Sappers Michael and Cameron McDonald (both RE) achieved something special this past weekend by becoming the first pair of brothers from Army Rugby in the modern era to represent an international team at the same time.
The McDonalds started for Germany in their Rugby Europe Championship ranking match against the Netherlands on Sunday, as they and their team mates aimed to finish fifth in this year’s tournament.
Spr Michael McDonald had come off the bench in Germany’s previous two matches, but was handed the starting scrum-half berth for the clash in Amsterdam, with Spr Cameron McDonald lining up at full back.
Both had joined up with their national team after helping the Army Senior Men beat the French Army the previous Wednesday, but there was to be no similar outcome against the Dutch, who capitalised on the home advantage to take a lead in the opening few seconds, before racking up 28 unanswered points in the first half.
Germany did start to get some momentum after the break, but by then it was too late, something acknowledged by Head Coach, Mark Kuhlmann, who said: “We made too many mistakes early on. It was a deserved win for the Netherlands, it was disappointing for us.
“When we had the ball in hand in the second half we looked dangerous, but it was too late.”
Germany did score four converted tries in the second half, but the 50-28 final result sees them finish sixth overall.
In the Championship, Sgt Daniel Lewis (RAMC) was part of a much improved performance by London Scottish, who hosted Cornish Pirates at the Richmond Athletic Ground.
Despite going two converted tries down in the opening quarter, Scottish battled back to tie things up in the next 10 minutes. Pirates scored a penalty to make the half-time score 14-17, and then crossed for the first try of the second half to extend their lead into double digits once again.
But the Exiles were not going to go down without a battle, scoring two tries of their own to tie things up for a second time at 24-all just after the hour mark.
The crucial scores came in the 65th and 73rd minutes, as Pirates gave themselves what would be an unassailable 34-24 lead. Nevertheless Scottish earned themselves two bonus points with a converted try three minutes from time, 31-34 the final score.
Tickets for the 2023 Inter-Services Championship are now on sale.
CLICK HERE for information about the Army v RAF at Kingsholm, Gloucester, on Saturday, April 15th.
CLICK HERE for information about Army Navy at Twickenham on Saturday, May 13th.
Words © New Dogs, Old Tricks
Header and featured image – Alligin Photography © Andrew Fosker
