Rugby: Hennessy at the helm for Oxfordshire

From the archive, first published Wednesday 23rd Apr 2003.

Chinnor No 8 Paul Hennessy has been chosen to captain Oxfordshire, who open their Tetley's County Shield campaign against Bucks at Chinnor on Saturday.

The former Reading player and scrum leader at Chinnor will add experience to an exciting young team chosen by coach John Brodley.

Ten other other members of the squad come from South West 1 club Chinnor, where Brodley shares the coaching duties with Lynn Evans.

Players are drawn from other Oxon clubs Oxford Harlequins, Henley and Banbury, but Brodley has also gone outside the county to call up those who learned their rugby here.

So, Witney-born Darryl Griffin, a former London Broncos rugby league forward, who now plays for NEC Harlequins, and Worcester's Matthew Payne are included in the squad, along with London Welsh's James Wilcox-Jones.

"I've chosen a side that is a testament to all the work done by Oxfordshire's Under 20 coaches over the last few years," said Brodley.

"People like Dave Lakin and Tim Boycott-Brown have done a brilliant job, and their nurturing of the players has begun to bear fruit."

Indeed, one current under 20 player, Banbury centre Matt Goode, comes straight into the Oxfordshire squad, after helping the county reach the semi-finals of the Under 20 Championship this season.

Four members of the Division 2 East champions Oxford Harlequins have made the squad, and it would have been five, but for an injury to scrum half Anthony Cope.

Brodley has taken over the reins from Oxon's playing chairman Tony Macarthur, who has found his time taken up as organiser of the Under 21 World Cup in June.

"I've picked players who want to play for the county, and so have gone away from the previous mould," he said.

Helping Brodley to look after the side will be the London Wasps' under 21 coach Greg Soffe, who will involved in the first training session at Chinnor tomorrow night.

Soffe, who was taught by Brodley when he was a pupil at The Cooper School, Bicester some 20 years ago, guided Wasps to the National Under 21 Club Championship last season.

The Shield, which is for the 11 weakest counties, have been split into four groups.

Oxfordshire's other group game is against Dorset & Wilts at Swanage and Wareham on May 10.

The group winners will play a semi-final on May 17, with the exciting prospect of a final at Twickenham the following Saturday.

Indeed, there could be two Oxon teams on show at HQ that day, if their Under 20s win their Tetley's Bitter semi-final against North Midlands at Dudley Kingswinford on May 3.

What a day that would be for Oxon rugby!

COUNTY SQUAD

Oxfordshire squad: P Hennessy (Chinnor) capt, D Boreham (Ox Harlequins), A Noyce (Banbury), B Hopcroft (Henley), M Nutt (Ox Harlequins), J David (Chinnor), M Goode (Banbury), D Oxley (Chinnor), G Phillips (Chinnor), S Matthews (Chinnor), T Nicholas (Henley), B Harris (Chinnor), J Winpenny (Chinnor), T Whelan (Chinnor), M Weekes-Pearson (Chinnor), S Chatterton (Ox Harlequins), A Milburn (Chinnor), D Griffin (NEC Harlequins), M Payne (Worcester), J Cope (Ox Harlequins), J Wilcox-Jones (LWelsh), T Johnson (Chinnor).

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