From The Vaults

21 April 2016

In memory of Fin Todd (21/04/1915)

These words written by the late Frank Keating on the death of Andy Ripley could easily have been written about another tall, charismatic forward for Rosslyn Park, England and the British Isles: Alexander Findlater 'Fin' Todd.

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21 April 2016

In memory of Fin Todd (21/04/1915)

These words written by the late Frank Keating on the death of Andy Ripley could easily have been written about another tall, charismatic forward for Rosslyn Park, England and the British Isles: Alexander Findlater 'Fin' Todd.

10 April 2016

Young Americans by Stephen Cooper

Barely weeks after the first English Premiership rugby game played in New Jersey, USA by Saracens and London Irish, new evidence has emerged from a club's archives of early American rugby connections in England.

05 April 2016

Back to School - the origins of football and rugby

There were at least seven schools playing their own versions of what was known as 'football' in the early years of the 19th century.

29 March 2016

Trend or tradition?

In this article Richard Steele takes a look at the history of Scottish selections to determine whether this really is as modern a trend as everyone thinks it is...

24 March 2016

My Rugby World Cup by Tim Reynolds

In 2015 I came to Europe on a grave-photographing mission , hunting Olympic gold medalists in Finland, soldiers who died in WWI who had won the VC or distinguished themselves otherwise in Belgium/Northern France, and a potpourri of cricketers, VCs, sportsmen and NZ PMs in Britain.

17 March 2016

INTERVIEW - Raphael Ibanez

Raphael Ibanez, the former French captain, should be known as the king of hookers, since he retired as the most capped hooker in the world with 98 appearances for his country.

14 March 2016

Lest We Forget - Lou Phillips (Wales) 14/03/1916

Arguably no sport requires such a wide and varied range of skills as rugby. It isn't surprising, therefore, that many of the best exponents of the game have also been good at other sports.

01 March 2016

One of Us - William Wavell Wakefield

William Wavell Wakefield is one of the most celebrated English rugby players of all time. His total of 31 caps was an English record for over forty years and he was still being described as England's greatest ever forward in 1983 when he passed away at the age of 85.

23 February 2016

'Clem' Lewis and the King's Cup

J M Clement 'Clem' Lewis was a talented fly half for Cardiff and Cambridge University either side of World War One, who won 11 caps between 1912 and 1923 and rose to captain Wales in the last two of those games.

17 February 2016

Ode to Obolensky

Russian-born English wing Prince Alexander Obolensky. Obo, as he was nicknamed, scored two tries on his international debut, helping England to their first win over New Zealand in 1936...

09 February 2016

Ode to Arthur 'Monkey' Gould

Arthur Joseph 'Monkey' Gould was arguably the first great Welsh rugby player. As captain he led Wales to her first Home Nations Championship victory and Triple Crown in 1893.

02 February 2016

Flower of Scotland

I was recently looking through a collection of miscellaneous photographs in the World Rugby Museum when I came across on from the 1950s showing the rugby team of Gordonstoun School. Glancing at the back of the photograph, my attention was drawn to a young lad in the front row of the picture, by the name of R N (Roy) Williamson.

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