2003

National League 3 Results

May 3 v Teesside Steelers - Home - lost 16-20 Tries: Kersh, Warner, Walker. Goals: Toon 2. Cents: Toon, Gunnell, Miller, Walker, Aristazabal, Eisenhuth, Wortley, K Edwards, Strid, Warner, Molyneux, Drewe, Kersh. Subs: Stokes, C Thomas,Yates, Saunders. 
May 10 v Warrington Woolston Rovers - Away - lost 10-46 Tries: Miller, Walker. Goal: Toon. Cents: Toon, Yates, Miller, Walker, Long, Eisenhuth, Wortley, G.Edwards, Strid, Warner, Stokes, Molyneux, Kersh. Subs: Saunders, Irving, Drewe, Gunnell. 
May 17 v Huddersfield Underbank - Home - won 28-22 Tries: Stokes 2, Kersh 2, Miller. Goals: Walker 4. Cents: Walker, Aristazabal, Miller, Yates, Gunnell, Eisenhuth, Wortley, Drewe, Stokes, Warner, Moly’x, Kersh, Cox. : Saunders, Edwards, C Thomas, Cullen. 
May 31 v Coventry Bears - Away - Won 40-18 Tries: Eisenhuth 2, Kersh, Irving, Strid, Gunnell. Goals: Toon 8. Cents: Walker, Toon, Miller, Irving, Strid, Eisenhuth, Wortley, Drewe, Stokes, C Thomas, Warner, Kersh, Cox. Subs: Saunders, G. Edwards, K. Edwards, Gunnell. 
June 7 v Bradford Dudley Hill - Away - Lost 8-16 Try: Yates. Goals: Toon 2. Cents: Walker, Toon, Yates, Miller, Strid, Eisenhuth, Wortley, Drewe, C Thomas, Warner, Saunders, Kersh, Cox. Subs: Longden, Vincent, Irving, Dube (not used). 
June 14 v South London Storm - Home - Won 38-18 Tries: Strid 2, Vincent, Walker, Kersh 3, Toon. Goals: Toon 3. Cents: Walker, Toon, Yates, Miller, Vincent, Eisenhuth, Strid, Drewe, Stokes, Warner, Saunders, Kersh, Cox. Subs: Longden, Cullen, C Thomas, Dube. 
June 21 v Coventry Bears - Home - Won 24-14 Tries: Cox 2, Strid, R.Edwards. Goals: Toon 4. Cents: Walker, Toon, R.Edwards, Miller, Vincent, Eisenhuth, Strid, Drewe, Stokes, G.Edwards, Saunders, Kersh, Cox. Subs: Longden, Yates (NU), C Thomas, Dube. 
June 28 v Sheffield Hawks - Home - Won 36-30 Tries: Wortley, Walker, Eisenhuth 3, Miller. Goals: Toon 6. Cents: Walker, Toon, R.Edwards, Miller, Vincent, Eisenhuth, Wortley, Drewe, Strid, G.Edwards, Saunders, Stokes, Cox. Subs: Longden, Warner, C Thomas, Dube. 
July 5 v South London Storm - Away - Won 28-6 Tries: R Edwards, Smith, Cox, Irving, Miller, Longden. Goals: Walker 2. Cents: Walker, Irving, R Edwards, Miller, M Thomas, Eisenhuth, Wortley, Drewe, Strid, G Edwards, Smith, Longden, Cox. Subs: K Edwards, Molyneux, Dube, Vincent. 
July 12 v Manchester Knights - Home - Won 40-10 Tries: Miller 3, Dube, Walker, Toon, Wortley. Goals: Toon 6. Cents: Walker, Toon, R Edwards, Miller, Vincent, Eisenhuth, Strid, Dube, Smith, G Edwards, Saunders, Longden, Cox. Subs: Stokes, M Thomas, Molyneux, Wortley. 
July 19 v Sheffield Hillsborough Hawks - Away - Lost 6-18 Try: Miller. Goal: Toon. Cents: Walker, Toon, Miller, M Thomas, Vincent, Eisenhuth, Stokes, C Thomas, Smith, Dube, Saunders, Warner, Longden. Subs: K Edwards, Drewe, Poulter, Zonta. 
July 26 v Hemel Stags - Away - Won 58-6 Tries: Eisenhuth 3, Miller 2, Zonta, M Thomas, Longden, Gunnell, Smith. Goals: Yates 9. Cents: Dene Miller, Neil Yates, Rocky Edwards, Matt Thomas, Greg Vincent, Tom Eisenhuth, Jamie Zonta, Scott Drewe, Richard Smith, Jon Warner, Matt Saunders, John Longden, Adam Cox. Subs: Brian Stokes, Craig Gunnell, Roy Dube, Damien Poulter (not used). 
Aug 2 v Huddersfield Underbank - Away - Lost 22-42 Tries: Smith (2), Eisenhuth, Saunders. Goal: Yates. Cents: Walker, Yates, Vincent, Miller, M Thomas, Eisenhuth, Zonta, C Thomas, Smith, Drewe, Stokes, Saunders, Longden. Subs: Gunnell, Strid, Irving, Warner. 
Aug 9 v Hemel Stags - Home - Won 56-18 Tries: Miller (12, 33, 52, 59), Strid (7, 26, 47), Walker (16), M Thomas (60), Smith (67), Eisenhuth (74). Goals: Yates 3, Toon 2, Eisenhuth. Cents: Walker, Yates, Miller, M Thomas, Vincent, Zonta, Strid, Drewe, Smith, G Edwards, Saunders, C Thomas, Eisenhuth. Subs: Toon, McMullen, Gunnell, Curry. Aug 16 Play-Offs v Sheffield Hillsborough Hawks - Home - Won 20-8 Tries: Miller (33, 65), Strid (39), Toon (45). Goals: Toon 2. Cents: Walker, Toon, R Edwards, Miller, Vincent, Zonta, Strid, C Thomas, Smith, G Edwards, Saunders, Longden, Eisenhuth. Subs: Gunnell (not used), Stokes, Drewe, Molyneaux. 
Aug 24 Play-Off v Warrington Woolston Rovers - Away - Lost 10-24Tries: Eisenhuth (69), Miller (72). Goal: Toon. Cents: Walker, Toon, R Edwards, Miller, Vincent, Zonta, Strid, C Thomas, Smith, G Edwards, Cox, Longdon, Eisenhuth. Subs: Stokes, M Thomas, Drewe, Dube.

Centurions 'A' 4 v Sandhurst Royal Military Academy 48 Date: 2003-06-14
FEATURE By Gavin Willacy courtesy of League Express www.totalrl.com
They may not have noticed in Wigan or Hull, Cronulla or Auckland, but another barrier came down on Saturday in Rugby League's ancient but ongoing war with Rugby Union and ‘the establishment. At 4.30pm, Sandhurst Royal Military Academy ran onto the field at Woollams on the outskirts of St Albans in suitably military style, resplendent in red and black hoped shirts and sparkling white shorts Julian Clary would have been proud of. After posing for a quick team group as history was captured on camera, they kicked off their first ever game of rugby league, an event that has caused such uproar it hit the pages of the Daily Telegraph and forced enquires in Parliament (see League Express 9 June). But it was a moment C Sgt Turner of First Battalion Parachute Regiment had been waiting for for months, nay years. Sandhurst, Britain's best known and highest regarded military training establishment, were finally playing The Greatest Game.  And they weren’t half bad. Despite starting with just two players who had played rugby league before, they spanked St Albans Centurions' second team 48-4, Wiganer Adam Birley waiting just four minutes to show his experience with a classic breakaway try from dummy half. Birley is the only born and bred leagie in the side: he spent four years at Wigan St Patrick’s before joining Wigan’s Under-16s under Graeme West. He left because he could not make 4pm training sessions as he was at public school in Bolton!  Birley soon adds another and it immediately becomes clear that not only is he a quality player but he is surrounded by very fit, very quick and rather agile rugby players. Their handling is sound and their passes crisp. The only giveaway that they are league novices is that they keep looking to the sidelines for help on the rules. There, C Sgt Turner - or Richard to us - is bellowing advice. He was born in Birmingham, schooled in Devon and took up league when the Army permitted it in 1993. League was started in his battalion by former Hull KR junior Dave Liddell, while Sandhurst has previously had a couple of ex London Broncos juniors in their ranks as well as former Scotland RL international Alisdair Blee. But this year’s intake are greenhorns, which makes the destruction of an admittedly thrown together and almost as inexperienced Centurions A side all the more impressive. The home side had only an excellent try by Flying Dutchman Johan Rheeder to cheer in a much-improved second-half display.  “I knew we would be fit and strong but I had no idea what standard we would be after only four or five training sessions in league," admits the highly affable Turner, who was not best pleased that the hierachy's antics stopped his squad training for a month. So I was chuffed to bits by that performance. I'd not seen any of the guys play a game but those that I thought would shine, did. The lads are delighted. They loved it. The union guys thought it was superb and are asking when the next game is! Unfortunately, because of BARLA's three games free insurance policy, we can't play until the Middlesex Nines on July 6 and then we play Greenwich Admirals in late July.”     After that, Turner hopes the paperwork and petty - some might say snide - bureaucracy which almost prevented them taking the field on Saturday will be overcome and they will be able to take their place in the London Amateur League next summer. By then, he will have gone back to his battalion in Dover, and most of the players will have left as Sandhurst is a one-year academy, mainly filled by post-graduates. That will leave the future of league in the hands of Turner's unnamed successor and Major Smith, his supportive Officer Commander.  Let's hope they can keep the venture going because, on this very early showing, they would be a force in the RL Conference if they could keep the team together into August when the players would traditionally be taking leave and avoid losing large groups of players due to army exercises. But with 28 platoons of about 30 men each, Sandhurst should be able to attract sufficient number of interested athletes to develop a deeper squad than the 23 who played on Saturday.  “We have to do sport twice a week in summer anyway, for the social side of it, rather than the fitness because we keep fit with the work we do every day," explained Warren Spiers, an amiable unionite from Sutton Coldfield. “I love rugby so it made sense to try league."  If Prince Harry goes there, perhaps he too could convert and become league’s highest profile signing. While the Sandhurst lads come from a wide variety of backgrounds, some do fit the social elite stereotype. Substitute David Stead played union at Cambridge University for Pembroke College while Richard Magnus played in Rugby School’s 1st XV for three years before heading to Leeds University. There he joined Leeds Tykes Under-21s where he did league fitness drills with Rhinos coaches. But this was his first ever game and, like the other Sandhurst guys, he was just thrilled to have played, even if the game was clearly one for development of both teams: St Albans coach Ken Edwards spieled a running commentary on rules and tactics to his substitutes, all while balancing his baby on his head!  “It was brilliant," said Magnus in Woollams' swish bar, packed with square-jawed, educated chaps as Halifax v Widnes drew to a close on the big screen behind them. "The basic ball skills are the same in either code but we didn't get the ball out to the backs and played a very direct game. That's through lack of experience. We didn't even know what to do when the ball went dead!"  As the sun set on another historic day in St Albans for rugby league, four Sandhurst boys in navy blazers, silk ties, slacks and shoes you could see your face in, sat opposite four T-shirt-and-shorts-wearing Centurions. Between them stood eight pints of beer. It was Boat Race time and everyone mucked in. They may have been stuffed on the park but at least St Albans won the drinking game, if only by a second. I doubt Sandhurst will lose many rugby league matches - or friends - at this rate. Centurions 'A' players: James Samuel, Matt Aristazabal, Johan Rheeder, Damian Poulter, Terry Kelly, Peter Williams, Craig Gunnell, Steve Robinson, Tony Hewittson, Mark Taylor, John Sayer, Stefano Alberici, Rob Collins. Subs: Simon Turner, Steve Kenworthy, Mark Cullen, Chris Hardwick, George Stone, Andy Wheldon.  Sandhurst Royal Military Academy players: Coe, Gartside, Williams, Arden, Mawby, Wainwright-Lee, Newton, Rees, Birley, Lawrence, Reeves, Phillips, Staveley. Subs: Ormiston, Marston, Spiers, Ali, Gilbody, Oats, Cox, Bould, Magnus, Stead.  Referee: Craig McIntosh (Earls Court)
Copyright St Albans Centurions Rugby League Club 2004



Centurions Awards Winners There were seven different winners of the eight awards on offer at the St Albans Centurions End of Season Presentation Night on 5 September 2003. At a packed Woollams, local boy Dene Miller was the only player to win two awards - Young Player of the Year and Top Tryscorer - while skipper Tom Eisenhuth was awarded the Man of Steel award for his contribution on and off the field in this magnificent first season in National League Three. The full list of winners was; Man of Steel - Tom Eisenhuth Ged Birkin Memorial Players' Player of the Year - Leigh Strid Supporters' Player of the Year - Adam Cox Young Player of the Year - Dene Miller Best Newcomer - Jamie Zonta Young Gun - Oli FOuntain Top Tryscorer - Dene Miller Second Team Player of the Year - Craig Gunnell There was double celebration for Welwyn Garden City as WGC products Miller and fellow centre Craig Gunnell swept three awards between them, Gunnell being voted the best player in the Centurions side that reached the London League Grand Final. Four awards went to Australians: London-based teachers Eisenhuth and Cox, plus tenacious utility man Leigh Strid and halfback Jamie Zonta, both of whom have decisions to make as to whether to stay in the country to play with St Albans again next season. And, in front of many of his Under-16 team-mates, Oli Fountain picked up the Young Player plaque for his momentous performances for the Young Cents that earned him an academy contract with London Broncos and an England Under-17s call-up. The forward from Watford is now attending sixth form college in Isleworth and training with the Super League club. The evening bash was a huge success with over 90 guests partying til midnight and much-needed funds raised for the club via a popular auction of rugby league memorabilia.
  Centurions earn national recognition 11:57am Friday 3rd October 2003 AFTER earning wide-spread recognition in their debut season in the National League Three last season, St Albans Centurions' reputation received a further fillip recently when six of their junior players were selected for the British junior squads.

Aussie rules at Centurions
By Alan Feldberg   St Albans Advertiser
MARRIAGES of convenience do sometimes work out and St Albans Centurions will be hoping the appointment of Peter Tonkin as head coach a fortnight ago proves another case in point.
The club had lined up Bill Ryan for the position, but he left them in the lurch to join Gateshead, and it was more by luck than design that they were able to find a suitable replacement in a matter of days.
Work commitments had brought Tonkin from his Brisbane home to permanent residency in London in early December, but while the move might not sound great to some, for Tonkin it was not as gloomy as the welcoming weather as, unlike in Australia, when his job involved frequent travelling, his new position provided him with the stability to get back into Rugby League.
To oil the process, he contacted the London Bronco's, who in turn put him in touch with Centurions' secretary Gary Tetlow. One telephone call later and the Ryan disappointment was all but consigned to history for the St Albans club.
"Centurions offered me the opportunity I've been looking for for a couple of years," Tonkin said. "I was travelling so much in Australia I wasn't able to get into Rugby League, but I'm in a position to do that now and this is the ideal situation. I like coaching and want to get involved in every aspect."
That the club has recently been included in the new National League Three was hardly dissuading, either.
"It's the icing on the cake," Tonkin said. "The opposition in this league will be tough. I think the standard will be a lot higher than people are expecting. Playing at this level, I think people will lift up a gear, but I'm optimistic of our chances.
"I set high standards for myself, and I expect that from my players."
Tonkin did mention a semi-finals position, but the pragmatist in him added: "For St Albans, this is really an establishment year in Division Three."
To ensure things go according to plan, Tonkin, who gained level one coaching accreditation 15 years ago, took charge of his first training session a week ago yesterday (Wednesday, January 15), when a frozen pitch at Westminster Lodge severely restricted his plans.
"We had to work on the track, so I set up some drill grids and we did some agility runs."
But even in this his players will have got a sense of Tonkin's approach to the game: "I always try to do things with ball in hand, be it drills, whatever; the ball is the most important part of the game. Next month we'll start to concentrate on defence and attack, but again it will be done with ball in hand."
Work continues for Tonkin on Sunday, when he drops in at the London heats of the Prop Idol contest on a scouting mission, but whoever lines up against the powerful Teeside Steelers in the first week of May will no doubt benefit from Tonkin's keenness to develop mental durability.
"Football is all about mental toughness it's not easy to keep going for 80 minutes.
"I want my players to have a positive approach to the game. Australians seem to have it naturally. I think it's an Americanism. We model our approach to sport on them, where the focus is on mind as well as body."