'Proud' rugby captain Bangkok-bound for historic tournament

TEESSIDE rugby captain Rebecca Snook will be taking on the challenge of playing in the Bangkok International 10s rugby championship head on.

- By SUE KIRBY

The Middlesbrough-based Darlington captain is part of the PFC Hartlepool & District Barbarians squad in Thailand's capital for the tournament on February 14-15.

Sponsored by the PFC Trust, the Hartlepool-based charity helping people across Teesside, and inspired by an idea by the late Hartlepool businessman, Alby Pattison OBE, the squad are making history by taking part in their first major tournament.

Snook, the experienced statesman of the group at 46-years-young, has represented Darlington Ladies since 2003 and has been playing before some of her PFC Hartlepool & District Barbarians teammates were even born.

As a long-term member of the forwards union, she'll be bringing sheer brute force to the fields of Bangkok. "My preferred position is second row, not that I'm a jumper and never have been in my 23 years of playing," she quipped.