Royal Navy Rugby

One month they could be facing the Army in front of 50,000, the next they’re facing Somali pirates armed with assault rifles in hostile waters. Their greatest honour is made from the timber of Lord Nelson’s ship, and HMS Ark Royal once ruled the rugby pitch, as it did the waves. Royal Navy rugby is never dull.

Twickenham, 6 May, 2006. A chorus of applause erupts from the 44,600-strong navy blue and red sea at the home of English rugby for the annual Army v Navy match, a fitting tribute to the tightest of encounters, one that the Army have edged 9-3 to secure the men’s Inter-Services Championship, their 37th title. A continuing sign of their dominance, they’ve gone on to add ten more since. But, before the final whistle, a call with far more significance was made, not by the referee, but to one of the guests of honour that day, the First Sea Lord of the Navy, Admiral Jonathan Bond.

More than 3,500 miles away from Twickenham, a Westland Lynx AH7 helicopter had exploded in mid-air above Basra, Iraq, the victim of a hostile surface-to-air missile attack. The lives of the five British military occupants were lost. Making the call to Twickenham, from a British-occupied Green Zone in Basra Air Station, was Commander Michael Shaw.

Local reports state the helicopter was attacked, and collided with a residential building. It was the worst call Michael has ever had to make. “It was the saddest and probably most poignant bit of my naval career,” Michael tells the Rugby Journal, from his quarters at HMNB Devonport. “I will never, ever forget, and it’s had an important impact on my life. 

“In fact,” he adds. “I was just down there [at the memorial] a few weeks ago for the commemoration of the memorial for those five people.

“[In 2006] I was in a situation in which we were exposed to that threat and it happened,” he continues. “You know, I didn’t join up to go to war, but you put yourself in that position, and you do the best you can and sadly, like I said, five friends lost their lives.”

Sixteen years later, Twickenham again played a role in the life of Michael, albeit a more positive one this time, as he led the Navy as director of rugby in front of a capacity crowd. He’d taken on the role three seasons before, but the first two inter-services showpieces had failed to take place due to Covid-19. His senior men’s XV lost 35-27 in the 2022 clash against the Army, while the senior women – playing as a double header for the first time – were soundly beaten 68-0.

Army-Navy at Twickenham is the jewel in the inter-services rugby crown, one of two dates on which Michael takes time to reflect. “So, I’ve got two days which are quite poignant to me,” he explains. “One is Army-Navy Day, and one is obviously the 11th of November (Remembrance Day).

“Both days, I do take myself aside and, you know, pay my respects to Sarah (Flight Lieutenant Sarah-Jayne Mulvihill, the first British servicewoman to die as a result of enemy action in Iraq) and the guys,” he says, remembering the group of five casualties who perished in the Basra helicopter crash. “But,” he adds, “it is a moment that will always live with me. And those are the two days which really stand out and make me reflect on the sacrifices that people made in support of our country.”

Michael’s time in Iraq was one of many deployments he endured throughout his career of active service. A graduate of Plymouth’s Navy University, he experienced first-hand the shift in naval narrative, seeing picture-postcard deployments replaced with war-torn deserts and mortar bombings. 

His first war deployment was to Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1996, part of an operation to oversee the fallout of the Bosnian War. That three-year conflict (1992-95) was the result of Bosnia’s push for independence, and departure from Yugoslavia. “I think that’s when times changed,” he says. “I’d had a really nice naval career up until then, done the classic Navy things: going to America, the West Indies, Bermuda, sitting on a beach thinking, ‘this is fantastic’. And, all of a sudden, 1996, things started going a bit sort of weird, didn’t they really?

“Bosnia happened,” he begins succinctly. “Then, we were out there supporting the United Nations, and Iraq kicked off. I did Iraq twice, during my time. Then Afghanistan kicked off, I went there twice as well. All the way doing various jobs and getting promoted. On my last job, I was the engineering head of the Commando Helicopter Force.

“[For that role] I headed up something like eighty helicopters deployed worldwide, but predominantly focused on Afghanistan. Then Libya happened, I was involved with that operation out there as well.”

While the first half of his Navy career was spent onboard warships, Michael’s journey changed when he emerged for the second half. “My skill set was helicopter support for the Marines, which is called the Commando, that’s all the green helicopters you see on TV,” he explains. “I was in charge of all aviation engineering in Iraq, during my last stint out there. So, it’s been a bit diverse and a bit interesting, going to places where people don’t like you, and start throwing mortars and bits and pieces at you.

“We were located at Camp Bastion (Afghanistan), and obviously during Iraq, it was Basra Air Station. Constantly under a mortar. Hilariously, there’d be nights when we would be under our camp beds, with our full body armour on, tin helmets on, and military humour takes over; you just sit there thinking, ‘what’s this all about?’, you know, with mortars popping here, there and everywhere.  

“I didn’t feel a risk,” he says, “[compared] to the guys who are there on the front line, out fighting the fight, and we were air engineers, and thankfully behind the wire, but there’s always that level of risk.”

Rugby had long been a passion for Edinburgh-born Michael, who grew up in Lancashire. “We played league at school, and I joined the Navy at sixteen,” he says. “I’m one of those classic, ‘born in Edinburgh, made in the Royal Navy’ types.” 

Michael’s rugby prime was largely spent in war zones, with opportunities to play rugby far fewer than for the current crop of players. Although, before his first deployment to Bosnia in 1996, he’d made his Navy rugby debut in the States.

“I’m very lucky to have played in some quite bizarre places,” he says. “I’ve played in Norfolk, Virginia, the West Indies – wherever you go, there’s always a team to play against, be that either expats or one of the college sides or just somebody who can put a pair of boots on and give you a run out.”

Michael, brought his globetrotting to an end in the early 2010s, as British military forces were gradually withdrawn from Libya, once the Gaddafi regime was ousted from the North African nation. 

Stationed at the recruit training centre, at BRNC Dartmouth in Devon, Michael began to make up for lost time on the pitch. He dusted off his boots, and enjoyed a four-season-long curtain-call on his playing career, getting to Navy Cup finals for BRNC Dartmouth and winning both. His coaching career began with the Royal Navy Veterans side, before progressing into a position within the UK Armed Forces in 2019. “We formed what is the British Lions of the military, the best players from the Army, the Navy and the Air Force,” says Michael. 

“We played in a twelve-team tournament in Japan, spent four weeks there, got through to the final, and lost to a Fijian side.”

This was in 2019, and when he returned he took up his current role as DoR for the senior (men’s) fifteens. He combines the role with his job as a Navy host nation liaison officer, providing NATO personnel with everything they require for a visit to the UK. The navy’s performance in last year’s Army-Navy match has given him confidence for next year’s clash. “The Army have always had this aura,” he admits. “But I think that’s gone now and I think we can approach next year with all the confidence and hopefully stick it up ’em!”

The first recorded rugby match featuring a Royal Navy side was in 1878, an exhibition contest against the British Army. Almost thirty years later, in 1906, the Royal Navy Rugby Union was formed, the same year as the British Army’s union, and the two began their infamous annual rivalry a year later, meeting at Queen’s Club where the Navy won 15-14, the start of an early golden era in which the blues won six of the first seven clashes. Only the two World Wars and Covid-19 have stopped the game taking place, with the Army currently holding bragging rights over the Navy with 62 wins to 32, spoils have been shared just four times.

When rugby returned after the First World War it was as part of the Inter-Services Championships, including the Royal Air Force. Again, early wins were recorded by the Navy, winner of the first three titles, before the RAF secured an outright win in 1923. The Army eventually started their dominance in 1926, the first of 47 Inter-Services Championships. The Navy have twenty, the RAF fifteen.

The Navy’s early fixture list included combined military teams from the likes of Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Canada, but they soon spread beyond the services, and faced amateur era giants such as Oxford University, Cambridge University, Bath and the Barbarians.

Today’s senior Navy men’s team compete internationally in the Commonwealth Navies Rugby Cup, with the 2022 edition hosted in Plymouth, where the New Zealand and Australian Navy sides arrived at Brickfields, the home of National 1 side Plymouth Albion, only to both lose to the British.

With silverware already in the bag for the season, the Navy’s fixture list now includes old rivals Oxford and Cambridge universities, the development sides of Exeter Chiefs, Bristol Bears and Gloucester, plus Championship side Richmond, and National 1 outfit Taunton Titans. The penultimate stop before the Army at Twickenham is the RAF, who have only beaten the Navy 31 times out of 95. The Navy have 58 wins over the Air Force, in a fixture that has only provided six draws.

The Navy ranks have regularly produced internationals, starting with Lieutenant Cecil Haliday Abercrombie in 1910 and still ongoing, in the shape of Northampton’s late-blooming Sam Matavesi, who now plays professionally and is a regular in Fiji’s Test team. Before joining the Saints, Matavesi served as a supply chain logistician, then an able rate at RNAS Culdrose in Cornwall. 

Abercombie’s story is hard to beat though. He had made his debut for Scotland in 1910, a 0-14 away win against Ireland, and went on to win six caps. Cecil played rugby until the outbreak of the First World War, but sadly lost his life along with all hands onboard HMS Defence, when the warship was sunk in the 1916 Battle of Jutland. 

Another from the Great War, Arthur Harrison VC, a gunnery officer onboard HMS Lion, had played for England, but in the 1918 Zeebrugge Raid – when the allies attacked the Belgian port to stop it being used as a base for German submarines – he was in command and led his men on a raid of the pier. Before it had begun, while still aboard his ship, he’d been shot in the jaw, but recovered quickly to continue the charge. Under heavy machine-gun fire, he lost his life. He remains the only English-capped player to have won the Victoria Cross.

Today, the Royal Navy boasts eight representative level teams; men’s and women’s senior 15s, a sevens side known as the ‘Sharks’, and development squads, along with the U23s and over 35s Veterans sides, who go by the name ‘Mariners’. 

Beneath the surface is the establishment level, with 37 regularly playing ships and naval establishments registered with the RFU. There are an additional eleven establishment-level sides who play more sporadically than the core group. 

The best of all these teams come together to compete for the Navy Cup, officially the RNRU Knockout Cup, which dates backs to 1972, when the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal defeated HMS Neptune 12-10. Sadly, as with her predecessors – this was the fifth HMS Ark Royal, the first being the Tudor flagship which led the Royal Navy to victory over the Spanish Armada, in 1588 – the famous aircraft carrier was decommissioned in 2011. She retired with the honour of being the only ship to have ever won the tournament. 

There has since been seventeen separate winners of the Navy Cup, with Michael Shaw’s BRNC Dartmouth being the latest new winner of the competition. The cup is open to establishment teams comprised at ‘dockyard’ Naval bases, airbases, training centres and Royal Marine Commando barracks. 

In last year’s event, history was made again within the Fleet Air Arm, the airborne fighting wing of the Royal Navy, as two of their establishment airbases reached the final. HMS Seahawk triumphed over HMS Heron on a bitingly cold Helston evening, with the final score reading 26-14.

Based at RNAS Culdrose on the Lizard Point of Cornwall, where Matavesi once lived, HMS Seahawk have been the in-form team in recent years, champions for the past three campaigns, and also back-to-back champions in 2011/12 and 2012/13.  

“So, the Royal Navy has different structures, different levels,” explains Michael. “Establishment level, and if you’re good enough, you go into the command level, which I suppose historically compared to the county level. I played for the Devonport region, Portsmouth region, Scotland region and the Fleet Air Arm.” There are  only five command levels, meaning Michael almost had a full house. “The only one I didn’t play for was Royal Marines because I’m not a Royal Marine,” he explains.

The five command level sides compete within the Navy’s Inter-Command Championship, and since 2013, the winner has lifted the Inverdale Challenge Trophy, which is named after Surgeon Captain John Inverdale (Dentist), a key figure in Navy rugby history, and a life member of the Royal Navy Rugby Union. 

The Royal Marines and Fleet Air Arm are the two front-runners in this five-team tournament. The two sides were last year’s finalists, and have met in seven of the past ten finals. The Marines secured a 29-15 victory in Portsmouth, with Royal Navy captain Jarrard Hayler contributing to the scoring. Overall the Royal Marines lead the honours board having won the tournament twelve times, with the Fleet Air Arm a few marks behind with seven titles. 

Almost a world away from Portsmouth in the Indian Ocean, 3.6km from the coast of Somalia, Jarrard Hayler squints and adjusts his helmet, his eyes blinded by the morning’s rising sun. He is sat at the nose of a rigid grey raiding craft, that speeds along the sea’s choppy surface at 31 knots. As the dingy bounces intermittently across the water, it causes a harmonic rhythm of haunting anticipation, that is set to reach a crescendo.  

Jarrard and four of his commandos slow their approach, nearing a hostile merchant ship. The commandos raise their SA80 A2 ACOG assault rifles, and board the ship, swiftly neutralising the threat and removing a group of Somalian pirates, who had tried to capture a local trading vessel. It’s a small vignette of the Navy captain’s service life. He spent three months in the hostile Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman. “So, we did some force protection in Somalia, which was interesting,” he says. “We went up there as protection for our engineers and medics, to teach the Somali coast guards basic engineering and medical principles, and we also did a short-term training with the Omani soldiers. 

“We did a few days out there taking pistol lessons, how we do section attacks, and like a small exercise out there.”

The Royal Navy is responsible for introducing rugby to some of the world’s most far-flung places, with historical exhibition matches taking place on all continents. The Pacific island nation of Fiji, traces its rugby ancestry to an 1884 meeting of European and Fijian soldiers and sailors, whilst Pakistan first saw the sport in 1925, when a group of British Navy sailors formed the Karachi Rugby Football Union, in the nation’s capital. 

Rugby in Pakistan almost went extinct in the 1980s, when the Navy recalled a high proportion of the warships from the Indian Ocean, yet the message had been spread enough to have established a competitive league across the country, and a fierce rivalry with neighbouring India. 

More recently, before his voyage reached the Red Sea’s red zone, Jarrard Hayler played rugby in Israel. This brought up the ship’s comradeship, before she reached her destination in Somalia. “I actually coached my ship’s team, and we played a tier two national side out in Israel,” he explains. “Which was interesting because obviously you can only pick a certain amount of people from your ship, because there’s only so many people on the ship, let alone rugby players.

“The PTI on the ship actually went out and bought 23 pairs of Nike Mercurials, we turned up and played a bit of rugby, which was good fun,” he recalls. “I can’t exactly remember the score, but I think they won. It was a really good thing to bring the ship together. And it wasn’t the highest level of rugby. But it was definitely something that was sort of a highlight of my three months on ship.”

Since the end of the Iran-Iraq War in September of 1980, Operation Kipion has been in place to ensure peace within the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Oman. Warships have been deployed in the region to ensure peace, and a continued safe flow of trade throughout the oil capital of the world. The Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary monitor the region year-round, to remove any threat of piracy and terrorism.  The men and women of the Royal Navy’s rugby team are rather familiar with Operation Kipion. The two starting flankers for the latest Army v Navy fixture were both deployed to the region at the same time. While Jarrard combated pirates off the Somali coastline, South African-born Mitchell Spencer oversaw engineering operations on board HMS Montrose, a mighty Duke Class frigate warship, that is permanently deployed in the Gulf of Oman. 

Weighing 4,800 tonnes, with sonar radars which can track enemy vessels from 120 miles, and the capacity to fire a ballistic missile over twenty miles, HMS Montrose is an imposing presence. Frequently the base of operations for busting trade in illegal goods, the most recent reported activity from HMS Montrose was in early 2022. The ship’s crew seized Iranian missiles and other illegal weapons, which were being transported on lifeboats near the South of Iran. 

Mitchell’s role was to find illegal goods boats, while also ensuring the safe passage of traders through the Strait of Hormuz. This 60-mile stretch, which borders Iran, Oman and the UAE, leaves no margin for error; conflict is rife, and Mitchell explains how the ship’s vigilance is never let down. “Our main role there was to escort vessels past Iran,” he explains. “So all your cargo vessels that were UK flagged, escort them past Iran and ensure their safety, essentially. We would either act as a sentry just past the Strait of Hormuz or escort vessels continuously.

“And as you escorted them, obviously, the Iranian vessels would come out and interrogate you,” he continues. “The other thing we also did was drug busts; a lot of drugs being exported from the Middle East into Africa, we would then have a team of Marines on board for that. 

“I think because I operated in the Gulf of Oman, most of our operations on HMS Montrose were in a higher readiness state. So, we weren’t necessarily afforded the opportunity to play (rugby) games or have that downtime at sea.” 

But like Jarrard, Mitchell is now a key part of the Navy side, with the two starting on opposite flanks for the match against the Army at Twickenham. When on deployment, maintaining physical fitness is key, with the on-board gym frequently packed with aspiring naval sportsmen and women. Upon returning to the UK’s mainland, Jarrard or Mitchell are straight back out onto the training pitch, to re-establish themselves in an ever-changing squad. 

Petty Officer Samantha Alderson is another rugby-playing sailor who’s experienced the on-edge life in the Gulf of Oman. Whereas Jarrard and Mitchell were part of Operation Kipion in 2020, Samantha’s service took place in the early 2010s. 

Aboard HMS Cornwall, a Type 22 Frigate warship, she also took on the pirates. “When I was on HMS Cornwall, that was when it was at the height of piracy, in the Red Sea, around Somalia. You’ve probably seen it – a little sea boat goes over with the Marines, you go and check that they’re not doing piracy. Or you get a call from a merchant vessel that can see pirates coming to take over their vessel. 

“We send the boats out, and then go over and basically check them out. I was part of the team driving the boats, to go and take the teams to do the board. That was quite a busy time when we were on HMS Cornwall, while doing that. That was probably the main bit of anti-piracy.” 

While there are no opportunities to play rugby in hostile regions, when the dust settles on a militarised deployment, makeshift matches can take place, anywhere in the world. “There’s been a few times I’ve played rugby (on deployment), and there’s been a couple of times I’ve played for the men’s team, when I’ve been on ship,” she explains. “Which is the only way I’ve ever actually played rugby on a deployment, and I ended up doing that in Gibraltar. I only played scrum half [in the men’s games], so I stayed out of the action as much as I could and I usually ended up coaching the men’s team. 

“I try and arrange games in the different ports,” she continues. “And if there is a team that will play us, then I usually arrange that, but it’s normally me screaming from the touch line, rather than on the pitch! It’s usually local teams, it’s pretty rare to have two naval ships in the same port. One of the other places that I did manage to actually play for a women’s team,” continues Sam, “is when we were in Canada. We arranged a fixture there for the men’s team, and it so happened that their women’s team was playing after. And so basically, I got asked, did I want to join in? I ended up playing for their team. So that was quite cool.”

Women’s rugby is on the rise in the services, much as it is in the wider world. The historic double-header at Twickenham in April 2022 was a major step, and Samantha was part of the defeated Navy side, earning her 20th cap. “Having been through quite a big chunk of the journey of women’s rugby in the military, it’s a massive milestone to get put on that stage,” she says. “It’s the biggest ground you’re ever going to want to play rugby on, especially for an English rugby player.

“There are not many amateur games of rugby that get that amount of crowd and publicity,” she continues. “So, the fact that we’re now being involved in that, can only be a benefit to women’s rugby in the military.”

Reaching rugby’s premier stage has come with sacrifice. Head coach of the women’s side is former Saracen Charlotte Fredrickson. She has twice renounced a season on the pitch because of her career as an observer, in which she operates the helicopter surveillance sensors in the Fleet Air Arm. “I missed two seasons, broadly,” she says. “One was way back in 2007, when I was undergoing flying training. And the rugby season coincided with the final part of my flying training pipeline. It was a simple question of, if I got injured, I wouldn’t be able to complete the flying training.

“And then when I was out in Afghanistan, again, I was sad to miss the season, because it’s a huge part of what I love about being in the Navy. It’s stuff I look forward to every year. But being in Afghanistan, I was doing my job at the sharp end.

“That has different demands, not only on yourself, but the people that you serve with,” she continues. “Whenever anybody goes away for Navy rugby, they leave a gap, and the people around them who stay on the ship, or in the establishment, fill that gap. Nine times out of ten they fill it gladly, but when you’re somewhere like Afghanistan you can’t necessarily ask that of the people around you, because everybody’s working hard, and everybody’s at the sharp end.”

When deployed on board RFA Argus in Oman, Charlotte Fredrickson’s ship asked her to officiate a match. With so much rugby experience, this was no problem, the challenge came with the attire. “I’m not a qualified referee, I don’t  always have the best history with referees,” she admits. “But because it was Oman, who have sort of different cultural views of women, it was about 45 degrees, and I was dressed literally head to toe.”

Charlotte is a pioneer of women’s sport in the Navy and a recipient of the prestigious Heart of Oak award in 2018. Commissioned in 2011 by Lieutenant Commander and former Navy DoR Geraint Ashton Jones, the trophy is made out of the original oak and copper from HMS Victory, Lord Nelson’s flagship in the 1805 Battle of Trafalgar, during the Napoleonic Wars. “It’s incredibly humbling to be recognised in that sense,” she admits. “The Heart of Oak has a very long, illustrious history with Navy rugby. Since its inception, there have been some big names in there. I think it just shows how far the women’s game has come, in terms of recognition and representation. Obviously, there’s always work to be done, as they say, but it was an amazing honour.

“I think for some of us involved in the Navy setup, Twickenham was the peak, it was Everest. We’ve got there, we’re at the top. But now, from a Navy rugby perspective for many of the girls in that set up, Twickenham was base camp, that’s all they knew. That’s their experience of Navy rugby, it has always been Twickenham. Twickenham for them is the standard, and that’s really exciting. I’m looking forward to seeing how far those girls can take it.” 

Twickenham is now the ultimate shop window for those with ambitions in rugby beyond the Navy. Jarrard, also a recipient of the Heart of Oak in 2016, has now ended his tenure fighting Somalian pirates, and instead can be found playing alongside the ones from Cornwall, as he has a contract to play for the RFU Championship side in Penzance. For his Royal Navy DoR Michael Shaw, his move was not a disappointment, but a success. “To develop the talent, you know, to have Jarrard signing for Cornish Pirates was immense, like proper immense. What that does, on every level is demonstrate pathways.”

The recruitment works both ways. “Recruitment-wise it’s going to be brilliant,” he continues. “We are now getting into professional clubs. In fact, I’m with Harlequins on Thursday; Ealing are coming down to train; and I’m off to chat to Tigers Academy. We already play against Bristol. We have good links with Exeter, so all these opportunities, and you know, I’m pretty hard-nosed, we’re going to target their academy boys. 

“They (professional clubs) are ruthless nowadays, and for the boys who just aren’t quite good enough, maybe we can offer them not just a Navy career, but also give them the aspiration that one day that they will play in front of 80,000 people at Twickenham.”  

Story by Tom Sansom

Pictures by Nick Dawe

This extract was taken from issue 20 of Rugby.
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