Taunton Warriors Update

This week it’s the Taunton Warriors, the club’s successful second team who are in the spotlight as Richard Kitzinger meets their coach John Wrelton and a pair of players, Charlie Way and Oliver Wrelton.

It’s nice to head into Saturday’s fixture with Taunton at the top of the table. No, this is not some trip down memory lane for the benefit of the club’s many past players who are joining us at Veritas Park today. It’s the truth. The club’s second string, Taunton Warriors, sit in first place in Counties Tribute 2 Somerset division and even have a game in hand over their nearest rivals. It’s about time we celebrated the great success of this relatively new side.

Historically Taunton had a very strong second team. For one reason or another that team fragmented and the situation evolved to a Warriors side within the Titans set-up that played against the other 2nd XVs from Titans’ National Two division. However, with players with National Leagues aspirations finding that there wasn’t enough meaningful rugby for them to play, the club felt that it required a proper competitive league for its second string. So TRFC applied to get back into the league structure.

The resurrected Warriors team therefore began in tier 8, Somerset Two division, in season 2022/23. The ambition was to create a pathway for local players to move from junior rugby into adult rugby with the top goal being to play in the National Leagues. “It grated with me,” says club chairman John Wrelton who is the coach of the Warriors, “That we had so few home-grown Taunton players who would become the club men of the future. My ambition is that we have more players who come through from our juniors who stay in the local area and we have an offering for them. If they’re National League standard or they’re local league standard, then they can keep playing in a Taunton shirt.”

“We don’t look at ourselves as a second team. We look at ourselves as the Titans of the future.” Charlie Way

In its first season, half the squad was eighteen years old and in combination with some of the fringe Titans players, finished third in the league. This season is going even better with the team leading the table with just six games to play. With just one defeat from 15 games, Warriors are approaching 1000 points for the season and have a points difference of +786, almost double that of their nearest rivals. That doesn’t mean that it doesn’t come without its difficulties says Wrelton, “Having the numbers to play is a constant challenge. Due to a combination of injuries, some players being away, winter flu and so on, we went to St Bernadette’s with just 15 players and lost Liam Dray to a broken hand in the first ten minutes. The truth is the boys played out of their skins and won 50-10.”

Some of the scorelines have raised eyebrows. Yatton, Hornets and Weston-super-Mare have all been taken for over 90 points whilst the century was raised in the home fixture with St Bernadette’s Old Boys in a 104-7 win. Yet, Wrelton maintains, only a couple of players each time have Titans experience and the majority of his players are still in their teens. It augurs extremely well for the club at all levels.

“There’s a lot of depth in the Warriors. Having a National One team as your First team makes it competitive. We train with them twice a week and that has to contribute to our success.” Oliver Wrelton

Sometimes Titans players recovering from injury come back through the Warriors before returning to the physicality of National League One rugby but there is no suggestion of players being parachuted in to boost results. “We took just 15 players – no bench – to Minehead. We lost. Minehead are tough. That’s how it is.”

When Yatton came to Veritas Park, Warriors ran in 126 unanswered points. “For me,” says coach Wrelton, “The joy is not how many points we’re scoring but how many we’re not conceding. Warriors has, by over 100 points, the meanest defence in the league. That’s the impressive figure. The boys don’t want to concede points. They defend viciously.”

“When we played Chew Valley at home we were so up for it and we dominated all over the park in tough, horrible weather but despite the conditions we played some great attacking rugby. That’s probably the game of the season so far for me.” [Warriors won 45-10] Charlie Way

There’s a good smattering of lads involved who have come through from TRFC junior rugby. “Oliver Wrelton and Charlie Way are both local players who’ve played every level of junior rugby here,” says John. “Josh Guest is a through-Taunton player as well. Ollie Schuster-Wood played his rugby just down the road in Cullompton. In the main, they’re local. It’s nice to see. But all of them – which is why they train so hard on Tuesdays and Thursdays with Titans – have the ambition of playing first team rugby. That is the drive.”

“Most of our team are boys who are hopefully pushing in years to come to play in that first team.” Charlie Way

Training with the Titans brings the Warriors under the coaching auspices of not only Wrelton and his co-coach, Brett Harvey, but also of course Chris Brown, Gary Kingdom and Tony Yapp. What’s more, rubbing shoulders with experienced Titans players, some of whom have experiences even higher up the league structure can only benefit the Warriors youngsters.

“In training guys like Toots will come across and suggest I try something to improve my game. That’s class. How many other teams at this level are getting that sort of coaching input on the training pitch?” Oliver Wrelton

Often we play Titans vs Warriors in the team runs sessions which is exactly what the club wants for developing fitness, determination and intensity. “There’s no doubt,” says John Wrelton, “That juniors at TRFC can now see a pathway via Colts to adult rugby with Warriors and, hopefully, Titans.”

It’s a big ask of one man to be both Club Chairman and Coach of the 2nd XV. John Wrelton is the longest continually-serving chairman in the club’s history and he has taken on a mammoth task in reintroducing the Warriors, for whom in their debut season his duties included coaching, driving the bus, getting the team laundry done, setting up the changing room, buying the snacks and plenty more besides. All of which he has done in addition to being Chairman of Somerset estate agents Wilkie May and Tuckwood. Mercifully, the retirement of Brett Harvey has been, in John’s words, “Transformative. His knowledge is phenomenal, he’s a wonderful coach and just having someone else there is great.”

After coaching for so long in TRFC’s youth section, it has meant a great deal to John to get the Warriors up and running. “I coached for 12 years in the juniors and it disappoints me that some of those boys are now playing at other clubs because we didn’t have a team for them. But we now have a team. They are a squad. Most of the other teams that we play are first teams.”

That is as maybe, but all being well, Warriors are on course to finish top of the pile and a great deal of credit needs to go to John Wrelton who has taken charge of this project and, quite clearly, has done so masterfully.  

Nineteen year-old Oliver Wrelton plays in the back row for Warriors but also covers the second row. His involvement at Taunton RFC began when he was just five years old with Rascals and he has played his way through all the age groups to men’s rugby. For most of that time his coach has been his father, John, but when it comes to rugby “I call him John like everyone else, not Dad.” Away from the rugby club, Oliver is a trainee accountant with Albert Goodmans with whom he intends to do his accountancy degree as an apprentice.

Beating Hornets away at the start of January ranks as Oliver’s most memorable moment of the season to date. “Hornets had beaten Chew Valley,” he explains, “So it was really competitive, it was a tough game. We pulled away in the second half to win it. A really nice win.” [The score was Hornets 10 Warriors 27]

Charlie Way is an eighteen year-old who has just taken his A-levels last summer. He has been at Taunton RFC since Under 9s age group. Having begun his rugby journey at the club, he was offered a rugby scholarship to Taunton School and was captain of the 1st XV there. Charlie has made the scrum half shirt his own in the Warriors in this, his first season of men’s rugby. His talents have been spotted further afield. Charlie has been with the Bristol Bears Academy through the age groups too so it is nice that he is now working with former Titans second row, Brett Harvey, who is also a Bears Academy coach as well as being co-Coach of the Warriors. As well as playing for Warriors, Charlie supports Bristol Bears and in summer he has a season ticket to watch Somerset County Cricket Club. He’s hoping to go to university next year, studying Architecture or Technology and Design, as well as developing his rugby. But he wants to come back and play for his home club because, in his own words, “I love it here”.

“When we played Chew Valley at home we were so up for it and we dominated all over the park in tough, horrible weather but despite the conditions we played some great attacking rugby. That’s probably the game of the season so far for me.” [Warriors won 45-10]

Taunton resident and rugby lover, Richard Kitzinger writes content for Taunton RFC’s club website and match-day programmes. His day job is writing Wills and Lasting Powers of Attorney - he can be found at www.westcountrywills.co.uk or reached on 07504 991893

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