Royal Marines
Matches
Wed 12 Jun 2013
Royal Navy Rugby League
Royal Marines
Tries: C Gilson, D Fairbrother (2), G Croft, G Alner, A Theaker, J BaldwinConversions: R Cadywould (7)
54
12
RAF Regiment
The Courage Cup 2013 - RMRL 54:12 RAF Regiment

The Courage Cup 2013 - RMRL 54:12 RAF Regiment

Keith Humpleby13 Jun 2013 - 17:22
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Following a run of two straight defeats RMRL were determined not to let the RAF score a hat trick in this always keenly contested fixture.

This year’s venue was the home of RM Training at CTCRM Lympstone in Devon. The heavy rain and strong wind that accompanied the players during the warm up had eased by the time Army Referee Dennis Nowell got the game under way.
Although the wind was across the pitch favouring neither side the RM had the slope in their favour for the first half and took full advantage putting in an outstanding and dominant first half performance racking up 32 points and only conceding 6. The first few mintes were, as expected, a bit of an arm wrestle as the teams got to grips with each other but even in the early stages the RM were looking dangerous especially as they found easy yards through midfield. After only 8 minutes the Corps side were on the scoreboard, a clearing kick by the RAF was well taken byte RM and the counter attack eventually saw the ball sent out wide to Alex Theaker who rounded the cover for the opening score. With the touchdown close to the posts Richard Cadywould stroked home the conversion, 6:0. The next score was from a kick on the last tackle by the RM despite good defence initially the kick through was put into touch by the RAF defence and from the resulting scrum the ball went though the hands to the RM left and Greg Alner took the ball over for the try, a difficult conversion was caught by the swirling wind so the sore remained 10:0 after 12 minutes. The RAF Regt dug deep and produced some good attacking play after this score but the RM proved equally as strong in defence as attack. One such hit resulted in a lost ball by the light blues giving scrum advantage on the RAF 40 mtr line to the home side. Quick hands and good movement got the Corps close to the line out wide but this time the ball came infield for Jason Mills to hit the ball on a great line leaving the defence in his wake to touchdown close to the posts giving Cadywould little trouble with the conversion, 16:0 after 20 minutes. The RM continued to find massive amounts of space in midfield allowing them to make plenty of yards and keeping the RAF on the back foot and another score seemed inevitable. On 25 minutes after a period of resolute defence the RAF line gave under pressure, skipper Steve Riley sending a great miss out pass to beat the cover and winger Scott Brown crossed another well worked try, 20:0. Another good period of play by the RAF brought them close to the RM line but after four tackles the y seemed to making little impression until a grubber through was fumbled in goal by the RM defender and Chris Beard had the simple task of touching down to give the RAF their first score of the match. A good conversion by Greg Smith closed the gap on the RM slightly but another two converted try’s before the break soon nullified that.. The two try’s came from the pack, first off No 11 Dave Fairbrother who had been making massive yards throughout the half forced his way through the defence to score close to the posts giving Cadywould his third conversion, 26:6. Arguably the score of the match though came barely two minutes later, the home defence took the restart cleanly on their 20 mtr line and the counter swept aside a tiring RAF defence and finally the ball came to Karl Gilson who saw a gap on the half way line and won the 50 mtr footrace to the line with the RAF cover left far behind, another touchdown under the posts gave Cadywould his fourth conversion. The score remained 32;6 at the break and it was a well deserved score line by a determined and totally dominant Corps side
The RAF began the second half with the slope and the wind in their favour and were keen to restore some pride in their game however as in the first half the RM defence was strong and well organise d and refused to give any ground. Inevitably the counter came and good approach play got the RM to the 20 mtr line and Fairbrother again beating off the defence slipped a brilliant one handed pass to Richard Cadywould who had no problem crossing for the try, he then followed up with a good conversion and the RM were once again on the march. The kick off was returned with interest, once again the Corps making massive inroads into RAF territory with Fairbrother in the thick of the action another offload in the tackle was gathered by scrum half Aaron Johnson who crossed for his try, a difficult conversion was taken just wide by the gusting wind. The RAF second and final try of the match came after the kick off was fumbled by the RM defence giving the visitors good territory which they made the most of with full back Starkey touching down close to the posts allowing Greg Smith an easy second conversion. As the game moved into the last few minutes the RM continued to press for more points and again gaps appeared in the RAF midfield, a good break saw the ball over the half way line and into the hands of Fairbrother once gain who accelerated past the 40 mtr line easily rounding the RAF full back to cross for his second, the easy conversion was slotted over by Cadywould. Despite being reduced to 12 men for the last few minutes of the match they comfortably dealt with anything the RAF had left and indeed took the ball back up to the RAF line and Guy Croft dived below the defence from close range to score the final try of the match which Cadywould duly converted. Referee Nowell blew the whistle to end a great performance by the RM side led by Steve Riley and coached by Danny Smith ensuring the Courage Cup stays at CTC for the years.
RMRL President WO(1)RSM Ally McGill congratulated both teams on their efforts highlighting the importance of competitive sport across all the services. The Courage Cup was presented to Steve Riley whilst Dave Fairbrother took the Man of the match award for the corps richly deserved after a great performance throughout the game. RAF skipper Chris Davidson accepted the runners up trophy whilst Tevita Ratavuki was judged to be the light blues man of the matc.
RMRL: Paul Richards, John Baldwin, Alex Theaker, Greg Alner, Scott Brown, Richard Cadywould, Aaron Johnson, Chris Richards, Guy Croft, Karl Gilson, Dave Fairbrother, Jason Mills, Steve Riley, Mat Williams, Mark Sharp, Joe Lang, Tom Marchant, Karl Anderson, Matt Maddocks, Richard Small
Scorers:- T Fairbrother (2), Theaker, Alner, Brown, Cadywould, Johnson, Croft, Gilson, Mills. G Cadywould (7 Conv)
RAF Regt: Lee Starkey, Tom Bolland, Tevita Ratavuki, Joe Belcher, Kai Stevens, Tom Mansie, Chris Davidson, Sam Brownhill, Ian Gilmore, Will Wilton, Paul Wills, Rob Pearson, Rob Owen, Louis Medlem, Chris Beard, Paul Angus, Si Spence Kev Morris, Paul Miller, Greg Smith
Scorers;- T Beard, Starkey G smith (2Conv)

Match details

Match date

Wed 12 Jun 2013

Kickoff

15:00
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