RNRU Royal Navy Rugby Union

In the run up to the Under 23 Inter Service Rugby competition we have taken some time out of the busy training schedule to get to know a few of the players a little better.  Over the next week or so we will be running a series of short articles where you can learn more about the players, what they do in their day jobs and how they first got involved in playing rugby.  First up is U23 team captain, Scott 'Scotty' Makepeace.

Scott only joined the Royal Navy in March of last year and after his initial training at HMS Raleigh he went to HMS Sultan in Gosport to do his professional training as an aircraft engineering technician.  He completed his professional training at Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton at the beginning of August and now he is proudly serving on 845 Naval Air Squadron, maintaining Merlin Mk3 helicopters.

One of the tallest players in the squad at 6 feet 7 inches, Scott's usual position is in the second row where he can put his 116kgs to good use!  He started playing rugby at Nuneaton RFC aged 14 and went on to play for his district and then county, Warwickshire.  No stranger to the role of team captain, he led out the Midlands Under 16 age group before joining Worcester Warriors AASE programme (Achieving Academic and Sporting Excellence).  At the senior level he played for Nuneaton and his county before joining the Navy. 

Clearly a talented player, it was inevitable that Scott would continue his rugby playing career in the Senior Service.  Last year during his basic training he managed to make time to get involved with the Under 23 side and was part of the team that helped the Royal Navy retain the U23 Inter Service trophy.  Here he came to the attention of the Royal Navy Rugby Union Senior XV team management and later made his debut off the bench for the Senior XV against Esher RFC, and followed this up by winning his first Senior XV cap against the Royal Air Force and his second against the Army at Twickenham in the 100th anniversary match.

Having only recently celebrated his 22nd birthday (in October) he is still eligible to play for the U23s so he returns to captain the team this season, bringing with him his experience from the past year.  When asked for an interesting fact about himself he says:

"Whilst at Worcester I had the opportunity to take part in a photo shoot and filming for an internet advert with the current England captain Dylan Hartley"

Well let's hope he got some good tips from Dylan during the photo shoot and he can put them into practice and lead the Royal Navy Under 23 team to their third successive victory in the Inter Service competition this November.

Images Royal Navy Rugby Union © John Walton