Rich Browne has been chosen to represent England Deaf Rugby on their tour to South Africa next month. A local plumber by trade, Browne played at the Deaf Rugby World Cup in Argentina last year in a career highlight. This year, the Thatcham player has had to recover from a knee injury in a race to make the tour squad. The side provides a platform for deaf and hard of hearing players to compete at the highest level, demonstrating that hearing impairments are no barrier to excellence in rugby. However, the team only gets funding from the RFU for their kits, so players have had to fund their trave…