Dominant second half sees Army Men complete perfect day in Gloucester

The Army Senior Men turned on the power in the second half to see off the Royal Air Force 48-17 at a sundrenched Kingsholm. But the final score looked a long way off after a fiercely fought first half at the end of which the teams were just two points apart.

In conditions which were about as diametrically opposed as possible to those they had experienced in Plymouth against the Royal Navy, the RAF ripped into the red shirts in the opening few minutes.

A pair of penalties were kicked to touch, and with the whitewash beckoning the heavy mob did the rest, inching their way forward through phase after phase to eventually open the scoring through prop Jonathan Taylor.

Mark Williams made it the perfect start for the RAF, but it was a short-lived lead.

Stung into action, the Army stepped up their game, and a turnover some 10 metres into the blue half set things in motion for what would eventually become a try for Gnr Senitiki Nayalo (RA).

With Capt Giles Bromley-Martin (IG) standing in at first receiver it gave Bdr Owain Davies (RA) space and time to make plays from the centres, and a long pass to Spr Cameron McDonald (RE) put the red shirts into the red zone.

The RAF managed to turn the ball over, but knocked on while doing so, and when the scrum wheeled a small amount it gave Gnr Nayalo the platform to spin out of the first tackle and go over by the uprights.

Gnr Senitiki Nayalo from close range for the Army’s opening try.

Bdr Davies landed the extras, but while they were looking dangerous with ball in hand the Army’s discipline was also questionable, and a fourth penalty conceded not just a shot at goal – Williams’s attempt falling off target – but also a conversation between referee Dan Parrott and Capt Stu Cross (RMAS/Yorks).

Early scores and sunshine were exactly what the healthy Kingsholm crowd would have wanted, but a couple of quick momentum shifts would have had each coaches’ box concerned in turn.

First it was the Army, who had LBdr Koroinivuku Vereti (REME) yellow carded for deliberately knocking the ball down. Then it was the RAF’s turn, when Ryan Pugh fumbled a Bdr Davies kick under pressure from Sgt Connor O’Reilly (RA) close to the blue try line.

Williams and Bdr Davies then took it in turns to turn difficult positions into promising opportunities, but on every occasion the opposition team was able to eventually nullify what was being thrown at them.

But there was nothing that the RAF could do to stop the Fijian combination of Gnr Nayalo and Rfn Vereimi Qorowale (Rifles) tearing them apart. After Maj Will Reeve (R Gurkha Rifles) had pulled in defenders towards the Army’s right wing, the ball found its way to Gnr Nayalo, whose miss-pass to Rfn Qorowale into a gap. The Sevens star turned on the pace, handed off one defender before switching the ball to the other hand to see off a second man in blue. He was eventually pulled down, but Capt Samuel Ackers (Rifles) was there to support and cross for the try.

Bdr Davies’s conversion made it 14-7 in favour of the red shirts, and they had seen off the 10 minutes down to 14 men in positive fashion.

Bdr Davies’ game management was impressive.

Unfortunately Capt Ackers left the action due to injury shortly afterwards, which brought on the imposing LCpl Ifereimi Boladau (R Signals). But not even the bigger pack were able to stop the RAF scoring a second try in similar fashion to the first.

Again it came from a lineout, but it took fewer phases for the RAF to score, Sam Sheppard coming up with the ball. However this made the conversion all the more difficult from wide out on the right, and despite some harum-scarum stuff from both teams the Army were still in front going into the break, if only by two points.

This became five points as many minutes into the second half, Bdr Davies landing a long range penalty, and then a 12-point lead 13 minutes into the half thanks to lovely pieces of skill from Maj Reeve and Capt Cross.

A lineout on the Shed side provided a platform for the big men to get some go-forward possession, but the eye-catching stuff came in front of the main stand when Maj Reeve picked the ball up off his shoelaces before finding Capt Cross with a superbly-delayed pass.

The pass may have been set up by Maj Reeve being a little off balance, but it also put the RAF rearguard in disarray, too, and Capt Cross spotted the space for a weaving run to the whitewash.

Maj Reeve then turned provider and poacher for the next try. Collecting a high ball at pace, he had the red shirt bench and supporters screaming for a late tackle when he hit the deck after sending a kick through. Play went on, Spr Mikey McDonald (RE) – who had been influential since coming on at the break – won possession back with his pressure, and his dink over the line was pounced on by full back Maj Reeve.

This put the Army 29-12 in front and put one hand on the match trophy. And the silverware was sealed some 16 minutes from time as forwards and backs combined for the fifth try. Bdr Pete Austin (RA) made a trademark physical break down the right wing, and with the RAF running out of players on the far side it was a natural decision to send the ball that way with long passes.

Bdr Davies found Maj Reeve, who in turn put Rfn Qorowale over untouched. Bdr Davies added the extras and at 36-12 the contest was over.

There was still plenty of time for more rugby, a penalty try just reward for a powerful maul as the red shirt pack gave as good as they had got in the first half.

The RAF also got their first points in 40 minutes of game time, number eight Isaac Norton marking his final Inter Service Championship match with a try, and LCpl Boladau dotted down in the corner after Spr Mikey McDonald kept his own head after being denied a score to take a quickly tapped penalty.

But all these tries had no impact on the overall outcome, and the red shirts will march on Twickenham on May 13^th aiming to retain their crown.