Rugby reunion brings old team back together after 25 years
Ross Cowie recently celebrated his 70th birthday by reuniting the age-grade side he coached from U13s to Colts back in 2000.
A part of Colchester Rugby Club for nearly 40 years, Ross holds numerous roles within the game. At club level, he’s Chairman of Youth Rugby and Fixture Secretary, while also serving as Age Grade Lead for Eastern Counties, a member of the RFU’s Education and Age Grade Sub Committee, and Chair of Suffolk & North Essex Referees.
He said: “I wanted to try and do something a bit different and unusual. We thought it was great in theory, so we had a go at seeing if it would work and it did!”
Despite many of the players having not seen each other for years, Ross rallied twelve of the old squad, with a further five joining the celebration from the touchline.
They were joined by seven others of a similar age to form a team that faced Colchester’s veterans’ side, the Roman Ruins, under the Friday night lights on the club’s all-weather pitch.
Many of the players hadn’t laced up their boots in years: both centres were making their first appearances in over a decade, while the scrum half had only played once in 25 years.
The squad featured no fewer than seven props, including Shane Jerram, captain of the 2000 Eastern Counties Colts cup final team, slotted in at Number 8.
Ross said: “It was a brilliant day. Seeing the lads get back together, it was like the world had hardly changed – apart from the size of waistlines and some of them had lost their hair!
“They were a really close group when they were younger. We just about got 15 players on the pitch each week so each player played pretty much every game. The team went from winning one game at U13s to only losing one game when they became Colts they lost one game.
“Ten of them went to play for 1st XV – including a club skipper and about seven of them played representative rugby too.”
Ross’s Legends defied rustiness with a sparkling display of expansive rugby, running out 49-0 winners. But it wasn’t about the scoreline, the evening was all about friendship, memories, and sharing stories that had stood the test of time.
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