As the New Year dawns all thoughts naturally begin to focus on the Inter-Services. The Senior’s campaign has begun in earnest with a trip to Monk’s lane to play Newbury RFC under the Captaincy of Capt Will Pilkington ending in victory by 30-28. It was great to see Marc Roberts back in a Royal Navy shirt after a year out with injury sustained against the Irish Defence force last season. It also saw the return of Les Dennis into a full representative side following his deployment on HMS Endurance and the blooding of a number of U23s at Senior level. Interviewed afterwards Navy Rugby’s DoR, Lt Cdr Geraint Ashton Jones commented “Despite the limited experience in the ...
Navy Rugby is pleased to announce that WO PT Glen Young MSM (HMS Temeraire) has joined the Senior XV's Team Management. Glen has a wealth of experience administering football and as a Warrant Officer PT also brings a huge amount of experience about managing and developing sportsmen and women in general. Commenting on the appointment Director of Rugby, Lt Cdr Geraint Ashton Jones RN said "Success in any sport is always a team effort and when the backroom team are doing their job efficiently and effectively you find that the players are relaxed and their performance improves. Glen was recommended to us and I am so pleased that he has accepted to join our team. He brings experiences from a ...
Combined Services U23s have called up six more players from the successful Navy U23 team. The six will join the eleven that were selected pre Christmas. Front row players Tom Blackburn, Ritchie Ives and Mark Jones are joined by backrow players Will Cairns, Matt Selstrum and Sam Cuff. Commenting on the selection Navy U23 Head Coach, Doc Cox said: "I am very pleased that the success of the team has been further rewarded. I am particularly pleased for Sam as this is his last season at U23 level and he knows that in his position he will have a hard fight to get into the Senior XV squad. His selection for the CS squad will not only give him added incentive to push hard for a senior place but ...
by LPT Lou Clarke, HMS Manchester Bahrain RFC 30 - HMS Manchester 10 HMS Manchester arrived in Bahrain on the 17th Dec 07 for an operational stand down pre Christmas. The rugby team was offered a game against Bahrain RFC on the 21st Dec, so off we went with a team strength of 30 players all ready for a tough game. As we have only played two games since reforming Sep 07, enthusiasm was high, but cohesiveness cetainly fell into the 'developing' category. Manchester kicked off the game and attacked from the whistle, causing Bahrain to give away a penalty to which LS(CIS) Pony Moore sent a long kick up field into touch inside Bahrain's 22. This resulted in a lineout which fell to the hands o...
The Royal Navy has a long tradition of spreading the rugby word around the globe. As the following account from Navy Senior XV Technical Analyst, CPO Ash Coates, shows that proud tradition continues today. When I was deployed to Iraq the prospect of developing as a rugby coach appeared unrealistic. Fortunately as part of the Naval Transition Team in Umm Qasr my Terms of Reference involved mentoring the development of the Iraqi Navy and Marines. This included developing physical training, and provided an opportunity to introduce rugby to the Iraqi sailors and Marines. The first sport in Iraq is Football followed by Volleyball and Basketball. So the first aim was to sell rugby as a game to...
