Corus Rugby Football Club was a Welsh

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

clubs based in

Port Talbot Port Talbot (, ) is a town and 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 dominates the south ...

. It is now known as Tata Steel RFC, the club is a member of the Welsh Rugby Union and is a

feeder club In sports, a farm team, farm system, feeder team, feeder club, 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 players can move on to a higher ...

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 ( cy, Aberafan) 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 distr ...

), Alfred "Alfie" Hayes (

Bridgend Bridgend (; cy, Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr or just , meaning "the end of the bridge on the Ogmore") is a town in Bridgend County Borough in Wales, west of Cardiff and east of Swansea. The town is named after the medieval bridge over the River Og ...

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

Llanelli Llanelli (" St Elli's Parish"; ) is a market town and the largest community in Carmarthenshire and the preserved county of Dyfed, Wales. It is located on the Loughor estuary north-west of Swansea and south-east of the county town, Carmarth ...

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 Stuart Evans (born 14 June 1963) is a Welsh former rugby union and rugby league player who played from the 1980s up until the early 2000s. Born in Neath in June 1963, Evans played for several rugby union clubs, including British Steel, for who ...

( Swansea, Neath and

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

), 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 Divis ...

2011/2012 - Champions

References

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