Aaron Moon Young and the OLD Charity Rugby Match
On a windy afternoon in Wigan as the British lions were taking on South Africa, 3 RN U23 squad players (AET’s Richard Brunning, Ryan Cox and Mark Tattersall), plus 3 members of last seasons coaching team (Lt Doc Cox, Capt Mat Barlow and WO2 Bruno Brunning), donned their kit to take part in a Charity Rugby Match to raise funds for Mne Aaron Moon and Help the Hero’s at Aspull Rugby Club Lancashire; Aarons former team before joining the Royal Marines. Aarron was severely injured whilst driving in Helmond province earlier this year and sustained multiple life threatening injuries. He is now currently at Hedly Court under the stoic care of the Doctors, Physio’s and support staff, in his quest to recovery; along with other comrades injured in Afghanistan. The fixture saw Aarons County Under 21 winning side reform to take on the present U21s from Aspull. Ex players travelled from far and wide to make the journey back to play in front of a partisan home crowd, who had ventured out to add their support instead of sitting in and watching the game from Durban. The RN U23 players and coaches split evenly into the two sides, playing for the majority of the match, this despite Bruno Brunning and Doc Cox resembling Chelsea pensioners amongst their younger team mates; however, Matt Barlow and the RN U23 players looked at home amongst the youth of both sides! As the final whistle blew after 80 minutes of open running rugby, Aaron presented the winning cup to his old side that came out on top over the current Aspull U21’s. AET Ryan Cox despite being on the winning side noted “there were no losers only winners today on both sides, it was a privilege to take part in this special match for one my fellow Navy U23 players. Having played at the start of the season with Aaron against Bridgewater I was not going to miss this match and having honour to play in his old side”. After the match the club organised a raffle to raise funds where Doc Cox donated his Coaches top and Bath RFC Captains warm up match shirt, a present from former RN U23 Head coach Dave Guayan, now Bath’s 1st team manger. However the best prize to be donated and will be auctioned off this Saturday at the Help for Heros 7’s tournament in Bath came from Matt Barlow, who had obtained Marc Cuato’s England Saxon’s playing shirt, signed by all the squad in Argentina. Matt received the shirt from his old team mate the morning of the match and it is hoped will raise a fair amount of money this coming weekend. The charity match was organised by Aarons former coach Stephen Bailey, who had coached him all the way from his first day of rugby from the age of 5. Stephen said “ I would just like to thank Bruno, John White and the Royal Navy Under 23’s for coming such a long way in contributing to this very special day for Aaron and for the items so generously donated to be raffled off to raise money for Help the Hero’s”. Picture shows present and past Aspull U21 with the RN U23 representatives Prior to the match with Mne Aaron Moon