing 21-0.

However the inevitable fightback was staged and trys by Sam O'Brien, George Harrison and Will Marson got the hosts right back into the game.

When Jasper Gibb finished off a great team try in the dying minutes, another Houdini act looked to be on the cards, but time ran out and the referee blew for time.

Final Score Teddington 2nd XV 24 Weybridge Vandals 2nd XV 28. Man of the Match - Will Marson

Teddington 3rd XV managed to run out for only the second time this season. An experienced team made the short trip across Kingston to play Racal Decca and went down in a closely fought encounter.

The highlights of the day were fielding a fighting fit front row with a combined age of 183 with one of them, Andy Benson crashing over for a try.

The other was seeing our second row Guy Stewart run out with his two sons, Theo and Jude. Bill Pulling scored the other Teddington try. 

Final Score Racal Decca RFC 33 Teddington 3rd XV 19.