The Army completed the day’s clean sweep of wins over the RAF, as the Men’s side secured an impressive 48-17 victory at Kingsholm Stadium. The Army side put out a dominant second half performance against the RAF, for a landslide 48-17 victory.
After a tight first half saw the sides trade two tries each, the Army ran away with the match in the second 40 minutes, with five tries seeing out the Air Force.
The Army Men’s Head Coach Tim Osbourne was delighted with his side’s performance, and is now ready to take the fight to the Royal Navy, for their upcoming showdown at Twickenham Stadium.
“Very pleased to get the win, the RAF made it very hard for us certainly in the first half, and the boys responded well at half-time to some of the instructions. And we really put a pattern together in the second half to take it away.”
“We’ve got a lot to work on actually, it was very pleasing to get the win, but there’s a fair amount to come for us performance-wise.
“I’m sure the Navy will watch that and try and do some homework on us, and we’ve got a fair amount to come too.”
Both sides scored twice in the fiercely contested first half, with the servicemen departing at 14-12 in favour of the Army. The RAF found their way through early, as Prop Jonathan Taylor grounded the ball with a short drive. The Army responded through Back-rower Senetiki Nayalo, who spotted a gap and powered through from close range.
The Army then stretched into the lead, despite dropping to 14 men as lock Josaia Visei was yellow carded for a deliberate knock on. Outside centre Vereimi Qorowale strode away downfield with a devastating line-break, and offloaded in style to Samuel Acker’s supporting line. The flanker was able to run in and score, lifting the roof off the Kingsholm ‘Shed End’. Davies converted again for a 14-7 lead.
The final blow of the first half was in favour of the Air Force, as back-rower Sam Sheppard peeled away from a rolling maul, and was over to narrow the score-line. Pugh’s missed conversion allowed the Army to hold a 14-12 lead, which they took into the half-time break.
The second half was one way traffic for the Army, who scored five tries and ran out resounding winners. Army Captain Stu Cross started off the second half try scoring, which kicked out the RAF’s foundations for more tries to roll in. Army fullback William Reeve added to the scoreline next, as he grounded his own kick chase in the in-goal area.
Reeve then assisted the following try, as he set-up Vereimi Qorowale. The outside centre dove dramatically over the try line in celebration. Another Davies conversion stretched the lead to 36-12, just after the hour mark. The final 10 minutes saw three tries, firstly again awarded to the Army. A masterfully orchestrated rolling maul was halted illegally, with RAF replacement forward Matt Harris sin-binned for the offence. Referee Dan Parrott ran under the posts and awarded the penalty try.
The RAF would fight to the end, with their Captain embodying their spirit with a last-ditch consolation try. Number Eight Isaac Norton picked the ball up from the back of a scrum, and peeled off towards the blindside corner. He trundled through the tackle attempt, and powered over to score for the RAF’s ‘last hoorah’.
But the Army had the final say of the match, with a try in the final play of the day. Like a well-oiled machine, the Army forced a penalty at a breakdown turnover, with replacement forward Ifereimi Boladau reacting fastest and taking a quick tap and go. Boladau cruised in to score, and Davis’ missed conversion wrapped up the match for the Army.
It was a clean sweep for the Army on the day, as the Veterans, Women’s and Men’s sides all secured wins in the Gloucestershire sun. RAF centre Will Lamont discussed the defeat, in what was a tough encounter at Kingsholm.
“It was a tough one to take for the boys. I think we came into it really, really confident. I think we just let the game go, especially in the second half. The first half we were really confident, playing with ball-in-hand, and we went in at 14-12 down, and we really came out in the second half thinking that we could do it, but I think we just let the game get away from us.
“Especially with their big boys coming through, we just failed to stop their momentum. So, all in all, it’s a tough one to take for the boys, but you know, biggest thing now is just re-cap, re-think and go again next season.”
Elliot Brown Watches Player of the Match: Owain Davies (Army)
ARMY MEN: 48
TRIES: 7 (Nayalo 8’, Ackers 27’, Cross 55’, Reeve 58’, Qorowale 65’, Penalty Try 74’, Boladau 80’)
CONVERSIONS: 4 (Davies 8’, 27’, 55’, 65’)
PENALTIES: 1 (Davies 45’)
DROP GOALS: 0
YELLOW CARDS: 1 (Visei 17’)
RED CARDS: 0
ARMY MEN’S LINE-UP
15. William Reeve 14. Cameron McDonald (Kelly 50’) 13. Vereimi Qorowale 12. Giles Bromley-Martin 11. Connor O’Reilly 10. Owain Davies (Johnson 62’) 9. Alexander Gliksten (McDonald 40’) 1. Nathanael Tichard-Jones (Gill 55’) 2. Peter Austin (Brown 62’) 3. Gareth Smith 4. Josaia Visei (Kotobalavu 56’) 5. Koroinivuku Vereti 6. Stu Cross (C) 7. Samuel Ackers (Boladau 29’) 8. Senitiki Nayalo
16. Joe Brown 17. Aidan Gill 18. Scott Westwood 19. Viliame Kotobalavu 20. Ifereimi Boladau 21. Mikey McDonald 22. Jack Johnson 23. Frank Kelly
RAF MEN: 17
TRIES: 3 (Taylor 4’, Sheppard 33’, Norton 77’)
CONVERSIONS: 1 (Pugh 4’)
PENALTIES: 0
DROP GOALS: 0
YELLOW CARDS: 1 (Harris 74’)
RED CARDS: 0
ROYAL AIR FORCE MEN’S LINE-UP
15. Mark Williams 14. Llyod Owen (Prescott 65’) 13. Ryan Crowley (Riddell 72’) 12. Will Lamont 11. Toby Evans (VC) 10. Ryan Pugh 9. Joe Parkin (Oatley 55’) 1. Dave Manning (Clarke 68’) 2. James Roberts (Williams 61’) 3. Jonathan Taylor (Harris 51’) 4. Alex Hayton 5. Harry Johnson 6. Zack Taylor (Breeze 45’) 7. Sam Sheppard (Morris 61’) 8. Isaac Norton (C)
16. Chris Williams 17. Zach Clarke 18. Matt Harris 19. Connor Morris 20. Sam Breeze 21. Jordan Oatley 22. Luke Riddell 23. Kieron Prescott
