Royal Navy Academy v RAF Academy

his was the RN & RAF Academy sides playing their opening fixture of this years IS Series. The visitors made the best of the first quarter Karl Cassar crossing after barely three minutes, the touchdown was out wide and the difficult kick was not converted -0-4. The RN matched the RAF in most areas but crucially gave away several penalties giving the RAF the initiative, this initiative was rewarded again after 17 minutes this time winger Mark Harper crossed to double his teams lead. The lead was stretched even further by a neat conversion to Dave Feeney. The rest of the half saw the RN get back into the game easily a match for the RAF but crucially unable to make the breakthrough and get points on the board. As with most Academy matches tempers fray very easily and Ref Mickey Brighton aided by his TJ had a job on his hands to keep the game from boiling over but he did so retaining 13 players on each side throughout!.
The second half began with the RN looking a lot more purposeful from the whistle, this was rewarded after only 3 minutes with a well worked try out wide for Josh Coupland to close the gap on the RAF. The introduction of Paul Saberton from the bench gave the RN more purpose and was Saberton who struck next for the home side, a good score however the kick was missed so the RAF retained a slender two point lead. Into the final quarter it was game on, both sides making good breaks but it was the RAF who struck next, Adam Middleton coming off the bench to score for his side, another conversion this time to Hooker Andrew Webster doubled the RAF lead to 8-16 with ten minutes left on the clock. The RN dug deep up and continued to press for more points and were rewarded with a try for Jack Drury on possibly his last appearance before leaving the service. This brought the sides within four points 12-16 but it was the RAF who held on to secure only their second ever win over the RN in the Academy competition. Man Of The Match was awarded to RAF second row Ben Mellor for a massive performance throughout the game.
RN Academy:- Josh Foster-Hale, Josh Coupland, Jack Drury, Brendan Roostan, Lloyd Williamson,
John Clay (Capt), Wilson Curtis, Rhys Bingham, James Elliot, Gaz Sargeant (Vice Capt), John Barnett, Grant Clissold, Matthew Holland, Bill Tarogi, Rowan Griffiths-Jones, Paul Saberton, Matt Selstrom, Chris Simmons - Coach Marc Warren

RAF Academy;- Mark Malone, Mark Harper, Mark Malone, Karl Cassar, Chris Ambo, Dave Fenney, Kieran Walker, Owen Hunt, Andrew Webster, Jake Starbuck, Sam Roberts (C) Ben Mellor, Phillip Laycock, R. Adam Middleton, Robert Baskerville, Anton Bainbridge, Jonny Czopcyzc, Jon Robinson – Coach Gavin Sheffield