Babcock Inter Services Rugby League Challenge 2009 Round 3 – Royal Navy v ArmyUSSG Burnaby Road 24th September 2009

RN Vets 22:24 Army Vets

Besides being the first match on home soil this was only the second ever formal RNRL Vets match soothe end result was a disappointment but also a fantastic achievement for the latest side to the RNRL roster. On the night Coaches Chris Richard s and Marcus Tobin found themselves down to 14 players so it looked as if the Army were in for an easy evening. This proved not to be the case as after only 6 minutes of the game Stand Off 'Warren' Beatty crossed for the RN, the try being converted by second row ledger. This woke the Army up to the fact that they were in for a battle and so they responded but great defence held out for another 8 minutes or so before Dave Goddard crossed for the soldiers first score of the night. The try was not converted but the Army did edge ahead on the half hour with another try, Lee Innes was unable to convert either of the try's so the Army held only a slender two point lead as halftime approached. Just as everyone was thinking that was the first half done an indiscretion by the Army gave the RN a chance to equalise, so from the touchline Ledger launched the penalty attempt, the ball appeared barely to leave the ground but hanging in the air it finally crossed above and between to level the scores at the break.

The third quarter of the game belonged to the home side, repelling the Army in defence, time and again the RN found room to attack, this momentum saw a flurry of three try’s in 20 minutes and along with two further conversions the RN found themselves 22-8 to the good. Sadly though for the home side the lack of cover on the bench began to tell and despite a massive effort the Army inexorably closed the gap, two trys one of which was scored by Rich Naivalurua and a conversion from Lee Innes brought the Army within two points as the clock ran down to the final whistle. Army full back Lee Innes had the final word however and with only a couple of minutes left he found a gap in centre field and crossed close to the post giving himself a straightforward conversion. So despite a heroic effort across the park victory eluded the RN and the Army ran out 22:24 winners.

The Vets competition within the Inter Services framework is now complete with the addition of the RN side and although there was a lot of good natured banter regarding the ‘maturity’ of the players this match was played full on and was a great spectacle for the fans, boding well for the further promotion of the matches in next years Inter Services Series.

RN Vets;- Julian Apps, Gaz Ibbotson, Matt Beatty, Paul Clark, Tom Coombs, Danny Airey, Richie Guy (C), Jan Shanlow, ‘Jack ‘ Hawkins, ‘Albert’ Hall, Ledger, Dom O’Connor, Chris Richards, Dave Moss.- Coach Marcus Tobin

Scorers;- T Beatty, Guy, Coombs, Richards
G Ledger (2x Conv, 1 x Pen)