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Rhino Rugby League Ambassador Ryan Hall has once more been nominated for the Rugby League World XIII – one of seven players to be re-selected from last year’s line up. The Leeds Rhinos winger is moreover the only UK based player in the line up, which includes England's James Graham, now with the Canterbury Bulldogs in Australia. Rhino Rugby League Managing Director Tony Colquitt comments: “All at Rhino Rugby join me in congratulating Ryan on his selection, which comes shortly after his coming on board as a Rhino Rugby League brand Ambassador alongside James Roby of St Helens. It is a thoroughly deserved honour”.

Rhino Rugby today unveiled the designs for the Official Ball range of the 2013 British & Irish Lions on the first day of Rugby Expo at Twickenham Stadium.

The key motif running through the whole of the collection by Rhino’s talented designer, Duncan Olner, is based on a lion’s paw with claws. The top of the range international standard match ball, which the The Lions will train with, and which will be the match ball for the historic fixture against the Barbarians in Hong Kong on June 1st, is the Rhino Vortex Elite.

This is the match ball as used in the RaboDirect PRO12 which has been so well received in the last two seasons. The Vortex Elite has moreover been shortlisted at the Rugby Expo Awards this evening in the Technical Innovation category.

For the first time fans can also buy Lions supporters balls in all of the colours of the four participating nations in addition to the usual range of mini, midi and keyring balls, and a pink beach rugby ball.

Rhino Group CEO, Reg Clark, comments:
“We are delighted to be Official Ball supplier to The British & Irish Lions for the second time, and are excited by the designs and colours of this collection. We hope that players, supporters and sponsors will enjoy them.”.

Charlie McEwen, Director of Sales & Marketing for The British & Irish Lions, comments:

“Rhino have been partners of The Lions for a number of years and we are excited to be using the Vortex Elite Ball for the Hong Kong game and in training. This ball has performed extremely well in other rugby competitions and we feel that it will be a great addition to the Tour.”

Charlie McEwen of the Lions, Rhino Chairman Andrew Moss and CEO Reg Clark launch the 2013 Lions ball range at Rugby Expo.

Anna Wood and Maria Grandinetti Milton of Logan Sports Management with the Rhino Lions beach ball.

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Rhino Rugby and Rhino-Turf have jointly entered into a 3 year agreement with Rosslyn Park FC to be a Sponsor of both the HSBC National School Sevens and of the Club for the next 3 years.

Rhino Group CEO Reg Clark comments:

"On behalf of both Rhino's mainstream equipment business and of Rhino-Turf our innovative and dynamic licensees in the artificial turf business, we are delighted once more to be a Sponsor of the HSBC National Schools Sevens and of Rosslyn Park FC. It's a particular pleasure to continue our association with Sevens Sponsor HSBC with whom we are working very closely on next year's Lions Tour, and Rhino has very
strong historical ties with Park, not least through the late Andy Ripley, who was Chairman of our company for 18 years. Our association with the National School Sevens, moreover, goes back over 30 years"

Sean Justice, MD of Rosslyn Park comments:

"We are delighted that Rhino have come on board once more as a partner of the tournament, and
moreover on a 3 year deal. We feel that Rhino and Rhino-Turf will add a lot of value to the tournament
and to the club. I am sure they will increase the experience and enjoyment for the participants and spectators. Rhino is a brand recognised all over the world for its high quality equipment and artificial turf and with their involvement I'm sure this year's tournament will be a great success."

1982 Derek de Glanville unveils the Powerhouse scrum machine.	2007 Martin Johnson coaches on the Rhino Dictator.

Andy Ripley

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At this particular time of year Rhino would like to recommend to our friends and clients: ‘The Final Whistle: the Great War in Fifteen Players’ by Stephen Cooper. It’s a history of the Great War 1914-18, told through the stories of 15 men, who all played for Rosslyn Park , the club to which our former Chairman for 18 years, the legendary Andy Ripley, belonged. It’s also a ‘love song’ to the game of rugby.

Published by The History Press, it has received good reviews from Fergal Keane and Ian Hislop. The Foreword is by Bill Beaumont, Chairman RFU and all royalties go to charity – Prostate Cancer UK (for Andy Ripley) and RP Injury Trust, which helps young sports-people with life-changing injuries.

For much of the last RaboDirect PRO12 season eventual winner Johnny Sexton and Ronan O’Gara slugged it out at the top of Rhino Golden Boot Award table for the best goal kicker.

This year after four rounds there is a familiar feel to the competition with an early lead being taken by Ian Keatley of Munster with an impressive 93.33% including a hot steak of his last 14 kicks with the Rhino Vortex Elite international match ball, followed by Ian Madigan of Leinster with 86.67%. In third place is the consistent Luciano Orquera, now with the newly formed Zebre club in Italy, with 81.82%. Orquera established a record for the competition of 9 out of 9 in the derby match between Aironi and Treviso last year.

“I was delighted to score 9 out of 9 penalty kicks during the derby game against Treviso before Christmas because it meant achieving an important win. I only found out the day after the game that I had made a new kicking record in the PRO12. The new Rhino Vortex allowed me to be at my best, even in poor weather conditions. It is a pleasure to kick”. Luciano Orquera

Rhino was delighted to announce recently the appointment of Andrew Moss as group non-executive Chairman. Mr Moss, who is also taking a strategic stake in Rhino, was until the end of may CEO of Aviva, sponsors of English Premier League Rugby, and has had a very distinguished career with HSBC and Lloyds of London before that. He is a strong supporter of the game and played at hooker for Oxford University at the same time as CEO Reg Clark.

He comments: “I am delighted to be joining Rhino at this extremely exciting time and look forward to working together with the management of all aspects of the company and the brand in taking it forward to the next stage of its development”.

Shareholder Martin Johnson, Andrew Moss and Reg Clark at the announcement of the appointment at the showrooms of the RhinoGB fashion range in King's Cross

Rhino Rugby were delighted to supply the official Match balls for Scotlands Lothian and Borders Police XV who took on a star studded Steve Culley Select XV, featuring many of Scotland’s former internationalists, on Sunday 16 September at the Police headquarters in Edinburgh.

The match was organised in memory of Steve Cully a former police officer in Edinburgh who sadly lost his life last September. He had a heart attack when on an armed response unit training exercise. Steve was a talented rugby player who played his club rugby with a number of Edinburgh clubs notably Murrayfield Wanderers, Stewart’s Melville FP and Edinburgh Accies, as well as for Ireland at age-grade.

He also coached the women’s team from Heriot Watt University aka “The Wandies” to league and cup victories in the early 1990s.
Colleagues were that inspired by his love of the sport they decided to create a family friendly day with various activities taking place with the main event of the day being the big match against many of Scotland’s former rugby stars. All money raised will go to Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland.
Captain of the Steve Cully Select, Stewart Bennet, said: “Initially a few close friends and colleagues wanted to get together and celebrate Steve’s life with a game of rugby and just have a laugh, but the idea has grown arms and legs in the past few weeks.

“We decided to get some former internationalists for the team so we will have a sprinkling of young and old guys, some of whom might not be able to run quite as fast as they used to”

“I’m Steve’s brother-in-law so when my name came up to captain the side I was really delighted. I hope we can raise a lot of money for the fund which will then go to the charity Chest, Heart and Stroke Scotland.”

The Steve Cully Select was coached by John Jeffrey, a friend of Steve’s, and manager for the day was Ex British Lions Captain Finlay Calder. Many of the players pulling on the jersey were household names in Scottish Rugby Doddie Weir, Scott Hastings, Gregor Townsend, Duncan Hodge and Gary Armstrong to name but a few.

The Steve Culley Select ran out comfortable winners over there Police rivals but on this day the score did not matter as it was down to remembering a great husband, father, friend and Rugby enthusiast.

RG

Victorious capt Stewart Bennet	Barry Stewart, Peter Wright, Gary Armstrong and Doddie Weir

John Bishop and Reg Clark at the conclusion of the USA VS Japan match

Following discussions at successive IRB manufacturers meetings, Rhino CEO Reg Clark was a guest of International Wheelchair Rugby Federation President John Bishop at the Great Britain vs France and USA vs Japan games at the Olympic Park Basketball Arena last week.

Wheelchair Rugby is making great progress as an international sport and Rhino is fully backing the IWRF in its quest to hold a parallel tournament in London during the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

The game, originally called ‘Murderball’ was invented in Canada in 1976, and is known as Quad Rugby in the USA based on the fact that all wheelchair rugby players need to have disabilities that include at least some loss of function in at least three limbs—most are medically classified as quadriplegic. There are currently 24 countries in active competiton in the sport, with several others at a development stage.

The gold medallists in the Paralympic tournament were Australia, who defeated Canada in the final, with the USA taking the bronze medal.

For the second successive year Rhino was a major sponsor of the Piotrowice Nyskie International Rugby Festival staged on the border of Poland and the Czech Republic over the August Bank Holiday weekend.

The national side of the Czech Republic defeated club side Lechia Gdansk 22-7 to win the Rhino Rugby Trophy in the Womens Sevens section of the tournament.

Hosted by Englishman Jim Parton and his Polish wife Anna, the Festival was another huge success with teams from all over Central & Eastern Europe competing, often travelling considerable distances to do so.

The Mens Sevens for the Rule Financial Trophy played in a league format was won by a strong Austrian national side, with Polish club team Wrocław narrowly edging out Hackney from North London for the runners up spot on points difference. In the Mens XVs final Vienna Celtic defeated a Kew Occasionals Invitational XV from West London 41-10 to win the Jones Lang LaSalle Trophy.

The Czech Republic and Lechia Gdansk sides after the final of the Rhino Rugby Trophy
Rhino Teamwear produced the official tournament T shirts	Rhino CEO Reg Clark sporting a RhinoGB 'Union Jacket' presents the Move One Trophy for the tournament MVP to Irish scrum half Anna Caplice who played for the Austrian national womens sevens team. Vienna Celtic vs Kew Occasionals

Rhino Rugby of the UK and Powa Products of New Zealand have announced a strategic partnership which formalises an already close working relationship between the leading rugby equipment manufacturers of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres respectively.

The partnership provides for a strategic cross-licensing of products – Rhino will be taking the European distribution rights to Powa’s popular portable one man scrum machine, and Powa will manufacture and distribute the groundbreaking Rhino Collision King machine in New Zealand. It also provides for joint initiatives on future product development and co-operation to promote the game in developing rugby nations.

Reg Clark, Rhino CEO commented “we have for some time had a close interpersonal relationship with our friendly rivals at Powa, and I am delighted that this has now led to a formal partnership arrangement”.

Chris Deighton, founder and General Manager at Powa was equally enthusiastic: “we are delighted to be formalising our already close relationship with Rhino. This is a positive, value adding move not only for both companies, but also for the game itself”.