After an availability-hampered first season, Lee McDowell had a second spell as skipper for the 2003-04 season, with Andy Critchley again Club Captain.
For the second successive season the Chiefs finished one off the bottom in the revamped 10-team Division 2, won comfortably by Buckfastleigh. There was almost a mini-league amongst the bottom four with Argaum beating the other 3 once and also gaining a draw at St Columba Torpoint. Once again there was a 2 point deduction when severe availability problems meant that Argaum failed to travel to Dartmouth on the Saturday before Christmas. This was an extremely rare occurrence for a side that prided itself on fulfilling fixtures and they made up for it by travelling to Dartmouth early in the New Year to play as friendly at BRNC. Dartmouth, grateful for the money behind the bar were effusive in their praise for the club. Despite the position, Argaum did get close to a couple more wins with very narrow defeats at PRWF (11-14) and North Tawton (5-6). The latter were victims of Argaum’s best league performance of the season (43-15) at Bickleigh Down, flanker Matt Blakestone running in for a couple of tries. This followed on from a decent performance at Beacon Down where Civil Service were made to work hard for a 12-0 win. Coach Steve Sayles, who had taken over in the middle of the season had improved the defence and fitness in the latter half of the season.
The Old Techs match in October was held as a League/Lockie Cup double with Techs running out 20-5 winners and Torpoint finally got the better of The Chiefs at the third attempt, in the RNEC Cup Semi-final. In the Devon Junior Cup there was a terrible mismatch when Honiton visited Bickleigh Down in October and registered a 3 figure score against a scratch side (a record defeat for the Chiefs).
The Tigers, led by scrum-half Jason Burdett (the elected skipper Will Moulder was called up to the Chiefs on many occasions), went one better and reached the final of The Pedrick Cup, played at The Rectory. Saltash, who would have also been the Chiefs RNEC opponents if they had made it, were too strong on the night but the evening was good reward for the efforts put in by the second team. There were a some decent wins including a 36-17 win over Totnes II in March, the skipper touching down twice, Paul Venkort doing the same with other tries from the increasingly impressive Matt Blakeston and Welsh winger Mike Townsend, shortly bound for New Zealand. Another player departing was Tommy Cooper who had a special ‘testimonial match’ in January to mark his retirement from the game. The Newport based Whitehead side were hosted at Easter, whilst Argaum visited Bournemouth on their tour.
In April the club learned of the passing of Life President Tom Hitchins, aged 88. Tom had been an inspirational figure for the club as a player in the 1930s and as the driving forced behind the club’s post-war resurgence. In a fitting tribute, an Argaum Club XV produced some great running rugby in a 45-0 win over a Totnes XV on the Saturday following. A large number of current and former Argaum players were present at the funeral in nearby Bickleigh the following week.
Before his death, Tom was made aware of the club’s new junior section which had finally got under way in October 2003. Designed to capitalise on the 2003 World Cup in Australia, the section was initially aimed at Under 9, 10 and 11s. Such was the demand for junior rugby in Plymouth at the time (Stonehouse Sharks also started this year) that by the end of the season Argaum had fielded sides at Under 9, 10, 11 and 12 and even fielded an Under 15 side in the County Seven-a-side tournament. The Under 10s entered the tournament at Exmouth (winning their only match) whilst the Under 9s played at the festival in Paignton. The Under 11s played in a special tournament at Plymouth Albion, to co-incide with the display of The William Webb Ellis Trophy at Brickfields. They also entertained a touring side, Brockworth, from Gloucester.
During the season, ex-Argaum colt and former Albion player Nick Leonard was a guest coach and as the inventor of tag rugby was ideally placed to pass on some coaching tips. Sponsorship for the juniors poured in with a set of shirts bought by Andy Wheeler of Crownhill Taxis. Marketing of the new venture was important and the section was given permission to use The ‘Tigers’ moniker, with the senior second team reverting to The Wanderers. The rapid development of the section in such a short time necessitated the forming of a new Junior Committee.
The Argaum End of Season Dinner & Dance was held at The Cooperage on 22nd May at which the following awards were made:
Captain’s Trophy: Chris Curnow
Player’s Player: Phil Hall
Effort Award: Mike Townsend
Clubman: Richard Belli
Jenny Daniels Award: Alan Eskriett
Most Improved Player: Stuart Quarterman
2nd XV Player of The Year: Chris Sillitoe Jnr
Teddy Thrower: Mike Louise
Tom Hitchins (Best Newcomer): Matt Blakeston
