Three games in the Navy’s long history of matches against the Army stand out as notable for the comeback achieved. The 2016 side hold the record for fighting back from the largest deficit and not losing the match. The 2010 hold the record for coming back from the largest deficit and winning the game and the 1921 side achieved a record breaking comeback, under the old scoring system. All three sides, through their comebacks, won the Inter Service titles. The win for the side in 2010 ended the longest winning streak in the history of the Army v Navy Match whilst the 1921 victory was part of the Navy’s longest winning streak in the Inter Services. E...
Heavy weight boxing? Mohammed Ali would sing to anyone who would listen that he was the greatest. Has Ronaldo eclipsed Pele? Is Federer the match for Laver; or Serena for that matter? Is Tom Brady NFL’s G.O.A.T? Well what about a discussion on who is or was the greatest Navy player (of all time). We look beyond the age of video to the earliest days of Navy Rugby when ‘Dave’ reigned supreme.
On this St George’s Day, a brief article about William John Abbott Davies, known simply as Dave. He was one of England’s greatest players but like many a fine flyhalf, was born in Wales. His record as England, and as the ...
Saturday should have been the eagerly awaited games against the RAF at Twickenham Stoop. The Women’s side have never had an enforced stoppage in an Inter Service Series, the men did when WWII broke out. We look at the matches played before the enforced stoppages and also in happier times the matches from 2008,’10 and 2014 when Portsmouth’s Burnaby Road rocked to Navy wins against Air Force opposition.
It was all so different in 1939, the last time a break in the Inter Services was forced upon the competition. The Royal Navy team that year prepared for the successful defence of their Inter Service crown with mobilisation happening all around them.&nb...
Today the Royal Navy Rugby Union acknowledges the 116 th anniversary of the Entente Cordiale and celebrates the rugby between the Royal Navy Women and Marine Nationale Féminine who compete for the trophy that carries this lasting and very special accord’s name.
The proclamation of the Entente Cordiale on the 8 th April 1904 brought to an end almost a thousand years of sibling rivalry between England and France, two nations separated by a narrow but strategically significant stretch of water which depending on your preference is the English Channel or La Manche. Of course, for any Bretons reading this they consider it their sea, ‘Mor Breizh’ whilst we...
Devonport Services RFC have raised over £24,000 for NHS Charities Together through an organised charity head shave, also known as the CovHead Challenge (#COVHEAD-19).
A version of this challenge was set up by Player/Coach Richard Goldsby-West and Vice-Captain Sam Bennett, who set up the “Devonport Services RFC Big Shave” with the original aim of fundraising £200 with 9 players shaving their heads. Their concept was simple, for every £10 donated to charity, a rugby player would shave their head. Their fundraiser page raised over £1,000 in 24 hours and in just a week has raised over £24,000 with junior, retired players, sup...
