Our noble Duke

Wikipedia tells us that as late as the second half of the 20th century, it was possible to hear the second line of the National Anthem sung in Lancaster as "Long live our noble Duke", in recognition of the monarch's title as Duke of Lancaster. It is also sung thus at the Queen's Chapel of the Savoy, the remaining part of John of Gaunt's Savoy Palace. Strangely, my mother also taught me this version when I was a child. Our nearest town, East Grinstead, around which our family had lived for over 120 years, was once owned by the Duchy of Lancaster, so there must have been a local tradition, dating back to my great grandparents' time, and long since gone.

I was unable to test any of this when I visited Lancaster for Lancashire's first game in their campaign to retain the County Championship. The top tier of the competition, for the Bill Beaumont Cup is organised on a league format, with 2 divisions of 4 teams each, with the winners playing for the Cup at Twickenham. The games in the league stage are held at clubs around the participating counties. This fixture, against Northumberland, was played at Vale of Lune.

I enjoy a visit to Lancaster, it is a compact and pleasant place to wander round, with some good entries in the Good Beer Guide for pre and post match refreshment.

Many years ago, the County Championships were s stepping stone for players to an international call up. They have diminished in importance since, although there is a representative England Counties XV. They are still an opportunity to see some good players in action, with some from the Championship, and the bulk from National Leagues 1 and 2. Some players named in the squad, such as the fly half for the last few seasons, Alex Davies, were missing as they were still needed by their clubs, in Alex' case for London Welsh in the Championship playoffs.

Alex Davies in action in last season's competition

The County side teams up for three or four games a year, so, whilst I recognised some faces on the pitch, it was not so easy to put names to them apart from those who have played in the competition for a few seasons, such as Rossendale's Stephen Nutt.

Stephen Nutt

Not seeing rugby union very frequently, I am not as clear as I could be about the rules, especially in the maul.

A maul (I think)

I understand the principle, the player with the ball enlists his team mates to push forward against the opposition who are trying to impede or reverse his progress. Part of the objective is to get the ball out of the melée, so you can pass it to someone who is in a position to run with it. Where I get lost is with a picture like that above: the pushing seems to be going on entirely in front of the man with the ball.

A few years ago, rugby union was criticised by some as a game with the ball being hoofed from one lineout to another and most of points coming from penalty kicks. This has not been my experience, and I was fortunate enough not to see a game I heard about with a score of 63-60 with not a single try. This game was very much one of running and handling, with all but 6 of Lancashire's 42 points, and all of Northumberland's 34 points, coming from tries and conversions.

A conversion or penalty kick provides a good opportunity for the photographer, with plenty of time to focus, as the kicker usually needs a carefully practised routine to ensure he strikes the ball in the right way to get it on target, more difficult than it sounds with a ball designed for handling.

Christopher Johnson

Ashley Smith

Rugby has been more keen than some other sports to embrace technology to assist the referee, especially radio microphones to allow the officials to communicate without the referee needing to look out for a waving flag as well as watching the players and the ball. Being wired for sound, sometimes they need to be rewired.

The referee receives engineering attention

The rest of the pictures from the game can be seen here.