Pirate Dream
9th July 2008 Brendan
Richards is a 16yr old full-back who has played for the Belgian U17s rugby team
and dreams of playing for the Cornish Pirates. He
is the son of Jack Richards, a former Pirates 'Colt' who went on to distinguish
himself as a cricketer playing for Surrey and England, and who hit a century for
England on the 1986/87 Ashes winning tour in Australia Making
a brief return 'home' recently, Jack and Brendan were given the chance to watch
the Cornish Pirates train, a rare opportunity as they live in Schilde east of
Antwerp. Jack, who commutes to work in Rotterdam, where
for the past 20 years he has managed Orient Shipping, is keen to see the game
of rugby develop in Belgium, and is encouraged by much of what is being done.
 He
is involved with Schilde where the number of youngsters taking up the game has
shown a healthy increase, during his visit he highlighted the excellent support
when a crowd of 20,000 watched the Belgian International XV v Barbarians match
at the Heysel Stadium Brussels last May.
Brendan and Jack
thoroughly enjoyed talking to the Cornish Pirates coaches and players, including
South African back-rower Matt Evans, who incidentally plays cricket for Penzance
Cricket Club, the place where Jack's outstanding talent was nurtured. As
for Brendan, who is actually a young Dutchman with an English passport, his dreams
are firmly focused on one sport only, to play professional rugby - for the Cornish
Pirates!
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