Background
Holmes was born in Buenos Aires on 6 January 1928 to British parents.
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Barry Holmes
Edit ProfileEducation
He was educated at Saint George"s College, Quilmes, and began his rugby union career playing for the Old Georgian Club in Buenos Aires.
Career
As of 2011 he is the only player to have been capped at senior level by both those two countries. He travelled to Britain to continue his education at Queens" College, Cambridge and was selected to play for Cambridge University R.U.F.C. in The Varsity Match twice, playing on the wing in 1947 and at fullback in 1948. Holmes"s form for Cambridge University in the 1948-1949 season led to two appearances in the trial matches for the England team and also an invitation to play for the Barbarians in their annual fixture against Leicester.
His performance in the second trial match clinched his selection at fullback in England"s team for their opening match of the 1949 Five Nations Championship against Wales at Cardiff Arms Park and he retained his place for the whole championship.
After playing on the Barbarians" 1949 tour of South Wales, Holmes returned to live in Argentina and was selected for the national team after only two games for Old Georgians. He was capped twice for Argentina against France in August and September 1949 but did not score any points.
England rugby historian Barry Bowker described Holmes as a "steady fullback" while Clem Thomas, a team-mate at Cambridge and a Wales international himself, called him "a marvellous man and a great football player" and said that the news of his death "depressed us enormously".
Achievements
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Holmes returned to Argentina in 1948 as part of the 1948 Oxford-Cambridge rugby union tour of Argentina, a touring team made up of players from both Cambridge University RUFC and Oxford University Reconstruction Finance Corporation which won all nine of its tour matches, including two against the Argentina national team Holmes won four caps for England and scored a conversion in each match against Ireland and France for a total of four points.
