By Georgia Garnett
ENGLAND men’s rugby has had a successful home campaign so far during this year’s Six Nations, upsetting a highly fancied French team before beating Scotland after the visitors missed a conversion with the last kick.
With one home match still to go on Saturday against Italy, England are aiming to win all their Six Nations home matches for the second year in a row.
For local rugby clubs in the area, having the pinnacle of English rugby in their backyard provides a multitude of benefits.
Thamesians Rugby Club is the closest amateur club to Twickenham, with two men’s teams and a women’s team.
The club shares the clubhouse on Twickenham Green with Twickenham Cricket Club, offering a place both to play rugby and watch England’s stars perform.
Hugh Brayshaw, men’s second team captain, said: “It’s very cool, that sort of buzz and atmosphere of it being in town is really nice and then you go play your own game on Sunday – it does continue that energy.”
Aminah Olaniyan, a prop on the women’s team, added: “Having the Six Nations so close is a very big deal to me because prior to coming to the UK, even though I had played for four years during my undergrad, I’d never actually seen a rugby game live.
“It being so close is almost not real but real at the same time to me – I could have never imagined this three years ago when I was over in the US.
“I could have never imagined myself being able to be so close and seeing so many of the actual players just in their daily lives – it’s very inspiring because you think, ‘ooh, that could be me one day’.”
The club has members from each of the Six Nations, which means there are some friendly rivalries within the team during the tournament.
The international flavour extends further, as the women’s team has a back-and-forth annual match with a club in Paris, the same weekend as Le Crunch.
These matches provide a challenge, as they expose the team to slightly different rules between the two countries – for instance, UK rules dictate tackling below the sternum, while French rules allow for tackling at the hips and below.
But, the thing that both Brayshaw and Olaniyan said was their favourite thing about the club is its openness and welcoming feeling for everyone.
“It’s a testament to how the club’s grown over recent years, everybody is very welcoming to everybody, there’s such a broad membership base of players so there’s no one you don’t get on with.,” Brayshaw said.
Olaniyan added: “Everyone who’s willing to be a Thamesian can be a Thamesian.”
