THE INTERNATIONAL DEFENCE RUGBY COMPETITION 2015
100 Days To Go !
The International Defence Rugby Competition 2015 (IDRC 2015) kicks off in 100 days time and to mark the occasion players from the three home teams came together on board HMS Victory.
IDRC 2015 will pit twelve international teams of battle-hardened soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines against each other to determine the greatest Armed Forces rugby team on the planet.
Lieutenant Colonel Trevor Cottee, IDRC tournament director, said how much the teams from the Royal Navy, the Army and the Royal Air Force were looking forward to hosting the teams from, amongst others, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada and Japan:
“All the teams are raring to go for this competition. The RAF are the current inter-Service champions, the Army are reigning IDRC champions and the Navy will want to bounce straight back from this year’s Army - Navy game. The traditional inter-Service rivalries will be boosted a thousand-fold by the global nature of the competition as we welcome the best Defence teams in the world for three weeks of international rugby.”
Neil Snowball, Chief Operating Officer of the England 2015 Organising Committee, was also there to lend his support. He said:
“IDRC will be a core part of the Festival of Rugby 2015. The tournament offers the perfect opportunity for rugby fans from across the world to come together and see some top class games in October, and we’ll be encouraging as many people as possible to go to these matches.”
The inaugural IDRC was held in Australia and New Zealand in 2011 and was won by the British Army. This year’s competition forms an official part of the RFU Festival of Rugby, which will create a festival feeling across the UK through national, regional and local events celebrating the year of rugby.
Follow us: www.idrc.org.uk and on Twitter @idrc2015