Help for Heroes Rugby Match

[gar170]

if no body knows the teams are.

Help for Heroes XV
15. Mal Roberts (Army)
14. Mark Odejobi (London Wasps)
13. Will Greenwood (England)
12. Jason Robinson (England)
11. Dan Luger (England)
10. Alex Goode (Saracens)
9. Joe Simpson (London Wasps)
1. Nathan Catt (Bath Rugby)
2. Mark Regan (Bristol Rugby, England)
3. Tom Mercey (Saracens)
4. Rob Sugden (Army)
5. Scott Hobson (Bath Rugby)
6. Matthew Cornish (Royal Air Force)
7. Richard Hill (England)
8. Lawrence Dallaglio (England, captain)
Replacements
16. Martin Johnson (England)
17. Tom O’Keeffe (Royal Marines)
18. Richard Matthews (Royal Air Force)
19. Paul Volley (London Scottish)
20. Martin Offiah (Great Britain RL)
21. Dave Pascoe (Royal Navy)
22. Dominic Shabbo (London Irish)
23. Gareth Leonard (Royal Air Force)
24. Henry Barratt (London Wasps)

International XV
15. Justin Bishop (Doncaster Knights, Ireland)
14. Kristian Phillips (Ospreys)
13. Angelo Flammia (Royal Air Force)
12. Scott Gibbs (Wales, captain)
11. Kenny Logan (Scotland)
10. Rhys Priestland (Scarlets)
9. Guy Easterby (Otley, Ireland)
1. David Hilton (Scotland)
2. Gordon Bulloch (West of Scotland, Scotland)
3. Darren Morris (Worcester Warriors, Wales)
4. Gareth Llewellyn (Wales)
5. Howard Parr (Royal Air Force)
6. Dafydd Jones (Scarlets, Wales)
7. Colin Charvis (Newport-Gwent Dragons, Wales)
8. Joe Kava (Army)
Replacements
16. Shane Byrne (Ireland)
17. Shaun Ruwers (Worcester Warriors)
18. Marsh Cormack (Royal Navy)
19. Mark Lee (Army)
20. Zak Feaunati (Samoa)
21. Micky Young (Newcastle Falcons)
22. Matt Rhodes (Royal Marines)
23. Dafydd Hewitt (Cardiff Blues)
24. Jonah Lomu (New Zealand)

Although Jonah Lomu is now not playing due to injury.

[tonker]

15 mins to kick off

[2Planks]

What an afternoon! A fantastic day for GREAT Britain, The Armed forces and Rugby. Special thanks to the internationals for supporting our day. Just a couple of thoughts:

1. Ironic that Swiss Des was basking in the glory (and the welcome sun) at a charity event with the aim of providing money for a unit that should be funded by HIS department to provide world beating rehabilitation.

2. Shame about the empty seats - shows how many real rugby fans are in London. What a gesture it would be if all those who paid today are guaranteed tickets for the next Calcutta Cup at Twickers - anyone know anyone high up at the RFU??

2P (currently a bit futher than 30 miles from the A1!)

[N Joe]

What an awesome day! Couldn't give a stuff about politics or a few empty seats on the upper tiers - the 52,000 that were there created a great atmosphere and raised over £1.1m for H4H.

Whilst it is sad that injured Servicemen (and women) and bereaved families sometimes don't receive all the support they need from the State, today was a clear show that H4H and its supporters are at least doing something to repay the debt of gratitude that we all owe them.

N Joe

[Zoom]

Just found this on the Sky Sports website:

Some of the biggest names past and present put on a show to remember as a Help For Heroes XI beat an International XI 29-10 at Twickenham.

So it was football, was it?

[Dan D'air]

the 52,000 that were there created a great atmosphere and raised over £1.1m for H4H.

It was a really good day. The rugby wasn't that important, the cause was and still is. What a fantastic atmosphere there was there today. It was amazing to see some of the guys from Headley Court receiving much louder applause and appreciation than anyone else there. Truly a day in history.

[SRENNAPS]

Fantastic day. Just so glad we had the privilege to witness it.

A huge thanks to all that was involved in organising and supporting the whole event.

After the game, my wife had the idea of making it a yearly event, but shared between the big stadiums and Nations involved. Millennium stadium next year, Murryfield the year after etc, etc.

I think Help for Heroes will be around for a long time so why not?

[Zoom]

my wife had the idea of making it a yearly event, but shared between the big stadiums and Nations involved.

...and a good one too, but how about rotating the fundraising effort through different sports as well so that the pressure isn't always on one set of sportsmen/women? Could be football at the Millennium Stadium next year, mixed golf at St Andrews the next and so on.

[TMJ]

Originally Posted by 2Planks

2. Shame about the empty seats - shows how many real rugby fans are in London.

To be fair, the game was played on a Saturday afternoon during the season; a lot of us who would have liked to be there were playing. Others were officiating, running club bars etc. Had it been played on a Sunday, I know a fair few more people who would have been there (though I was stuck Orderly Officering so wouldn't have made it even then...) I suspect the decision for a Saturday game was to give people attending he opportunity to recover from the post (well, pre, intra and post) match celebrations before going back to work.

Good effort all round.

[Zoom]

According to the DT, Scott Gibbs has proposed making it a biennial fund-raiser. Excellent news.

[SlopJockey]

Zoom you're having a laugh

Could be football at the Millennium Stadium next year

The foopballers were conspicuous in their absence to support the event in any way.


The weekly wage bill from a couple of the premier teams would sort out the funding requirements straight away but the overpaid glory girls are not generally recognised as being patrons of worthy causes.

PS Not a pilot!

[muppetofthenorth]

the overpaid glory girls are not generally recognised as being patrons of worthy causes.

While I hate to ruin a good rant, this just isn't true. Lots of footballers give huge amounts to charity, but do it with little fanfare and little recognition - because stories about rich people giving away money and being nice don't sell newspapers.

Beckham is patron of who knows how many charities, not to mention the ones he set up himself.

Ole Solskjaer gave away the entirety of his testimonial money to charity [in excess of £1m].

Rio Ferdinand has given huge amounts to charities in his home of Peckham to tackle gang culture, knife crime and drug use.

Many footballers are UNICEF ambassadors.

Every Premiership club - and I would wager a fair amount of other clubs - have a huge number of charities that they directly look after with contributions from players' wage bills.


Sorry, back to your ranting...

[Beatriz Fontana]

Half arsed research alert... Wasn't there a football club that donated the wages for a day's game to NHS nurses? A very creative idea.

Oh, right, that'll be May Day for Nurses, then...

[Al R]

A quick shout out too, for the Might Quinn.

Charity to benefit from Quinn's testimonial - Telegraph

All together now..

"Niall Quinn's disco pants are the best,
They go up from his arse to his chest,
They are better than Adam and the Ants,
They are Niall Quinn's disco pants!"