National League 1 - 2016/7 Wk 1

If, as one of our correspondents has said, “The long sleep is over” then in my case it’s been a rather fitful and troubled slumber. After the elation of putting one (literally!) over last year’s champs on the last day of the season, it’s been a summer of consciously distancing myself from the turbulence up the hill at Brickfields. I took a deliberate step back, hoping that all will work out for the best with the new ownership, praying that the stated and then inevitable departures would not be followed by a mass exodus and looking elsewhere for a little sporting diversion - Cornish Albion in the Counties, England Counties in Canada, a little Euro roundball and Olympic 7s before dusting off the shirt for the PSFs.

We’re not back at Year Zero, but it’s obvious that if the buy-out wiped the financial slate clean, it also took away a whole lot of accumulated knowledge, practice and expertise. If the baby didn’t exactly disappear with the bathwater, it got close to the drain on several counts and there seems to have been inevitable and possibly needless reinvention of various wheels. Appearance being the operative term, because whatever was going on wasn’t always effectively communicated with the Albion faithful. Don’t get me wrong, I’m going to give the new ownership plenty of time to get on with the job, but it also gets a “Windows 10” tag - it may be the future, but I’m d***ed if I can understand it on occasions.

So, what have we got team-wise? A squad with a solid core of experience and continuity, but which is much more part-time. Some clearly promising arrivals - particularly from up the A38, but not something to get hung up on. Objectively, the presence of one of the AP powerhouses so close at hand is a real boost to us and we shouldn’t dwell on the partisan memories of beating them home and away in the not too distant past. We welcome a new coach from Brixham (Hi, Dan) with Albion pedigree, but definitely stepping onto a steep learning curve. Add in Keiran Hallett as the bridge between the two and that important 10’s outlook that covers the tactical and the strategic. By necessity, the pre-season has been low-key with four straight wins, but the usual mix of potential and frustration. The PSFs can be a misleading bellwether of future form; while the basic ability seems to be present, there were way too many unnecessary infringements and a tendency to court risk taking the ball needlessly into contact. Keep it simple at this stage, guys - it’s not last April any more! Overall though, not a bad base on which to start a new campaign.

The season kicks off with a visit by Cambridge, last year’s champions in Nat 2 who have a lot more in common with us than you might think. They are a much younger club than us (started in the 1920s) who spent a lot of time in the regional leagues of the Eastern Counties. With some money from within the club, they made a charge for the higher reaches of the game about 10 years ago; one of the key players being a certain J Shanahan… They came very close to getting to Level 2, but came a cropper the year of the RFU restructuring when they lost out to Esher. Eventually, the money ran out and they were on the verge of bankruptcy, but managed to dodge the bullet. But they couldn’t hang on to Nat 1 status and are back in this league after an absence of three years. In that time, they had a plan and a man (who has since jumped ship to Coventry) to take them onwards and upwards. They’ve had their share of squad turnover, but barring any Ampthill-style setting the division on fire, will be looking to consolidate their position here. Which is basically what we’re trying to do, but from the other perspective…

Cambridge play in red and yellow kit which has earned them the nickname “Blood and Sand” - whether that will clash sufficiently with our new kit to cause problems, I don’t know. We’ve yet to see the finished item although the deal is signed for Vospers as main sponsors, according to the rumour mill. I don’t think we have any history of playing them at 1st team level, but I’m pretty sure our development side played the odd fixture (Canterbury Cup?) out that way before the travel costs got too much. Shanners brought in some players from his old stomping ground during his time here, but I’m not totally sure who they were, so they’ve have moved on in all probability. There’s a great unsubstantiated story from a couple of years back that Cambridge stopped off for a training run at our ground on the way to Redruth. James Penman was spotted by Dawsie and apparently he never went back! Corresponding with one of the visitors’ stalwarts, he expressed their ability to inspire both hope and despair, “Will it be good enough for National 1 - who knows? On a good day we are unstoppable, on a bad day we leak like a sieve. Some days, we do both…”

This coming Saturday has been the subject of an intense marketing campaign to “sell out” the Brickfields. Fair play, we really need to boost the gate to ensure the long-term success of the club, but if Cambridge can do what Bristol and the Pirates failed to do in the glory days (especially in view of a very vague weather forecast), then I too will present Match of the Day in my boxers. That said, the first game of the new season is always special - a clean sheet on which to draw, copious optimism and a chance to renew acquaintances from the spring. Well worth a punt - and there’ll be a £4.50 pastie and pint deal up to 14.30. Get in!

In spite of my diffidence over the break, I’m sufficiently confident to see us open our account with a modest win. The online opinion at rolling-maul.com is like-minded, with some much more bullish (9:1 in our favour), but I’ll be happy if we can stay ahead by more than seven points without giving the scoreboard operator RSI; 4-0 to Albion.