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In Nath's last match for the Royal Navy he wore the 22 shirt having earlier that season returned from injury and been kept out of the starting flyhalf position by an in form Greg Loydall; who was to be awarded the Cossack Sword that year. It was a neat symmetry with his debut season where again he battled for the 10 jersey, this time with Tom Glover. Nath won his first cap away to Marine Nationale in the centre, started at Flyhalf against the RAF but was also in the 22 shirt for his first Army v Navy match as Glover returned to the 10 shirt. Nath's first Army v Navy match, his 3rd cap, was the debut for Jack Fleckney (pictured with Nath) and it looked then as if the Navy were going to have strong half backs for years to come.
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Before Navy Rugby
Before joining the Royal Marines, in 2010, Nathan had enjoyed a successful rugby career in both Bristol and Perth (Australia not Scotland). Excelling at his home club of Cleve he was spotted by Bristol's Academy programme which he then joined. His leadership skills saw him captain the Gloucestershire U19 VIIs side and he was also selected for Gloucestershire U20s. A season playing for West Subiaco completed his education before he joined Lympstone as a young recruit. Not long after passing out he was to return to Australia with the 2011 Royal Navy team as they embarked on the inaugural Defence Forces World Cup. Huntley was selected at Flyhalf for the opening two matches but had to be content with a place on the replacements bench for the final game as Pascoe was moved to 10 and Jonny Stephen started at scrum half. Returning from IDRC Nath went straight in to an Inverdale Cup programme before embarking on his first Inter Service campaign and of course winning his first cap.
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v Marine Nationale
Outside centre on Royal Navy debut against Marine Nationale in Toulon saw a 24-3 loss but Nath was to play an influential role a year later, in Portsmouth, from flyhalf where the Navy won 21-10
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A second loss to the French, again in Toulon, followed in 2014 before in 2015 the Marine Nationale recorded their fist win on home (Royal) Navy soil as they won 33-19 before again winning in 2016 to square the series at 6 wins each.
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Nath was selected as a replacement in 2017, as Rich Cadywold started at flyhalf. It was not a good night for the Royal Navy with the Marine Nationale enjoying their fourth successive win. He missed out playing the French in 2019 due to injury so his last game was the 2018 Toulon match which turned out to be another Marine Nationale win 33-14.
Its fair to say that the Marine Nationale proved difficult opposition for Nath and he even had to move to scrum half in one game which was not a favoured postion.
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v Royal Air Force
A 13-6 win at Portsmouth was Nathan's first encounter with the Royal Air Force and his 2nd cap. He was selected in his preferred flyhalf position and probably felt he had done enough to retain the 10 shirt for the Army game later. Though that was not to be, he ensured the following year, at RAF Halton, that he had to start against the Army with a three try performance in a 55-26 win. He was to retain the starting 10 jersey for all the matches v the RAF until 2019, when returning from injury he started on the bench with Greg Lloydall at Flyhalf.
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It was rare that Nath was first choice kicker in his playing career (Pascoe and then Humphrey) so he only has 1 conversion (in 2015) to go with his 4 tries, the 3 in 2013 and a final one in 2019 as the Navy sealed a hard fought win against the defending champions at the Twickenham Stoop.
That match in 2019, when he came off the bench, Nath won his 22 cap. This brought him level with Dave Sibson another Royal Navy centre / fly half and took him into the top 10 most capped players in Navy Rugby history.
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v Army
Since Nath's first season only Ben Priddey, Seta Raumakita and Kye Beasley were still playing when Nathan Huntley took to the Twickenham pitch in 2019 for what was to be his final Royal Navy rugby appearance. His 23rd cap made him the most capped fly half for the Navy of all time, the top 3 being Huntley, Sibson and the great England captain Dave Davies. I feel this brings home more than anything else Nath's remarkable achievement as a player for the Royal Navy.
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I will remember Nathan as a fly half who was most comfortable when there was space in the game. It suited his style and as a player with no little pace he could exploit half gaps and had the vision to then put other players in to holes he created. In total he played in 8 Army v Navy matches, his first and last were from the bench but the others were as Flyhalf. The draw in 2016 will no doubt have been the highlight, delivering his only Inter Service title but even in defeat he graced the Twickenham turf.
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IDRC & Commonwelth Cup
Nath played in 3 International Defence Force Rugby Cups and also 3 Commonwealth Cups; although it is stretching the point to call the single match v the Royal Australian Navy in 2018 a Commonwealth Cup.
The 3 IDRC were in Australia (2011 - lost to Samoa in the pool stages), UK (2015 - Plate Winner) and playing for UKAF in Japan (2019) where he lost in the final to Fiji.
The 3 Commonwealth Cups were the winning campaign in Australia in 2012 where Nath played Flyhalf in the 21-18 win over Royal New Zealand Navy and the 36-10 win over RAN. 2 years later, in New Zealand, he again played in both matches at Flyhalf as the Royal Navy lost the trophy to the hosts with a 28-33 loss to RNZN having beaten RAN 30-10.
Nath is pictured above v Fiji in 2015 and below v RAN in 2018. The 2018 match was technically a Commonwealth Cup but consisted of a single match which the Royal Navy won 61-0.
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The Sharks
Alongside his senior XV caps Nath also enjoyed success with the Navy Sharks playing in a number of tournaments in his early years with Navy Rugby. In many ways I think his game was perfectly suited to the VIIs format where his vision and pace could exploit the space that is afforded by the shorter game. The irony probably wasn't lost on Nath that during his time with the Sharks what could have been his best tournament win, London's Rugby Rocks, was denied when in the final the team who first spotted his talent, Bristol Academy, produced a comeback from 19-5 down to win the title and beat the Sharks 26-19.
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Royal Marines
A cold wet night at HMS Temeraire and I am not sure whether it is a smile or a grimace from Nath. However the Royal Marines Corps side was always important to him both in the inverdale Cup and also the annual charity match against the Medics. In 2014 he was captain and led the side to a comfortable win over their closest rivals, the Fleet Air Arm. But for the conditions it may well have been a record score.
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UKAF
2 caps against Bristol in 2017 & 18 saw justifiable recognition of Huntley by the UK Armed Forces. He was also selected and played 3 games in the 2019 International Defence Forces Rugby Cup which for UK sides was now a combined Service team under UKAF rather than single Service. Symmetry for a representative career that started with IDRC in Australia and finished with IDRC in Japan where he played against Georgia, France and Fiji.
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Thank You
A 9 year representative career for Navy Rugby, starting in Australia and finishing at Twickenham. 1 conversion, 4 tries, 1 Inter Services, 2 Commonwealth Cups and a finalist in IDRC2019. Nathan won 23 caps for the Royal Navy along with 5 UKAF caps and led the Royal Marines to Inverdale Cup success.. He leaves the jersey as the Royal Navy's most capped Flyhalf and 7th (along with Dan Parkes) on the all time list of most capped players.
Thanks for the entetainment you gave us, good luck with the rehab and we look forward to following your next challenges away from rugby.
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There should be no regrets when you look back at what you have given Navy Rugby, Royal Marines Rugby and UK Armed Forces Rugby. You wrote a worthy chapter in the History of Navy Rugby.
Images by: Lee Crabb, Nick Flexman, Andrew Fosker and Alligin Photography
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