It's always a battle playing the Loggies says Westwood

Royal Artillery skipper Sgt Scott Westwood (4RA) was pleased to complete part one of his side’s seasonal target after their 27-14 victory against the RLC booked a place in the Corps Championship League One Final with a round to spare.

The Gunners made a perfect start as No. 8 Gnr Semi Tokodaudau (4RA) – fresh from appearing for the Army last week and the Under 23s earlier in the season – crashed over for the opener, LBdr Jack Fitzgerald (26RA) with the extras, only for the hosts to strike back with a Sgt Joe Brown effort.

RLC fly-half Cpl Ethan Riley added two penalties to give his side an 11-7 half-time lead, but it was his opposing stand-off, Fitzgerald, who pushed his side back in front with a brilliant solo score shortly after the break.

Riley managed to drill a penalty through the wind as the lead switched hands again, but those proved to be the final home points as the Gunners came on strong.

Their maul had been a threat throughout and finally got its reward when scrum-half Sgt Vunivesilievu (7 PARA RHA) had the easiest task of simply placing the ball over the line, and the crucial bonus-point came in a similar way when replacement Gnr Joe Visie (19RA) smashed his way over from a metre out following another strong set-piece.

Fitzgerald converted the latter and then completed the scoring with a drop-goal penalty landed as the wind became progressively stronger.

Skipper Westwood was delighted with the rewards a tough success brings as he explained: “Coming up this season our aim was always to keep up the winning ways and get to the final, so that’s good.

“Every time we play the Loggies (RLC) it’s always a battle – last time there was little in it (34-30) – we always know it’s going to be physical up front and a real contest when we play them.

“They’ve got a good, strong front row, the same as us with a lot of boys representing higher levels, so whenever we come together it’s always a good contest and one we look forward to as much as them.

“The replacements made an impact and we’ve always said – and it’s probably the same with most people at this level – the bench is as important as the starters because if they can’t come on and keep up with the tempo then you’ll struggle.”

He continued: “A lot of the teams are struggling because of the commitments we’ve got, but we’ve got to remember the boys get so much out of the sport and this week we were quite lucky to have quite a big squad.

“Hopefully we can keep it going moving forward, and the same for the other Corps.

“One of the things we’re building on is a club ethos – we’ve got the Cannons (Development) team as well who we’re trying to bring through, and we all train together and spend time with each other.

“As a club, it’s not just focussed on one team, and we believe if we get more people coming in more will come through and help keep rugby going in the Army.”

Victory ensures the Gunners will feature in the final at Aldershot next month, having climbed to 20 points from their opening five matches.

Royal Engineers – who beat REME 19-13 yesterday – sit three points back, but could be overtaken by RLC (14) if they lose to the leaders in their final game.

And having lost 32-5 to the Sappers last time out, Sgt Westwood concluded: “It’s always one of the biggest games for both sides playing for the Jones-Drake Cannonball and we’re looking for revenge – it’s a game where all the boys from both sides pull it out the bag. We look forward to it all through the season.”