Dewi Bebb, two caps playing for the Royal Navy, thirty one appearances for the British Lions including eight test matches. Four appearances for the Barbarians and thirty four caps for Wales is the Royal Navy’s most capped international. Second on the list is Malcolm Thomas who sadly passed away earlier this year. Malcolm played six times for the Royal Navy and a staggering sixteen times for the Barbarians as well as thirty two occasions for the British Lions of which four were test matches. During his international career he played twenty seven times for Wales. And third on the list?
On Saturday Kyle Mason became the third most capped Royal Navy International rugby player of all time and stepped on to the podium with two legends of the game. He won his twenty fifth cap for Malta in the 20 – 19 defeat away to Croatia in what was described by all who saw it has a very bruising encounter. The match probably turned on the loss of Malta’s goal kicker, James O’Brien, with a knee injury as a relatively easy conversion miss by his replacement at the end of the match turned out to be the difference between the two sides. Otherwise it was a case of Malta’s strong ball carrying forwards, including Kyle, taking the game to the Croatians who defended for their lives. In the end both sides scored two tries but Croatia converted both of theirs, along with two penalty goals whereas Malta’s remained unconverted to go with their three penalty goals. This weekend Malta are at home to Lithuania as the league of Rugby World Cup qualifying rounds continue.
Midshipman Juliana Straker
Congratulations go to Juliana Straker of the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard. Juliana represented the RN(W) in the 2010 Inter Services when over in the UK on exchange. She has just regained the captaincy of the T&T rugby team and also captains their sevens team. Having won 14 International Caps for Trinidad and Tobago she becomes the second women on the list of Royal Navy Rugby Internationals. All the players on the list can be viewed by clicking here.
Oxford University U21 21 – Royal Navy U23 0
The second of the RN’s three Inter Service warm up matches was another where the second half proved better than the first as the Navy seek the combinations in to their opening IS game @ Burnaby Road on Friday 16th November against the Royal Air Force. As ever in RN U23 rugby there were a number of changes to the side including at captain where Tom Davies, fresh from the Commonwealth Cup was given the honour of leading the team. Three Oxford goals gave the hosts a 21 – 0 lead at half time and with the second half scoreless that is how it remained. The RN coaching team were satisfied with much of what they saw and are looking forward to the final run out this weekend when for the first time this season the U23s will be home. The match is against Cambridge University LX Club at Burnaby Rd, Sunday 4th November. KO 14:30
2 Responses
John Walton
Nice piece
Thanks
Geraint
Pleasure. It was surprising how many players with International experience the Navy had had when you sent through your first list. Kyle would have had more but has missed about five games through playing for the RN at Inter Services, as this is when the second round of ENC matches are usually played.