Babcock Inter Services Championships 2010

The final match of the day’s series of matches saw the senior teams lock horns once again with the Army attempting to halt the Navy’s recent domination of the fixture, the RN having won five of the last six meetings between the two sides.
Despite three matches already having been played on the same pith conditions were almost perfect, the high temperatures of the afternoon had cooled somewhat although the sun was still quite high in the sky. Current RFL President Bev Risman met the teams on the pitch as guest of honour wishing al the players the best for the match. Risman himself is a RL legend being one of the first ever dual code players making his name in the Leeds team of the late 60s probably best remembered for the 1968 ‘watersplash’ Challenge Cup final when Don Fox’ missed a conversion from under the posts which almost certainly would have given Wakefield Trinity the trophy.

The first half of this match was definitely on for the purists, a tense encounter with little given away but either side meant that at the end of the first stanza it was all square at two points all, RN scrum half Kev Botwood cancelling out Gray’s tenth minute penalty with one of hi sown 15 minutes later. The stats at halftime showed the RN to have completed more sets and conceded fewer penalties that the Army but just could not convert this into points.

Inevitably something had to give and the second half proved to be a thrilling 40 minutes with both sides as usual putting everything on the line to gain the advantage. It was the Soldiers who drew first blood, after repelling a promising RN attack they broke on their left with the ball finally going to No 2 Yabia who crossed to the left of the posts. The conversion was missed so the Army were now ahead 6:2. Five minutes later the RN struck back, after some sustained pressure out on the RN left Wilson Tulakepa crossed to level the scores once again, unfortunately KeV Botwood was wide with the kick so the scores remained locked at 6:6. The next score went to the Army and perhaps was the crucial score of the match. The RN dealt with a potentially dangerous cross field kick and brought the ball back into play however the next play the ball was fumbled by the RN and the ball fell at the feet of Army loose forward Howley who literally picked up the ball and placed it over the line. The try was scored almost under the posts giving Gray a straightforward conversion and for the first time in the match there was now a bit of daylight between the teams. This gap was extended 10 minutes later when Mojee Matau crossed again on the left to push the score to 16:6 in favour of the Army, this time the conversion was missed. The last 15 minutes or so were played at a frantic pace with the RN playing some great football but just not being able to catch the Army. RN hopes were lifted when James Wagstaffe marked his return to the side with a good score out on the RN right but with a missed conversion the RN were still 6 points adrift. Battling to the end the RN pinned the Army in their half for the latter stages of the match but the crucial score evaded the Brothers so after a thrilling game the Jack Harrison Trophy was handed over to the Army for this year at least.

RN – Mike Haldenby, Wilson Tulakepa, Jim Barnes, James Wagstaffe, Aaron Hunt, Steve Lockton, Kev Botwood, Jamie Goss, Mark Robinson, Lewis Taylor, Dave Gee, Gareth Cadmore, Danny Johnson (C), Tom Wilkinson, Richard Sharpe,Wayne John, Ben Taylor.
Scorers:- T Tulakepa, Wagstaffe, G Botwood (Conv).