Gordon Rimmer (28 February 1925 – 2002) was an English

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 ...

player who played in the scrum-half position. Rimmer played club rugby with Southport RFC and

Waterloo FC Waterloo Rugby Club (known as Firwood Waterloo for sponsorship reasons) is an English Rugby Union team based at St Anthony's Road, Blundellsands, Merseyside. Once a powerhouse of the English rugby union game, the men's 1st XV now play in Regio ...

, represented

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

county, was capped 12 times for

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, and was a member of the British Lions team that toured in 1950.

Rugby career

Rimmer played for Southport RFC and

team. He also represented

in the

County Championship The County Championship, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Rothesay County Championship, is the only domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales. Established in 1890, it is organised by the England and Wales Cri ...

, where he played in a record six finals between 1947 and 1955. Rimmer appeared three times for a combined North-Western Counties team against international touring teams, Australia in 1947, South Africa in 1951 and New Zealand in 1954. He also made one appearance for the

Barbarians A barbarian is a person or tribe of people that is perceived to be primitive, savage and warlike. Many cultures have referred to other cultures as barbarians, sometimes out of misunderstanding and sometimes out of prejudice. A "barbarian" may ...

invitational team against East Midlands in 1951. Rimmer made his

England national team Team England usually refers to the name under which athletes representing Commonwealth Games England compete. England team or Team England may refer to: *Commonwealth Games England *England national football team *England cricket team *England nat ...

début against Wales in Cardiff during the

1949 Five Nations Championship The 1949 Five Nations Championship was the twentieth series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the fifty-fifth series of the northern hemisphere rugby u ...

. He made a further appearance against Ireland, but didn't feature in the games against France and Scotland. His first appearance for England at home in Twickenham came the following year, against Wales. Rimmer was one of only three English players to be included in the British Lions' 1950 tour to New Zealand and Australia. He played in a total of eight games on tour, including one of the test matches against New Zealand, with the other seven appearances against local opposition. In one of these provincial matches, Rimmer played in the fly-half position, making him the only scrum-half to play out of position during a Lions since 1930. Following his tour with the Lions, Rimmer played three of England's four matches in the

1951 Five Nations Championship The 1951 Five Nations Championship was the twenty-second series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the fifty-seventh series of the northern hemisphere r ...

. In 1952, Rimmer played in the Five Nations match against Wales and also in the match against South Africa as part of their tour. He did not feature for England in 1953, but returned the following year to play in three of England's games during the

1954 Five Nations Championship The 1954 Five Nations Championship was the twenty-fifth series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the sixtieth series of the northern hemisphere rugby u ...

, winning all three matches which led to them sharing the Championship title with France and Wales. The game against Scotland was to be his last for the national team.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rimmer, Gordon 1925 births 2002 deaths English rugby union players England international rugby union players British & Irish Lions rugby union players from England Barbarian F.C. players Lancashire County RFU players Sportspeople from Southport Rugby union players from Merseyside Rugby union scrum-halves Waterloo F.C. players 20th-century English sportsmen