Mr. and Mrs. Johnny Morris of Old Actonians RFC

When Johnny Morris, Old Actonian Chairman for the last two years, married Lisa Fountain at St Mary’s Church, Henley in early September he decided to give part of his day a rugby theme. His many rugby friends present both from his own club and from Chinnor, Aylesbury, Gosforth, KCS Old Boys, Chichester and the Royal Navy formed a wedding arch with Rhino Tornado balls as the bride and groom left the church. It was a honour for Rhino as neighbours and long standing suppliers of Old Actonians to provide the balls for the purpose and we wish the Johnny and Lisa all the best for a happy future together

Reggie Corrigan with boys from Catholic University School at a Rhino scrum masterclass

RHINO AT IRISH RUGBY SHOW

Rhino was well represented at the Inaugural Irish Rugby Show at the Royal Dublin Showground on the weekend of September 12^th and 13th.

We exhibited a Rhino Premiersled and were represented by our  Sales Manager Tarryn Coetzee and Sales Agent in Ireland, Grant White,and were also pleased to be assisted greatly by our old friend and IRB Central Asia representative Luke O’Callaghan on his home turf.

Leinster and Ireland prop Reggie Corrigan not only gave a Rhino scrummaging masterclass for schoolboys on each day of the Show but in addition kindly made the prize draw for a Rhino Lions ball signed by the whole touring squad to South Africa and which was won by Lisa Carolan from Dundalk.

Below: Luke O’Callaghan and Tarryn Coetzee with the Heineken Cup and Rhino Lions prize signed ball

Antumapu RFC of Chile is a team of students from the University of Chile’s Antumapu campus on the coast near Santiago. Having won all of the student competitions available to them in recent seasons, they decided one year ago to step up to the Chilean national second division and requested help from Rhino to obtain some contact and training equipment to prepare them for the challenge. Club organiser Matias Rojas commented: “this year has been really good for us, and Rhino has a lot of the responsibility of it, our trainings are better than before, and to have the equipment is something that stimulates the player to go to practice with more energy because every training is a lot more fun”. We wish them all the best for the coming season which we gather has started well for them.

Rhino has joined the newly-formed 'Fans' Social Responsibility Partnership' (FSRP), alongside other benefactors in supporting a grassroots rugby initiative in the Orange Farm Township near Soweto in South Africa. FSRP is the brainchild of Adrian Walton of Old Blues RFC, who was educated in South Africa - it aims to encourage rugby fans to take responsibility for the development of participation in the game in lesser privileged communities by providing the option to add a small sum to the cost of a ticket, be it for major international matches or otherwise. Whilst not strictly limited to beneficiaries in South Africa, the launch event was at Masibambane College, where following funding by HSBC of the turfing of a multi-purpose pitch which was opened by the Lions management and squad during the tour, a training day was held for 70 local children immediately before the 3rd Test in Johannesburg.

Reg Clark and Peter Urey of Rhino were delighted to be able to participate in this inaugural event using Rhino equipment supplied to FSRP and brought over by them. It was an inspiring and moving occasion - Rhino is pleased to pay tribute to the efforts of Adrian and his colleagues and we are committed to continuing our support for FSRP generally and this initiative in particular.

Pieter Steyn, the Headmaster of the College commented: 'FSRP's vision in initiating a programme to complement the generosity of our other benefactors such as HSBC will leave a legacy for future generations both at Masibambane and the Orange Farm Community, and will benefit many children in the future'.