The annual Corps Festival has become the traditional opener to start the new rugby season.
A fantastic turn out saw 11 Men’s and 6 Ladies teams arrive bright and early in Aldershot to take part in the days competition.
A number of Corps teams have been on overseas tours throughout the summer and conducted pre-season training camps in the weeks leading up to the festival so headed into the competition with good cohesion and spirits.
The day is always busy with a full schedule of pool matches before the top two teams in each league go through to a final at the end of the day.
Action from the Women’s League Pool Matches
Action from the Men’s League 2 Pool Matches
Action from the Men’s League 1 Pool Matches
Men’s League 2 Final
It was fantastic to see the Royal Army Physical Training Corps feature in the Men’s League 2 Final for the first time, their summer tour to Canada allowing their squad time together to bond as a team and develop their skills, we hope this development continues for them throughout the regular Merit League fixtures this season. Many congratulations to the Royal Armoured Corps on their victory in the final, 44-17, their third consecutive title at the Corps Festival.
Women’s League Final
It was fantastic to see a full days of competition held on pitch 4 in the Women’s League, defending title holders the Royal Logistic Corps headed into the final to face a combined Royal Engineers and Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers team. The combined RE/REME team have just returned from a weeks warm weather training in Barcelona and the time together developing their skills was evident as they were edging a tight game as the clock was running down however the RLC team just edged the victory with a late score to retain their title 12-10, many congratulations to both teams on a hugely competitive final match.
Men’s League 1 Final
The pool matches for the Men’s League 1 went down to the wire with the last round of matches deciding, on points difference, which two teams would make it through to the final. The Infantry team were undefeated in all their pool matches throughout the day. The Final was a tightly fought contest inline with all other matches earlier in the day. The Royal Logistic Corps just edged it in the end 5-0, congratulations to them.
A fantastic days competition to start the season, we wish all teams well for the season across their respective leagues, the seasons fixtures for the Corps Leagues can be found HERE
Days like this cannot happen without the hard work of many, we wish to express our sincere thanks to;
Colonel Giles Malec, Chairman of Corps Rugby and Major Robbie Draper for the organisation and running of the competition with the help of a work party kindly provided from 1 RHA.
The ARURS for support to the competition and Corps fixtures throughout the season.
Alligin Photography – Geraint Ashton-Jones and Lee Crabb for imagery support throughout the day, a full gallery of images can be viewed HERE
