1st XV: January 2026 saw the CS Stags 1863 bring in the new year with two good wins on the 10th and 17th. First up was Hammersmith & Fulham away at Hurlingham Park, Fulham, and a tough one, since after opening up a good lead, Stags had to contend with a strong H&F resurgence to hold on to a 20-24 away win. Next up at home was Bracknell on the 17th, and a 34-22 double bonus point victory was more in keeping with the team’s ambitions. Then came all the high scoring draws and near losses! Camberley away in the mud 31st January was another tough one, and a 38-38 draw, despite us scoring seven tries, and the opposition five. 14th February saw the visit of Jersey, who have since been crowned league champions with an unbeaten season so far. Another hard, ding-dong game, with Stags leading 35-33 with ten minutes to go, and then the score was 40-40 with five to go. A draw would have been fair, except that Jersey got a penalty on the half way line with the last play of the game, and converted to claim the 40-43 win. More of the same followed, with Wimbledon away on 28th February. Stags looked to have done enough, with a 30-32 lead in the final minute. A last minute try and conversion gave Wimbledon the victory 37-32. And finally, this last Saturday, 7th March, we hosted London Scottish Lions whom we share Kings House School Sports ground with. Another tough game, where second place Lions just gained the upper hand for a 20-27 away win, despite strong pressure from the Stags. So yes, some tough results, and some hard to swallow losses. But all the games this year have been good hard games, and the boys have given their best in every one, picking up bonus points even in losses, to maintain a very credible current fifth place, in a tough league.

2nd XV: Ending “Stage 1” of the Gaucho ROC London Shield (a reserve league run by Surrey) in fifth place out of ten, the Staghounds had some high hopes for the new year. However, with injuries hitting the whole of the Stags squad hard, the boys have had to dig deep to get teams out in “Stage 2” of the competition, and to their credit they have done this. This was tempered by many other teams in this league finding it equally hard to field teams and matches, and granting quite a few walkovers and reschedules. The result has been only three actual Staghounds games being played since New Years, and the team lying sixth out of nine (Chinnor pulling out of the league completely) at present. January saw the Staghounds visit Richmond on successive weeks, with a 60-12 defeat against Vikings (II’s), and a 43-19 defeat against Saxons (III’s). Both scores do not justice to much closer games in reality, and the Staghound boys giving a really decent showing. A 28-0 walkover concession from Esher followed next, and 28th February, Staghound went down to Barnes 29-48, playing next door on the AGP at Chiswick RFC as our home match, due to no pitches available at Kings House. So, Staghounds are putting their best foot forward where they can, and with so many scratches and cancellations in this reserve league, we shall wait to see how the season end pans out.

• The remainder of the season for Stags.
Just three league fixtures remain for the firsts now in the Regional 1 South Central league. Worthing away on March 21st. Then we have our last home game on March 28th against Farnham. 11th April sees the final league match, away at Maidenhead. We wish our boys the best, and hope you do come along to watch and support if you can. Special mentions for our Sponsors/Former Players/Supporters Day on 28th March against Farnham! Do take a ‘butchers’ at our poster attached to this newsletter, and let Nick Alway, David Chaytor, and Fred Cracknell know of your availability and interest. Get your - bookings in early! The pre-match lunch is available to all, not just sponsors and vets, so all you parents, family, friends, and club supporters, please do come along in droves to enjoy some spring camaraderie, ‘bonne humeur,’ and good rugby.
• Get your bookings in – last home match day for Sponsors, Former Players, and Supporters pre-match lunch – Saturday 28th March 2026
And here it is … our poster with details about the club designated Sponsors, Former Players, and Supporters Day – on Saturday 28th March 2026. We had such a great turnout of former players and friends on 13th December 2025 for Vets Day, and it will be great to see a good crowd and turnout replicated.

• England International Tickets – 2026 Nations Championship tickets are available!
Ricky Hollamby (Club Treasurer) has already taken over the club ticketing contact role, and has already handled the initial 2026 Nations Championship club allocations from the RFU. The allocations for the matches in November 2026 came much earlier this year – (January, instead of @ April). So, we do have tickets available for all the matches listed below. Ricky’s email address is ricky_hollamby@hotmail.com – so please get your orders in with Ricky.
This is a 12 team tournament, and shall take place every two years. The tournament is designed to align northern and southern hemisphere rugby calendars, guaranteeing high-profile fixtures to add more structure and meaning to the existing international windows between World Cups. July & November 2026.

England away matches are as follows: July 2026 (No club allocation for these!)

South Africa v England: Saturday 4 July
Fiji v England: Saturday 11 July
Argentina v England: Saturday 18 July

The November 2026 England home matches being played in the Nations Championship this year, are as follows:
England v Australia: Sunday 8 November, KO 15:10
England v Japan: Saturday 14 November, KO 16:40
England v New Zealand: Saturday 21 November, KO 14:10
This will be followed by a “Finals Weekend” - Friday 27 / Saturday 28 /Sunday 29 November 2026:
Friday 27 November, 6 v 6 final - KO 16:40 followed by the 3 v 3 final - KO 20:10
Saturday 28 November, 5 v 5 final - KO 13:10 followed by the 2 v 2 final - KO 16:40
Sunday 29 November, 4 v 4 final KO 13:10 followed by the 1 v 1 final - KO 16:40
Ricky has taken up tickets for all of these games, (excluding only the first day of the finals weekend - Friday 27 November – 6 v 6 and 3 v 3) - so please let Ricky have your requests for the games you wish to see.

• News concerning end of season, and the road forward.
There will be changes afoot at end of season in a few key club roles. Firstly, our Head Coach Oli Bryant shall be stepping down from the position due to moving a bit further north for work/home lifestyle. Oli has been a fantastic club servant, and done a superb job over these last three years or more, and we are extremely grateful to him. He has been primarily responsible for gelling the club squad together, gaining their focus, and getting the very best out of them, and the results have shown dividends in club league position and stature these past three seasons. He has also gone over and beyond the coaching role, has organised off-field activity such as kit washing, storage, and transport, and developed a rota system for the players themselves to share in these preparation tasks. So, a big thank you to Oli, and we wish him and his wife Georgi all the very best for the future, and soon to start family in the coming months.
David Chaytor shall also be stepping down as Chairman, and from all voluntary roles, at the end of this season – mainly due to full retirement, and quite a bit of travel abroad planned for much of next season. He has thoroughly enjoyed the last slightly over four years in the chair role, and grateful to all at the club who have provided invaluable assistance to him. He shall, of course, remain a loyal club supporter and member for life, and I’m sure will be seen on the touch lines whenever possible.
The above roles are in process of being advertised, discussed, and fulfilled by the club committee, so please do give them your full support in the coming months. We shall of course announce with updates as soon as they are filled. Likewise, a number of specific tasks shall be re-allocated, split, or distributed. So firstly, thank you to all who have taken on some of these tasks and roles, and secondly, as outlined below, we are always looking for new volunteers to assist in other positions.

• Volunteers, membership:
Following previous month’s newsletter appeals, we would still welcome any volunteers to assist the club with day to day running. There are various roles and tasks available in coaching, team assistants, admin, media presentation, RFU liaison etc., and this would not only help the club greatly, but also hopefully offer satisfaction and a sense of team benefit to the holder. Please put your hand up, or let the committee members know if you are interested, and have some spare time and commitment. Also feel free to recommend to any suitable interested parties you may know of that would like to get involved. Thank you.

• Membership:
Here are the membership options again. Your paying membership, sponsorship, and donations help the club a great deal – so if you don’t already do so, please consider signing up for one of the following to support the CS Stags 1863.
Playing -
- Annual £250 either straight into the club account or via this link - https://buy.stripe.com/7sY5kDa5na9g1oPfoG5os0c
- Quarterly £60 upfront £55 per quarter via this link - https://buy.stripe.com/28EdR92CV1CK2sT4K25os0b
- Monthly £60 up front £20 a month, via this link - https://buy.stripe.com/4gMeVddhza9gaZpfoG5os0a
- Players Sponsorship - £350 either straight into the club account (in group bio) or via this link - https://buy.stripe.com/cNidR9a5n8189VlfoG5os0d
If you have an existing direct debit set up from last year, please cancel it, otherwise it'll keep charging.

Non-Playing -
- Affiliate Membership - £120 into the club account or £15 a month via the link - https://buy.stripe.com/dRm6oHcdv8185F5gsK5os0g
- Social Membership - £300 into the account or £30 a month via the link - https://buy.stripe.com/28E00jb9r2GO6J9ekC5os0f
- Full Membership - £1,000 into the account or £100 a month via the link - https://buy.stripe.com/6oU28rgtL818d7xccu5os0e

Club bank details included here, should you wish to do this direct electronically, rather than through the Stripe link on the Pitchero CS Stags 1863 club web site:

CS RUGBY 1863 / 56-00-33 / 48028053

• Please note the England Rugby website links to fixtures, results, and tables, and stats also printed out below:

Links for you to follow:
1st XV fixtures, results, tables, and stats
https://www.englandrugby.com/fixtures-and-results/search-results?team=5987&season=2025-2026#fixtures
2nd XV fixtures, results, tables, and stats
https://www.englandrugby.com/fixtures-and-results/search-results?division=73552&competition=1729&season=2025-2026#fixtures
Current league tables also posted below: For updates on Fixtures / Results / League Tables please check on all three sites linked. Weekend Fixtures and Match Reports are posted regularly on all three sites – under “News” on Pitchero – plus with added photographs available from the matches to enjoy under “Media/Albums.” Match reports also often contain additional photos, plus a link to Shell Patrick’s photos, and we are grateful to her for coming along on a Saturday to take these shots.

CS Stags 1863 1st XV – Regional 1 South Central League Table

CS Staghounds (II’s) – Gauchos ROC London Shield Table

Links to CS Stags 1863 websites on Pitchero, Facebook, and LinkedIn below:
https://www.pitchero.com/clubs/civilservicefootballclubru/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/civilstags
https://www.linkedin.com/company/66883452/admin/page-posts/published/

David Chaytor – Chairman CS Stags 1863
Tel: 07976 609 081 - Email: dchaytor@virginmedia.com

pdf

CS Stags 1863 March 2026 Newsletter PDF

1.1MB

Download