TWO England rugby union internationals paid a visit to Okehampton Rugby Club on December 12 to take part in a ‘club court’ event.

The club was honoured to welcome Paul Rendall and Graham Dawe to the club for the club court.

Rendall played as a prop for London Wasps and won 28 caps for England from 1984, when he was already 30 years old, to 1991, without ever scoring. Dawe played for Bath, Sale Sharks, Plymouth Albion and Launceston, earning five caps for England between 1987 and 1995. He is currently head coach of Plymouth Albion.

The court, set up to deal with the on and off field misdemeanours of players and club members alike, was presided over by Paul Rendall acting as judge, ably assisted by Graham Dawe and Okehampton’s own international Paul Lawrence.

Paul came up through the Okehampton youth junior section, played colts rugby for the club and is now an integral part of the Okehampton first XV.

He recently was selected to play for the England Deaf XV and has played twice, losing at home to Wales but travelling to Italy with the team to record a great victory.

He joins a list of Okehampton players who have achieved international honours and this season he has started helping with coaching in the club’s junior section.

Misdemeanours put before the court included heinous crimes such as failing to score a try when all the player had to do was drop over the line but dropped the ball instead, to just turning up late. No-one was spared.

The miscreants included club captain Tom Powell, veteran prop Ian Langbridge and even some of the player’s girlfriends found their way into the dock.

Club secretary Dave Potter said: ‘A great time was had by all who attended in the company of our illustrious visitors, helped along by a barrel of ale from Dartmoor Brewery who sponsored the evening. The club’s grateful thanks go to Paul Rendall and Graham Dawe for giving up their evening to make the court go so well, and to head coach Gareth Evans for organising the event.’