Corus Rugby Football Club was a Welsh

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

clubs based in

Port Talbot Port Talbot (, ) is a town and community (Wales), community in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, situated on the east side of Swansea Bay, approximately from Swansea. The Port Talbot Steelworks covers a large area of land which d ...

. It is now known as Tata Steel RFC, the club is a member of the

Welsh Rugby Union 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. The WRU is responsible for the running of rugby in Wales, overseeing 320 member clu ...

and is a

feeder club In sports, a farm team (also referred to as farm system, developmental system, feeder team, or nursery club) is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful pl ...

for the Ospreys. The club was historically known as The S.C.O.W, Steel Company of Wales, but changed its name to British Steel RFC in the late 1960s when the steel manufacture British Steel evolved from The SCOW. The name Tata Steel RFC was adopted following the demise of Corus and formally British Steel but locally, the team is still known as "The SCOW". The team plays at the sports ground at Margam (just off J.38 of the M4) which it shares with other sections - Cricket, Soccer, Bowls etc. Although it could be considered as a "works side" traditionally most of its players have not worked within the industry but have been Margam and Port Talbot parishners. Over the years there has been a mistaken belief that the steel industry itself have sponsored the team, though this is untrue. Since 1980, the club has been totally self-sufficient due to the work of the committee and sponsors. Like many of other rugby clubs, during the earlier part of this Century, playing numbers started to dwindle and the Club successfully joined up with a local District side called St Josephs Old Boys RFC. This jump started the Club and they quickly moved up the leagues. Since the formation of the professional era the club has lost its local player base but this is being effectively managed

Notable former players

Traditionally the club has produced a strong youth team. Between the 1960s and 1980s in particular the team was one of the strongest lower tier clubs in Wales producing the following players who moved on to the then "first class" set up - Mark Morgan (

Aberavon Aberavon () is a town and community in Neath Port Talbot county borough, Wales. The town derived its name from being near the mouth of the river Afan, which also gave its name to a medieval lordship. Today it is essentially a district of Por ...

), Alfred "Alfie" Hayes (

Bridgend Bridgend (; or just , meaning "the end of the bridge on the Ogmore") is a town in the Bridgend County Borough of Wales, west of Cardiff and east of Swansea. The town is named after the Old Bridge, Bridgend, medieval bridge over the River Og ...

), John Mahoney (Aberavon), Richie Davies (Aberavon) - Captain during their Centenary Season, Hedley Jenkins (Bridgend ), Paul Hughes (

Neath Neath (; ) is a market town and Community (Wales), community situated in the Neath Port Talbot, Neath Port Talbot County Borough, Wales. The town had a population of 50,658 in 2011. The community of the parish of Neath had a population of 19,2 ...

), Jeffrey Griffiths (Aberavon,

Llanelli ; ) is a market town and community (Wales), community in Carmarthenshire and the Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county of Dyfed, Wales. It is on the estuary of the River Loughor and is the largest town in the Principal areas of Wales, ...

and Wales (Romania 1979- an un-capped game at the time)), Martin Thomas (Aberavon), Paul Ridsdale (Aberavon), Andrew Twomey (Aberavon, Maesteg), Robert Emmitt (Aberavon), Kevin O'Leary (Aberavon), Hywel Evans (Aberavon),Phil George (Aberavon), Dai Rees (Aberavon & South Wales Police RFC, Ian Rees (Neath & Maesteg), Robert Beresford (Aberavon), Andrew Jones (Aberavon and Bridgend), Stuart Evans (

Swansea Swansea ( ; ) is a coastal City status in the United Kingdom, city and the List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, second-largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of ...

, Neath and

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

), Dai Joseph (Aberavon, Swansea, Cardidd and Neath), Huw Griffiths (Aberavon and South Wales Police RFC), Lee Bridgeman (Aberavon), Deane Jones (Aberavon, South Wales Police RFC and Neath), Richard Diplock (Wales - one cap v. Romania 1988), Chris Bradshaw (Aberavon, Bridgend, Cardiff and Swansea), Wayne Morris (Aberavon), John Wilyeo (Aberavon), Phil Hamley (Aberavon)- Captain.

Club honours

WRU Division One West The Welsh Rugby Union Division One West (also called the SWALEC Division One West for sponsorship reasons) is a rugby union league in Wales first implemented for the 1995/96 season. The league was formed in 2006 when the WRU divided the old Divisi ...

2011/2012 - Champions

References

Rugby clubs established in 1908 Rugby union teams in Wales Rugby union in Neath Port Talbot Sport in Port Talbot 1908 establishments in Wales {{Wales-rugbyunion-team-stub