Rugby teams battle in memory of Aaron (From Echo)

Rugby teams battle in memory of Aaron

8:00am Thursday 2nd September 2010 in

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MUD, sweat, tears and smiles were the order of the day as friends and teammates of a soldier killed in Afghanistan took part in a rugby tournament in his memory.

Lieutenant Aaron Lewis, 26, of Rectory Avenue, Rochford, was killed in Helmand Province on December 15, 2008, when the position he was commanding came under attack.

Family and friends of the keen rugby player gathered at his old club, Westcliff Rugby Football Club, in the Gables, Aviation Way, Southend, for the second annual Aaron Lewis Rugby Tens tournament.

It was held to celebrate Lt Lewis’s life and raise money for a memorial at his old base.

Childhood friend and event co-organiser Jonathan Fozard, 27, said: “Aaron was a really fun-loving guy who enjoyed his rugby, enjoyed having fun and his sambuca, and it was a celebration of his life rather than us just looking back in a sad way.”

Competitors included a team made up of Lt Lewis’s former teammates called The Collective, who won last year’s inaugural event, and a composite team from the Army and Loughborough University, where Lt Lewis studied.

Of the eight teams taking part, Esher Academy eventually proved victorious and lifted a cup specially designed for the event by Lt Lewis’s family, who presented the prize, along with his girlfriend Naomi Tolley.