Masters fitness pays dividend in final warm-up

Army Masters Head Coach, Capt Mark Eastley (RE) credited the team’s fitness for securing a win over North Petherton in their final warm-up before the 2023 Inter-Services Championship.

North Petherton is a Level 6 club, and with injuries necessitating some changes in selection it gave Capt Eastley and his coaches an ideal opportunity to test all their options ahead of the Inter-Services Championship opener against the RAF on April 15^th.

The Masters opened the scoring with a Bale try, converted by WO2 Chris Harris (R Welsh), but while WO2 Harris added a drop goal and then a second conversion, Cpl Balewai (Yorks) having crossed for a try, the red shirts were not able to shake off their hosts.

North Petherton earned themselves a penalty try from a collapsed maul close to the Masters line, and then a second converted try five minutes from the break.

But the Masters fitness began to show, and their defence was more than a match for the North Petherton attack, and in the second half it was all one-way traffic as far as the scoring went.

WO2 Harris scored the first points with a 46^th minute penalty, with tries from WO2 Navunisaravi (Rifles) and SSgt Lloyd (R Signals) sealing the win, 34-14 the final score.

“It was a good fixture against a tough opposition that tested our resilience and patience,” said Capt Eastley. “There is still plenty to work on, but we are in a very good place heading into the RAF fixture.

“The fixture structure this season has allowed us to continually build throughout testing us mentally and physically. The lads have made it extremely tough this year for Inter-Services selection – which is the headache that all coaches want! – with some quality players potentially missing out on the IS 23 for the RAF fixture.”

The Army Masters play the RAF Vultures at Oxstalls Sports Park in Gloucester on Saturday, April 15^th. KO is 1030hrs and all are welcome.

Words © New Dogs, Old Tricks