| This season’s Combined Services Remberance Day Match |
| will be played on Wednesday 7th November 2012 |
| at Sardis Rd, Pontypridd against the world famous Crawshays XV |
The first Combined Services match to commemorate Rememberance Day was played in 1997 the same year as the Commonwealth Cup started. That first match was played against the Barbarians with the BaaBaas winning 33-40. Since then the Barbarians have provided the opposition every year until 2011 when the match was played at Gloucester RFC against a Gloucester Presidents XV. 2012 see the third opposition in the series and a club with a similar heritage and playing philosophy to the Barbarians FC, they are the Crawshay’s Welsh RFC.
The club has a strong and lasting bond to the Services and in particular to the Devonport Services Club. The Crawshay’s website history page gives this opening quotation from Captain Geoffrey Crawshay (May 1952)
‘We are told that the ripples caused by a pebble thrown into a pond spread ever outward gathering momentum on their way.‘
In April 1922, at the invitation of the then Secretary of Devonport Services, Engineer Commander S F Cooper, I took a team of Welshmen to play the Services in Devonport. Since then, I have enjoyed the hospitality of Services players as far from the Rectory Field as Ceylon and China, and in April 1952 Crawshay’s Welsh XV paid their 21st visit to Devonport and their 20th to Camborne.
A single stone throw perchance into the ocean of Rugby Fixtures in 1922 caused a ripple which in 1952 became our anniversary wave. As with all solidly established organizations, the growth of this touring side has been gradual and spontaneous to which many generations of players have contributed of their diversities of gifts.’
The full history of Crawshay’s can be found by clicking here.
As ever the Combined Services team will be selected from the best of the three Service teams. Last year’s match against the Gloucester President’s XV saw eight Navy players taking part as well as Navy Head Coach Ash Coates being part of the CS coaching team. The team was captained by Dave Pascoe and he was joined by Josh Drauniniu, Tom Blackburn, Dale Sleeman, Gaz Evans, Ben Priddey, Stu McLaren and Sam Laird.
This year’s game will, no doubt, be another festival of the best rugby that the Services offer and will be well worth the trip up to that historic hotbed of valley rugby, Sardis Road, locally known as the house of pain.
Combined Services matches and results through history
The above link opens a table of the results of Combined Service matches from 1924 until today. It also includes for some the games the names of those RN players who played. It has omission so if any reader has further information I would gladly receive it.
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