From The Vaults

24 August 2020

The Day Trelawny's Army took Twickenham

Twickenham Stadium Tour Guide Mike tells us of the "best" rugby match he has ever seen at Twickenham...

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24 August 2020

The Day Trelawny's Army took Twickenham

Twickenham Stadium Tour Guide Mike tells us of the "best" rugby match he has ever seen at Twickenham...

17 August 2020

Los Pumas Rampant

The years following England's triumph in Sydney at the 2003 Rugby World Cup were lean ones. Sir Clive Woodward had resigned as coach after a disappointing southern hemisphere summer tour in 2004 and was succeeded by Andy Robinson, his assistant coach.

10 August 2020

Alan Rotherham - the Original Half-Back

When international rugby began in 1871 it was a twenty-a-side game dominated by forward play and protracted scrummaging. In 1877 the number of players was reduced to fifteen. Over the following decade and a half the number of forwards slowly decreased as the number of backs slowly increased and teams discovered the benefits of a more attacking, open game, utilising running and passing backs.

03 August 2020

Finchley's own Clint McGregor

For a tight head prop Clint was quick, in the club there were only two wingers that could beat him in a sprint. With his powerful physique and good hands he was hard to stop.

27 July 2020

The All-Conquering 1984 Wallabies by Craig Muncey

In rugby, I had started to go with family members to watch Cardiff RFC and was soon pretending to be Mark Ring, Gareth Davies or Terry Holmes in my back garden. At this point in rugby, I had not yet been influenced heavily by overseas teams, this was all about to change, Australia was soon to turn my young head, and new heroes were on the horizon.

20 July 2020

The Original Brave Blossom

A few weeks before the last year's Rugby World Cup, an article was posted on a website of Kyoto Shimbun (newspaper). The story featured Ishi Fukui, a woman who ran a sporting goods business from 1922 in Kyoto.

13 July 2020

A Scandal in Paris: France v Scotland, 1913

The opening match of the 5 Nations Championship in 1913 was beset with problems from the outset...

06 July 2020

I remember when I managed the All Blacks...

Twickenham Stadium Tour Guide John tells the story of the weekend he "managed" the All Blacks...

29 June 2020

War Games: The New Zealand Expeditionary Force during the Second World War

At the outbreak of war it had been decided that New Zealand should provide an Expeditionary Force of one division, under the then Major-General, former player and rugby supporter Bernard Freyburg.

22 June 2020

War Games: Rugby on the home front during the Second World War

The UK rugby season, such as it was, closed at the end of April, 1940: whereupon Hitler launched his assault in the west, into Scandinavia, then through Holland and Belgium, once again, into France.

15 June 2020

La Voulte – Small Town Heroes, 1970

La Voulte-sur-Rhone is a small town of 5,000 inhabitants with a proud rugby heritage situated in the Ardeche department in the south east of France. For one magical season in 1969-70, La Voulte was the champion club of France and winners of the much coveted 'Bouclier de Brennus' by defeating Montferrand in the Stade Municipal in Toulouse.

08 June 2020

Dai Gent's All-Star XV

Swansea born Dai Gent twice trialled for Wales before being selected for England. A prototype scrum-half at a time when the English were playing half-backs, he memorably partnered Adrian Stoop in the English midfield in the first test-match to be held at Twickenham, in 1910, where England beat Wales for the first time in 12 years.

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