Three of the four matches involving Army Senior Men this past weekend ended with wins for the red shirt representatives.
Friday night saw Pte Ratu ‘Siva’ Naulago (Yorks) help Bristol Bears solidify their place at the top of the Premiership table with a solid win over Wasps at Ashton Gate.
No tries for Pts Naulago this week, but there was nevertheless some eye-catching play from the Bears’ backline, not least from full back Charles Piatau, who set up two tries on the way to the man of the match award.
Bristol had to fight back from an early 10-0 deficit, but they showed their quality into the second half, scoring in the final play of the game to earn themselves a maximum haul of league points from the 37-20 final result.
Also on Friday night, Cpl Lewis Bean (Rifles) played the full 80 minutes for Bedford as the Blues got their first win of the RFU Championship campaign.
This, too, was a hard-fought win, although Bedford left the field with an eight-point, 33-25 win over Hartpury at Goldington Road.
Bedford were only behind for two first half minutes, and when they took their lead out to 30-13 10 minutes into the second half the contest looked a foregone conclusion.
However Hartpury fought back themselves, scoring a pair of tries to bring the deficit down to five points, before a late penalty sealed the win for the hosts.
On Saturday afternoon LCpl Semesa Rokoduguni (Scots DG) was a second half replacement as Bath earned a comprehensive win over Newcastle at Kingston Park.
Two early tries put Bath in control and they did not relent, restricting Newcastle to two tries in the first half and a penalty try in the second. Meanwhile the West Country outfit racked up six overall, punishing the Falcons up front in poor north east weather conditions, 38-19 the final result.
The only loss of the weekend experienced by an Army player was at Castle Park, Doncaster, on Friday evening, where Gunner Senitiki Nayalo (7 Para RHA) was a second half substitute for Coventry in what turned out to be another nail biter.
Coventry had scored first, before Doncaster turned on the power to cross the whitewash three times before half-time. However Coventry tightened up their defence after the break, preventing Doncaster from scoring any more points and going over for two tries in the space of five minutes.
Gunner Nayalo came on with 10 minutes to play, and while it looked like Coventry were going to get the late push they needed, they just ran out of time, eventually losing 19-20.
Words © Chris Wearmouth, Header and Featured Image © Army Rugby Union Library
