DEVASTATED members of a rugby club have vowed to honour the memory of a star player who “gave everything” to the team.

Father-of-two Paul Langford, who has died aged 34 after a two-and-a-half-year battle with cancer, was a talented all-round sportsman.

But he was best known for his contribution to the success of New Milton Rugby Club and Milford Cricket Club.

Rugby club captain Brendan Treacey said that team-mates were planning to unveil a commemorative bench or name an end-of-season trophy after the gifted fly-half.

Mr Treacey, who runs the Hare & Hounds pub in Sway, said: “Paul gave everything to the club.

“He was a hard tackler and a good team player who embraced the spirit of the club, which is passion, power and pride. He was also a great family man.”

Paul and his wife Lydia lived in Lymington with their two children, three-year-old Esme and one-year-old Elodie.

In March 2013 he was given just 12 months to live but refused to accept the devastating diagnosis and vowed to fight on, showing the same courage he often demonstrated on the pitch.

Just two days before he died he bravely walked Esme to nursery.

Watcyn Lewis, who was Paul’s best man at his wedding in 2010, said: “He took his illness on with the same class he displayed when despatching opposition bowling attacks, and with the bravery he showed every time he took to the rugby field.”

Paul was surrounded by friends and family when he died at Oakhaven Hospice in Lymington on January 15.

The rugby club tweeted: “We are sad to announce the death of Paul Langford – far, far too young. Great player, great man, greatly missed.”

Milford Cricket Club chairman Chris Walford said: “He was everything you wanted in a person.”

Paul worked for British American Tobacco before joining the award-winning Lime Wood Hotel in Lyndhurst, where he worked in the accounts department.

Mike Rice, chief financial officer for the Lime Wood Group, which owns the hotel, said: “He was one of those guys who everyone liked. He was helpful, friendly and conscientious – the ideal employee.”

Lifelong friend Duncan Willard, who used to play tennis with Paul, said: “We’ve lost a world-class gent.”