Inter Services 2015 Round 3 – Royal Navy v Army

By virtue of their two previous the RAF were out of the equation and the Army could afford the luxury of a draw to retain the title but for the RN it had to be a win.

The game kicked off with the Army having the best of the early possession and territory as they tried to impose themselves on the RN as they had done against the RAF. Credit to the RN as their defence showed up well and after 15 minutes or so the game was very evenly balanced without any points on the board. The deadlock was broken on 17 minutes by the Royal Navy with a well taken try far out on the right wing by Ryan Griffiths, the score was converted by a fantastic touchline conversion from Nick Bell 6:0. The match was always going to be a bit spikey and as a result of several incidents Ref Jimmy Collier put both teams on a warning, the Army suffered as a result losing a player for ten minutes. This however seemed to spur them on and despite good defending by the home side the Army went over after some great build up play out on the left wing. The kick was missed so it remained 6:4. The Army were now well on top but were finding the RN defence more than a match for their attacks. The Army pressure did tell eventually, Army skipper Cartmell breaking the RN defence to touch down and with a conversion by Mickey Hoyle the Army had now stretched their lead to 6:10 which is how the score remained to the half time break.

The second half began with possibly one of the best try’s seen at Burnaby Road for a long-time, RN left wing Craig Sutton gathered the ball well inside his own half and beat the first line of defence and began the sprint for the line. Despite the pursuing Army defenders Sutton kept his head and beat the cover to score and draw his team level. Another fantastic touchline conversion by Nick Bell moved the RN into a two point lead at 12:10. The RN kept the pressure on the Army for the next ten minutes or so and were rewarded with another try for Ryan Griffiths however this time Bells kick went across the front of the posts. As the game moved into the last quarter the Army upped their game with skipper Baines leading the way catching the RN defence flat he stepped through a huge hole to touchdown to the right of the posts and with Hoyles conversion it was all square again. More great defence by the Navy forced the Army into an attempt at goal from a penalty but the kick was missed so it remained locked at 16:16. The deadlock was broken out wide by the Army left centre who crossed out on the wing to put his team ahead once again, the conversion was crucially missed so the game was still up for grabs. The home side were reduced to 12 men tin the frantic last ten minutes but still came close close on a couple of occasions but the crucial score went to the Army, hooker Liam Johnson, Man Of The Match from his sides win over the RAF broke through from 20 metres and scored close enough to the posts to make Hoyle's conversion straight forward and give his team the win at 16:26.

The rightly jubilant Army side retained the IS title however they were made to work for it in a fiercely contested full blooded match , credit to the RN side led by Todd Crofts who took the game to the Army and came close to taking the game. Man Of The match went to Army right centre Mickey Hoyle for a good overall game with his defence and place kicking.

RNRL Academy - Ellis Lacey, Craig A Sutton, Emeri Ratucoko, Glyn Alner, Ryan Griffiths, Nick Bell, Tom Marchant, Tom Jones, Todd Crofts (c), Josh Tora, Lee Gaskell’ Bill Tarogi, Jack Basher, Jack Savage, Jack Drury, Jamie Harrison, Paul Saberton.
Scorers: T Griffiths (2), Sutton
G Bell(2)

Ryan Andrews, tbc, Ricky Wilde, Micky Hoyle, William Holmes, Declan Baines (C), Bobby Howdle, Rich Cummings, Liam Johnson, Ross Metcalfe, Ben Gibson, tbc, Ben Cartmell, Matt Keenan, David Kearns, Pat Sherratt, tbc
Scorers:- T Baines, Hoyle, Baines, Cartmell
G Hoyle (3 Conv)