This is the moment a hapless burglar was forced to flee after being chased away by his victim – a top female England RUGBY star.
The terrified intruder scarpered after trying to break-in to a home and coming face-to-face with burly fly-half Ceri Large, 27.
Ceri found the man lurking in her parent’s home and he ran-off so quickly his TROUSERS fell down during his escape.
Ceri, who represented England in the 2014 Women’s Rugby World Cup, had a group of friends from the local women’s rugby club staying overnight.
The unsuspecting intruder crept in and Ceri heard him and gave chase – and he was caught on camera fleeing down the garden and over a fence.
He was then seen running down the street in his boxers as his jeans fell down as he hurried to get away from 74kg Ceri.
Ceri said: ”He was a scrawny, vile little coward and I was probably bigger than him, so it was lucky we didn’t catch him – if I had, I probably would have battered him.
“You should have seen him jump over that gate. I bet he doesn’t tell people he was chased away by a girl.
“His jeans were so baggy that they fell down around his ankles, so he ended up running down the road in his boxers.”
Ceri, who now plays rugby for Hartpury, Glos., had stayed up into the early hours of Saturday watching Children In Need with some friends from Drybrook Rugby Club.
She had been expecting her brother and another friend to arrive back very late at her parents’ house in Cinderford, Glos, and so had left the back door open.
But at around 2.20am she was woken by noises downstairs and footsteps on the stairs, and became suspicious.
Hiding in the dark, Ceri watched a dark shadow creep in and out of the bedrooms where her friends were sleeping – before flicking the light on.
She said: “I was in pitch black so I just switched on my phone light in his face and screamed, ‘There’s a man in the house’ at the top of my voice.
“My friends said afterwards they had never heard anything like it.”
Ceri added: “He just scarpered. He must have been scared because he jumped from the top of the stairs to the bottom and broke the bottom step.
“It’s a shame he didn’t go right through and get stuck.
“I chased him out and my friend was just behind, but we decided not to follow when he jumped over a six foot gate and ran off.”
She added that the culprit had taken off his shoes in order to sneak around more quietly – and in order to not leave footprints.
Luckily nothing was stolen, and Ceri’s parents were able to access CCTV footage when they returned the following day from a holiday in the Isle of Wight.
But Ceri said the incident was “frightening and upsetting”, and is warning others in her area about leaving their back doors open.
Ceri described the man in her house as having dark, scruffy hair and a goatie beard and moustache, and the accomplice as wearing a grey hoodie and a flat cap.
A spokesman for Gloucestershire Police said: “Shortly before 2.30am, an unknown male offender entered a property through an insecure door.
“The man was disturbed by a female and she chased him out of the property and the offender ran towards St White’s Road, where he was joined by a second male.
“Nothing is believed to have been stolen in the incident.”
