The decision by the RFU to award retrospective caps to a group of 47 players has seen four former Cambridge Blues elevated to full international honours.
Owen Chadwick, Eric Bole, Ian Peck and Alan Buzza have taken the number of Light Blues players who have now won England caps up to 183. All four captained the club.
“These retrospective honours, acknowledge players who took to the field for the best available England men’s senior side in sanctioned matches dating back to 1945,” explained the RFU in an official statement. “Many of these fixtures were classified differently under historical regulations, such as Victory Internationals, select tour matches or one-off representative games, meaning players who played for England did not receive caps despite competing against national XVs from other major rugby nations.
“These retrospective caps correct this historical oversight and honours the commitment, skill and service of the players who proudly wore the rose.”
Rob Udwin, immediate past president of the RFU added: “These players represented England with distinction, often in challenging post-war circumstances or on demanding overseas tours.
“They wore the rose, faced full international opposition, and demonstrated the same pride and commitment as any fully capped England player. It is only right that we formally acknowledge their achievements.
“These caps are a long overdue honour, and we look forward to celebrating these individuals and their families as we place their names into the permanent history of English rugby.”
Retrospective caps are being awarded to players who:
• Represented the best available England men’s team in fixtures against another nation’s full or best-available XV.
• Were uncapped both before and after these matches.
• Played in matches formally recognised in RFU archives and historical records.
The list will be held separately from official England full caps, ensuring chronological cap numbers, records and player statistics remain unaffected. However, numbering may follow sequentially from the last full cap.
Chadwick won Blues in 1936, 1937 and 1938, leading the side in the final year, and was a British & Irish Lions tourist in Argentina in 1936. He played in Victory International against the Kiwis at Twickenham in January 1946, when he was joined in the England side by Bole, Brian Vaughan and Pat Sykes. Having followed his father to Cambridge from Tonbridge School in 1935, Chadwick became an icon at Cambridge and was renowned as one of the leading figures in Church history in the 20th century. He went on to become Master at Selwyn College from 1957 to 1983. He died at the age of 99 on 17 July, 2015. Although he didn’t make the Varsity Match team in 1935, he played against Oxford as a hooker in 1936, 1937 and was a winning captain in 1938. He also played for the Barbarians.
Bole came up to Magdalene College at Cambridge from Wycliffe College and featured in four of the War time Varsity Matches – two in 1943-44 and two more in 1944-45. His form earned him selection for six Victory Internationals – two each against Wales and Scotland and one against the Kiwis and Ireland. He was voted in as captain for the first full season of rugby after WW11, in 1945-46, and led the Light Blues to an 11-8 win at Twickenham. The King, the Queen and Princess Elizabeth were among a 40,000 crowd that day. Bole was one of the three Light Blue try scorers that day and later in the season he also played twice for the Barbarians in a Boxing Day win at Leicester and then a triumph two months later over East Midlands. He played in the 1946 defeat to Oxford before being invited to captain the side once again in 1947. Once again, he came up trumps with a second win, although he was missed to miss out on the game against the touring Wallabies due to concussion. He played his club rugby for Waterloo – when he left Cambridge he became a teacher at Liverpool College – and helped Lancashire to win the County Championship title in 1947 and 1848, scoring the only try of the match in the first final as the Lancastrians beat Eastern Counties 5-0 at Grange Road.
Bole emigrated to the United States in 1951 to work at a private Christian school in St. Louis, Missouri. He became a fixture there over the next two decades, influencing generations of students as a houseparent, coach, teacher, and headmaster before passing away in 1986.
England’s Victory Internationals
24 November 1945: England XV 3 – 18 Kiwis (Twickenham)
19 January 1946: Wales XV 13 – 25 England XV (Cardiff Arms Park)
6 February 1946: England XV 14 – 6 Ireland XV (Twickenham)
9 February 1946: Ireland XV 4 – 3 England XV (Lansdowne Road)
23 February 1946: England XV 0 – 3 Wales XV (Twickenham)
16 March 1946: England XV 12 – 8 Scotland XV (Twickenham)
13 April 1946: Scotland XV 27 – 0 England XV (Murrayfield)
Players being capped for this era:
1945 – Eric Bole, Owen Chadwick, Gerald Hollis, G Hudson, Derek Marriot, Harry Pateman, Ron Peel
1946 – FP Dunkley, George Gilthorpe, HF Greasley, FCH Hill, Stephen Peel, Norman Stock, Johnny Thornton, Harold Uren
While Eric Bole was only the third player to captain Cambridge for two seasons back in 1947, Ian Peck was one of the few to have captained both the rugby and cricket teams into Varsity Matches. An England Schools scrum half from Bedford School, he also captained the Young England Cricketers before going up to Magdalene College..
No surprise, then, that he was in demand throughout the year to pay for Light Blues teams in both sports. On the rugby field he followed in a line of top quality No 9s in England’s Richard Harding (1973, 1974), British & Irish Lion Alun Lewis (1975, 1976) and Ireland and Lions John Robbie (1977, 1978). He played for Bedford, Midland Counties, England U23 and England B before being picked for the England tour to the Far East and Pacific isles in the summer of 1979. He started in four of the seven games, sharing the scrum half duties with Moseley’s Chris Gifford. He played in the opening 36-7 win over Japan B, was on the bench for the 1st Test triumph (21-19) and scored one of England’s 15 tries in a record 80-3 win over Kyushu. He then started the 2nd Test on 20 May in which England won 38-18. He also played in the Test against Fiji on 29 May, which England won 19-7, and returned to the bench for the game in Tonga. He was an England replacement against New Zealand in November 1979 at Twickenham when he was joined among the replacements by his Cambridge colleague Ian Metcalfe. Neither got on the field. He then sat on the bench throughout England’s Grand Slam season in 1980 waiting patiently for Steve Smith to get a knock, but it never happened. He was named captain of both the Cambridge cricket and rugby teams without having won a Blue prior to his appointment and led the rugby side in a 9-3 defeat to Oxford at Twickenham. On the cricket field he led the side in two draws against Oxford in 1980 and 1981, played against Sri Lanka for the Combined Oxford and Cambridge team and also captained the Combined Universities in the one-day competitions.
Alan Buzza is another double Blue who captained the rugby team against Oxford in 1989. He has been awarded his cap for his part in England’s tour to Canada in the summer of 1993 while playing as a full back at Wasps.
A proud Cornishman, he played for England Schools U18 at rugby as well as for England Students, the UAU, Cornwall, the South West and England A and England Sevens. He read Land Economy at Hughes Hall after graduating from Loughborough University. He won rugby Blues in the defeat in 1988 and then led the Light Blues to a 22-15 win a year later. He also played at Lord’s in the drawn games against Oxford at cricket in 1989 and 1990. He toured Fiji, Australia and New Zealand with the Combined Oxford & Cambridge team in 1989 and was then selected for the England tour to Canada in 1993. There were two Tests in five games on tour, four of which England won. Buzza started on the right wing in the 1st Test against the Canadians in Burnaby on 29 May in a 15-12 defeat. He took a heavy knock and didn’t appear in the 2nd Test, which England won 19-14 to square the series.
The players who have been awarded caps are:
1971 – Jim Broderick, John Gray, Mike Hannell, Dave Robinson
1973 – Peter Hendy
1977 – Jeff Bell, Dave Carfoot, Gary Cox, Nigel French
1978 – K Busell, Chris Gifford
1979 – Toby Allchurch, John Butler, John Doubleday, Alan McMillan, Ian Peck, Nigel Pomphrey
1982 – John Gadd, Neil McDowell
1984 – Eddie Bell, Stuart Redfern
1986 – Peter Buckton, JM Goodwin, Mark Lee, Andy Simpson, SM Smith
1990 – Rob Kimmins, John Wells
1993 – Andy Blackmore, Alan Buzza, Paul Challinor, John Fletcher