Following heavy rain overnight, the North Dorset Sevens were given a bright sunny reprieve. With the newly cut pitches now suitably softened and the going now firm as opposed to rock hard, the conditions could not have been any better for a Seven’s competition. With cloudless skies and a cooling wind coming over the hill – this year’s conditions were much more apposite to fast flowing rugby than the heat wave we had last year. As last year’s champions, the Sharks were fully aware of the need to defend their title and as such had always planned to assemble a strong squad – regrettably last minute changes of manpower meant they were subsequently only able to t...
The Royal Navy Rugby Union is pleased to announce the appointment of Lt Cdr Lynne Martin as the Assistant Director of Rugby (Women) and Lt Cdr Rob O’Kane as Assistant Director of Rugby (U23)
Lynne Martin Lynne first played rugby for George Watson’s College in 1998 whilst at University in Edinburgh. Normally found on the wing or in the centres and with a very capable team around her, she found herself climbing through the Scottish Leagues and playing in the Scottish Cup Final in 2000, prior to embarking on a career in the Royal Navy. Keen to promote rugby as a sport for all women, she was the driver behind women’s rugby training and touch rugby sessions dur...
As part of the wider Festival of Rugby, the community engagement side of RWC15, the RNRU hosted its second iteration of the Rugby Beach Festival in Weymouth. Coming from far and wide, the 18 teams descended on the beautiful Dorset town to test their rugby skills on the unique surface of energy sapping sand. The rugby rule book was diluted down and games officiated by a large cadre of RN referees led by Geoff Howells (RNRU Referee Sec) in order that the teams could play expansive, open rugby. The tackling was hard, the running dynamic and the games strongly contested.
Played across 4 pitches the matches took the form of two halves of four minutes with a one minute turn around at half ...
On Monday 13th July 2015 HMS Somerset had pulled out of her home port of Plymouth expecting to be heading towards Liverpool for a UK Port Visit, onboard Somerset her Rugby team were planning to attend a Northern Region 7's Tournament on Sunday 19th July which would have seen them come up against some of the best amateur teams in the North West. However that was soon about to change, the Commanding Officer addressed the Ship's Company to explain they had been given a last minute programme change and were heading further North and so the journey to Reykjavik had begun.
With a busy Ship's Programme over the last few months there has been little opportunity for Somerset RFC to stretch the...
It is our very great pleasure to inform you that Steve Melbourne and Bob Armstrong have been elected to Honorary Life Membership of the Royal Navy Rugby Union (RNRU) at the Executive Committee meeting which took place on 16 June 2015. Steve Melbourne Executive Committee Members paid tribute to the significant contribution Steve made to the Royal Navy and Royal Marines in a number of roles but principally as player, coach and, in later years, as a member of the RNRU Executive Committee. Steve's playing career was extremely successful and in addition to representing the RN Senior XV and Veterans it included club rugby for Bath RFC and a call-up to the 1988 Combined Services (CS) squad t...
