| Birth name | Robert Clive Burgess | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | 25 November 1950 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Manmoel, Caerphilly | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date of death | 2 May 2006 (aged 55) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of death | Ebbw Vale, Wales | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Robert Clive Burgess (25 November 1950 - 2 May 2006) was an international rugby union flanker who played for Wales from 1977 to 1982. Burgess was a popular player who had many nicknames some of which were Budgie, Animal and The Steel Claw thanks to his fearless nature and rugged appearance. He played his club rugby for Ebbw Vale RFC, Croesyceiliog RFC and Brescia Rugby
Rugby union, commonly known in most of the world simply as rugby, is a contact team sport which originated in England in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its most common form, a game is between two teams of 15 players using an oval-shaped ball on a rectangular field with H-shaped goalposts at each end.
Flanker is a position in the sport of rugby union. Each team of 15 players includes two flankers, who play in the forwards, and are generally classified as either blindside or openside flankers, numbers 6 and 7 respectively. The name comes from their position in a scrum in which they 'flank' each set of forwards. They compete for the ball – most commonly in rucks and mauls. Flankers also assist in pushing in a scrum, but are expected to detach from the scrum as soon as the ball is out to get to the play before the opposition's forwards. Flankers also participate in line-outs, either being lifted to contest or win possession, or to lift other players. Flankers are usually the key participants in the tackling process. The flankers, especially the openside, are often the fastest forwards on the team but still relied upon for tackling.
The Wales national rugby union team competes annually in the Six Nations Championship with England, France, Ireland, Italy and Scotland. Wales have won the Six Nations and its predecessors 27 times outright. Wales' most recent championship win and grand slam victory came in 2019.
Burgess is unusual as he first started playing rugby at the age of 20 after leaving the Merchant Navy. This did not prevent him from being capped for the Wales B team against France in 1976 and his first full cap came in a try-scoring debut against Ireland in 1977. [1] [2] He was a key member of the 1977 Triple Crown winning side and on his recall from the international wilderness in 1981, was promptly voted Welsh Player of the Year. He was renowned for his mauling strength and won nine caps between 1977 and 1982.
In sport, a cap is a metaphorical term for a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of association football. In the early days of football, the concept of each team wearing a set of matching shirts had not been universally adopted, so each side would distinguish itself from the other by wearing a specific sort of cap.
A try is a way of scoring points in rugby union and rugby league football. A try is scored by grounding the ball in the opposition's in-goal area. Rugby union and league differ slightly in defining 'grounding the ball' and the 'in-goal' area.
The Ireland national rugby union team represents the island of Ireland in rugby union. They are ranked third in the world by World Rugby as of 18 March 2019. The team competes annually in the current Six Nations Championship, which they have won fourteen times outright and shared nine times in its various formats. The team also competes every four years in the Rugby World Cup, where they reached the quarter-final stage in all but two competitions. Ireland is also one of the four unions that make up the British and Irish Lions – players eligible to play for Ireland are also eligible for the Lions.
Born in Manmoel on 25 November 1950, Robert Clive Burgess joined Ebbw Vale from Croesyceiliog RFC and was a superb servant to the Eugene Cross Park club, for whom he made more than 200 appearances, before finishing his career in Italy with Brescia.
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern and Western Europe. Located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia and the enclaved microstates San Marino and Vatican City. Italy covers an area of 301,340 km2 (116,350 sq mi) and has a largely temperate seasonal and Mediterranean climate. With around 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth-most populous EU member state and the most populous country in Southern Europe.
Brescia is a city and comune in the region of Lombardy in northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometres from the lakes Garda and Iseo. With a population of about 200,000, it is the second largest city in the region and the fourth of northwest Italy. The urban area of Brescia extends beyond the administrative city limits and has a population of 672,822, while over 1.5 million people live in its metropolitan area. The city is the administrative capital of the Province of Brescia, one of the largest in Italy, with over 1,200,000 inhabitants.
Former Welsh Rugby Union Chief Executive Steve Lewis said,
The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) is the governing body of rugby union in the country of Wales, recognised by the sport's international governing body, World Rugby.
| “ | Whenever you saw his name on the team sheet you knew you had a chance of winning any game. He was a tower of strength at Ebbw Vale and his mauling capabilities were legendary. | ” |
Burgess died in May 2006 leaving behind a widow and two daughters. [3]
