A total of 11 teams made up the entry for this years RNRL 9�s competition held at HMS Collingwood with the team from HMS Heron taking the overall Cup competition.

Despite being in good condition grass wise the ground was very hard due to the lack of recent rain, this meant the wingers and speed merchants were always going to have a good day. The weather was red hot and made worse by a continuous strong wind which created major problems especially for the kickers, nonetheless the handling was overall very good despite the conditions.

The 9 mens teams were split into two leagues and after the forenoons matches were completed the league placings were as follow:-

League A League B

1 HMS Nelson 1 HMS Collingwood
2 HMS Sultan 2 HMS Heron
3 CTC RM 3 HMS Illustrious
4 HMS Nottingham 4 4GS Med Regt
5 HMS Raleigh

In addition to the mens teams two womens teams were added to the fixtures and once again the RNRL Women triumphed over Army opposition provided by the Medical Services Regt. A comfortable 24:0 victory in the first match was followed by a tougher second match as the RN side struggled to keep the earlier momentum going but nevertheless beat their Army opposition. Winger Sam Halford had two great matches scoring three tries overall showing great speed out wide, this performance earned her the Player Of The Tournament award.

The entertainment provided during the league stages continued into the afternoon with some brilliant plays resulting in several spectacular long range tries being scored. As the afternoons matches began the money was on either Collingwood or Nelson both sides featuring several well established RNRL senior squad members however the eventual winners from HMS Heron made steady progress towards the final led by RN 2nd Row Lee Hunter. In the Plate competition the first match provided the winner of the Ships competition as Illustrious shaded the win over HMS Nottingham by virtue of a conversion. The next match gave the team from CTCRM their route to the final with a comfortable victory over a game but inexperienced side from 4GS Med Regt. The Plate final went to CTCRM led by RNRL Veteran Chris Richards who nilled Illustrious with a fine display of attacking Rugby to celebrate their return to the competition.

The Cup semis saw two matches between four very evenly matched sides, HMS Sultan coached by RN skipper Danny Johnson defended well against a strong and fast Collingwood side and in the end triumphed, winning by the odd conversion. The second Semi was between two contrasting sides with Nelson fielding a strong powerful side whilst Heron were a lighter team and just had the edge in the speed department highlighted by flying winger Aaron Hansen who added to his previous tournament scores with another long range effort to help his team on their way to the final.

The final was a thriller with neither side being able to seize the initiative but as the final whistle approached Heron were ahead by four but Sultan were not finished and with the last play of the match went over under the posts. The conversion attempt caught by the strong wind bounced of the upright leaving the scores all square at full time. For the second time in the day the match went to the golden point. Almost from the restart Heron went on the offensive and went over for the winning score earning them the RNRL9�s title for 2008

Despite the heavy operational and training load the fact that 11 teams made it to the Competition featuring well over 120 players was a tribute to the efforts of the team managers and coaches in getting their players to Collingwood. A massive thanks to POPT Mark Brocklesby who once again put together a great competition and almost single handed ran the days events. One other person deserves a special mention was Army Referee Gareth Ricketts who had flown over from Germany to officiate the match and due to injuries to other nominated officials found himself the sole official referee, To his great credit he did Ref most of the matches and was ably supported by Danny Johnson and Scott Partis to give him some much needed down time.

Final Results:-

Cup Winners: - HMS Heron
Runners Up: - HMS Sultan

Plate Winners: - CTCRM
Runners Up; - HMS Illustrious

Mens Player Of The Tournament: - Aaron Hansen
Womens Player Of The Tournament: Sam Halford