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In November 2014 for Williment's Sports Tours, along with my wife Anne, I traveled to the UK leading a rugby supporters tour group on the the All Blacks tour. Here is a tour diary.
Williment Sport Travel tour leaders Dave Loveridge and Keith Quinn - who, along with wives Jan and Anne, on the last day preparing to drop underground for a memorable final Welsh mining experience.
24 November 2014
*25 NOVEMBER 2014* Read more »
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The hoops of Yellow and black - with the Axeman logo - a long way from home, on the walls at Bedlinog RFC.
21 November 2014
*NOVEMBER 21 2014* Read more »
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20 November 2014
*Wednesday November 19 2014* Read more »
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Thank you John Cusack for keeping this old 1924-25 rugby memorabilia so proudly in your family. - and showing it to us today.
18 November 2014
*Monday November 17 2014* Read more »
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Our Williment Sports Travel Supporters tour group lined up in front of the imposing figure of King Robert the Bruce at Stirling Castle.
16 November 2014
*Saturday 15 November 2014* Read more »
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The local Illawarra team played the All Blacks and a young New Zealander called Colin Meads, aged 20, made his AB debut. 15 seasons later he retired as one of the greats!
OBOLENSKY, ALEXANDER
Rosslyn Park and England
4 internationals for England 1936
One of rugby history’s most colourful characters, Prince Alexander Obolensky was the son of Prince Alexis of Russia. The young prince was born in Leningrad in 1916 but was taken to England the following year, presumably to avoid the Russian revolution.
He was educated at Trent College and Brasenose College, Oxford. ‘Obo’, as he was known, was an elegant and speedy wing and his rugby prowess was quickly recognised. Late in 1935 he played for Oxford in the annual Universities match, the first of three appearances in that famous game.
As a 19-year-old, early in 1936, he played for England against New Zealand at Twickenham. England caused an upset by thrashing the All Blacks by 13–0. Obolensky scored two tries, one of which has become a classic. His diagonal run through the New Zealand defence, as he scored for the second time, can still be admired on newsreel film footage and on YouTube. That game thereafter became known by rugby writers as ‘Obolensky’s match’.
After he left Oxford University his form fluctuated and fell away. He won only four caps, all in the 1935–36 season, but his memory is ensured both because of his colourful family background and his extraordinary, if briefly flowering, rugby talent.
A world record in first-class rugby is still entered in some books under Obolensky’s name. ‘Obo’ toured South America with a 'Rugby Football Union' team in 1936 (presumably an English selection), and in a game against Brazil he crossed for 17 tries, still a record for one game, though perhaps the first-class quality of the local XV might be called into question.
When World War II broke out, Obolensky joined the Royal Air Force. He died when the Hawker Hurricane he was piloting crashed on landing in East Anglia. He was the first of 111 rugby internationals from all countries to lose their lives in the conflict.
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