ANDY Hurst was one of a number of Oxfordshire rugby players who have excelled in the sport.

Although he failed to win a Blue at Oxford University, he went on to play for Wasps and England.

He was educated at the Dragon School in Oxford and later became a solicitor at Henley-on-Thames, but rugby was always a passion.

He played initially for Oxfordshire Youth Services RFC, run by the dedicated Clem Purnell, which eventually became Oxfordshire Colts.

His talent was quickly recognised and he went on to play for Oxford Marathons, Oxfordshire and Wasps before being capped by England in 1962. He was also captain of Wasps that year.

The club’s official history records: “1962-63 will be long remembered by all rugby players for the terrible winter which cut two months out of the core of the season. “For Wasps, this was also a year when youth took the reins from experience on the field, Andy Hurst becoming captain.”

Rugby played an important part in his personal life – it won him a bride!

In August 1969, Hurst, then 33, led a Bosuns RFC tour to seven countries, including Chile, where a rugby friend introduced him to Bernadita Barriga, 24-year-old daughter of a Chilean landowner. They married in Santiago the following year. A month later, a reception was held at the home of the bridegroom’s parents, Dr and Mrs H E Hurst, at Sandford-on-Thames.

Many sporting friends from the Bosuns and Wasps were among the 130 guests.

More memories of Oxfordshire rugby stars soon.