Internationally he represented the England national rugby union team in 29 tests (1921–1929) (seven as captain) and also captained the British Isles in four tests on the 1924 British Lions tour to South Africa as a lock.

[2] He led the 1924 British Lions tour to South Africa, losing three of the four tests and drawing one.

As captain, he led England to the 1928 Grand Slam and he was inducted onto the World Rugby Museum Wall of Fame[3] in 2001.

Teddy Morgan took over captaincy on the field but Bedell-Sivright remained tour captain.

Note 9: Michael Owen captained the Lions in the first tour game, the test vs. Argentina in Cardiff.