Chester Gladiators

Sully to check on junior progress

admin — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 10:04:05 +0000

The former St Helens and Wales star Anthony Sullivan will attend the junior Gladiators training session on Monday 2nd August to cast his eye over the progress being made. Anthony is now employed by the Rugby Football League as a Talent Coach (Peformance & Coaching) for the North West region and his visit follows the [...]

Warrington RLSA Sportsmans Lunch

admin — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 18:25:08 +0000

Warrington Rugby League Service Area in association with JLJ Group presents A Sportsmans Lunch on Sunday 5th September at the Halliwell Jones Stadium. The event, which gets underway at 1.30pm, features special guest speakers Neil Holding, the former Great Britain scrum half, and award winning comedian Austin Knight. Tickets cost £25 each and anybody booking [...]

Gladiators face Steamers on Saturday 31st July

admin — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 13:58:31 +0000

Chester Gladiators will wrap up their season with a home match against Crewe & Nantwich Steamers on Saturday 31st July at 12.00pm. The match will take place at Hare Lane, home of Chester RUFC. Please see our club information page for directions.

No senior training on Thursday 22nd July

admin — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 21:06:24 +0000

All senior players are advised that there is no training session on Thursday 22nd July. There is no match scheduled for this weekend. The next match is due to take place on Saturday 31st July against Crewe & Nantwich Steamers.

Mancunians RL 30-36 Chester Gladiators

admin — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 15:03:09 +0000

Chester Gladiators secured a hard fought 36-30 win against Co-operative Rugby League Conference champions elect Mancunians RL in a tough and physical encounter at Broughton Park.

Both sides were missing a host of players due to injury and other commitments but produced an entertaining spectacle in difficult conditions.

The home side, who have already secured top berth in the North West Regional division, took an early lead when hooker Jack Hancock took advantage of some poor defence to scamper over the line after just two minutes. However, Chester hit back with a try from Adam Pierpoint who linked well with Rob Massam, a combination that was to cause the hosts major problems all afternoon.

Massam scored a try of his own on the 20 minute mark to put the Gladiators in front before Stuart Stones barged his way across the whitewash for Mancunians to give the home side a slender lead at the interval.

Chester again started the second half slowly and Mancunians extended their advantage through Kemar Giles but Chester responded strongly. Player coach Declan Foy twisted and turned his way over the line from close range before Massam just managed to avoid the touchline en route to claiming his second of the game.

Pierpoint then followed up with his second of the game to put the Gladiators in control and Foy showed some neat footwork to force his way over the line from close range once more. Neil Shackloth pulled a try back for the hosts before Massam wrapped up his hat-trick with a trademark finish.

With time running out the home side were understandably growing frustrated and both sides discipline began to suffer with a succession of penalties before tempers frayed on the 70 minute mark and the home side saw Sam Wilson sent to the sinbin following a clash with Jim Green. Mancunians had the final say as their impressive centre Dave Rushton powered his way to the try line but Chester held out to claim and impressive victory.

The Gladiators final regular season game is scheduled to take place on Saturday 31st July at home against Crewe & Nantwich Steamers. Please check www.chestergladiators.com for confirmation of kick-off times.

Squad: Chris Blythe, Dave Beddows, Alexis Wilkie, Rob Massam, Adam Pierpoint, Declan Foy, Chris Pape, Sam Lee, Jim Green, Chris Young, Martin Cormack, Rich Owen, Damon Williams (Interchange: Stuart Davies, Gareth Davies, Darren Hawes, Dan Timperley)

Tries: Rob Massam (3), Adam Pierpoint (2) and Declan Foy (2)

Goals: Chris Pape (5/7)

Bartletts Solicitors Man of the Match:

3: Rob Massam
2: Declan Foy
1: Damon Williams

Junior Gladiators Got Talent

admin — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 08:16:34 +0000

Chester Gladiators junior section has received a major boost with the news that six players have taken their first tentative steps towards the ultimate goal of signing for a Super League club.

The Gladiators were asked to nominate six candidates for Talent Trials in Warrington in late May and the club has just been informed that all six juniors have progressed to the next stage which will take place in September.

“This is a real positive endorsement of what we are trying to do here at the Gladiators,” said Junior Coach Allen Jones.

“We concentrate of developing core skills, game awareness and team spirit. Results are secondary at the moment to developing the boys skills and understanding of the game.

“In reality we could have nominated another six or eight boys if we were able to, there is so much potential across all the age groups here and we hope to be allowed to nominate more juniors next season.”

The six juniors who have been successful are Ryan Turner, Tom Woods and Armani Roberts from the under 12s, Lewis Tucker and Luke White from the under 13s and Jake Carter from the under 15s.

Impressive debut for Gladiators under 15s

admin — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 08:16:51 +0000

The Junior Gladiators under 15s made their long awaited Rugby League debut on Saturday 10th July when they travelled to North West Counties outfit Latchford Albion Giants of Warrington.

The small squad of 11 players, made up of 8 U15s and 3 U14s, played a 9-a-side game split over four quarters. In a compelling end to end encounter the Gladiators fell just short of what would have been a quite remarkable victory, going down 50-46 to their more experienced opponents.

Try scorers for the Gladiators were Jack Price with a hat-trick, Luke Harris with two and one each for
Frank Richards, Tom Harding and Jake Carter. Carter also kicked seven out of eight conversions, not bad
for his first ever stint as a goal kicker!

Coaches Allen Jones and Chris Lloyd-Davies were delighted that the boys have their first game under their belts and that they performed so well.

“For 8 of these boys it was their first ever game of Rugby League and to push Latchford all the way as they did was a great testament to their determination, character and skill”, said Jones

“I am so pleased for the boys as they have waited quite a while for their first run out, but boy did they play well. To put on a performance like that for their fist outing was outstanding.”

Squad: Kieran Bradburne, Jake Carter, Tom Chong, Tom Harding, Luke Harris, Kyle Joseph,
Curtis Ledisham, Tom Lock, Luke O’Neil, Jack Price and Frank Richards

3-2-1: The coaches want to give a well deserved 3 points to every player on show.

Chester Gladiators wishes to thank all parents and family for their support and to our hosts from Latchford for their sportsmanship both on and off the field.

Matches against Crewe & Nantwich called off

admin — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 20:11:56 +0000

Please note that this weekends matches against Crewe & Nantwich Steamers are OFF. Crewe & Nantwich are unable to raise a side unfortunately and therefore both the Rugby League Conference and Merit League fixtures have been postponed. The Conference fixture will be awarded to Chester Gladiators.

Gladiators host successful junior festival

admin — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 20:24:22 +0000

On a bright, hot and sunny Saturday morning over 100 junior Rugby League players from five development clubs assembled on Hare Lane, home of Chester RUFC, for the first ever Chester Gladiators Junior Rugby League Festival.

The Gladiators fielded two teams at U12s (a mixture of U11 and U12 juniors) and U14 (a mixture of U13 and U14 juniors).

Under 12s

The U12s continued their fine run of form this season, winning 2 of their 3 games on the day.

First up was a game against old foes Liverpool Lions which was comfortably won by the Gladiators. Next came the Liverpool Storm who were put to the sword with ruthless efficiency by the home team. The final fixture in the U12s pool saw the two unbeaten sides, the Gladiators and the Cheshire Cats from Lymm, lock horns. It was the Cats who came out on top in this game with the deciding factor being the greater number of 12 year olds in their squad. However, the Cats are a fine team playing nice slick attacking rugby backed up with a solid defence.

The Gladiators can be proud of their efforts once again and the squad continues to develop under the watchful eye of coach Adam Turner. Next up for the U12s is a visit to Manchester on the 17th July for another junior festival and another crack at the Cheshire Cats.

Squad: Matty Allen, James Ashcroft, Jack Bottomley, Joshua Field Baines, Ricky Davies, Joe Ives, Ben Jones, Joe Maddocks, Will Menzies, Armani Roberts, Ryan Turner (Captain), Thomas Woods and Brandon Young

Under 14s

This squad of U13 and U14 juniors continue to develop at a pace and this was so evident in their two fixtures last Saturday.

First up was a clash against Liverpool Buccaneers, who had narrowly defeated the Gladiators a few weeks ago. There was to be no repeat this time as the Gladiators ran out victors by 4 tries to 1 in another physical end to end encounter. The final pool game saw the Gladiator take on Liverpool Lions as the two unbeaten teams on the day clashed. This was a real hard nosed physical game of Rugby League with the no nonsense Lions forward based game in stark contrast to the Gladiators more skilled approach. In a tight game the Gladiators deservedly edged home 5 tries to 4 against a team containing several players with North West Counties experience.

“The boys were brilliant today and were tough and aggressive in defence and very slick on attack,” said coach Allen Jones.

“However, there is still lots to work on and that starts on Monday evening.”

Squad: Thomas Chong, Aled Davies, Rob Dessington, Max Himbury, Matty Joyce, Curtis Ledisham, Rob Leighton, Ian Menzies, Luke O’Neil, George Ryder, Lewis Tucker (Captain) and Edward Wilkinson

Junior coaches Adam Turner and Allen Jones wish to pass on their sincerest thanks to all parents and families for their support on the day.

Special thanks go to April for organising the raffle, Lyndsey in the kitchen, Bill “The Naked Chef” Menzies for a memorable buffet and Chris Young, Martin Tucker, Gareth Jones and Gareth Davies for helping out with the juniors. We also wish to thank the lovely Danielle and her staff at Chester RUFC.

All of your help and support was invaluable on a great day for Chester Gladiators. Clubs visiting on the day were Liverpool Buccaneers, Liverpool Lions, Liverpool Storm and Cheshire Cats.

Thank you to all players, coaches, family and friends from these clubs for helping to make it a successful festival.

Super League stars to attend junior training

admin — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 20:12:10 +0000

Members of the Crusaders playing squad will attend our junior section training session on Monday 5th July. The Crusaders relocated to Wrexham at the end of the 2009 engage Super League campaign and have enjoyed a very successful start to life in North Wales. The club have recorded shock victories over both Bradford Bulls and [...]