The Army U23s kicked off their season last Friday evening as they start their build up preparing for the U23 Inter Service Championship in November.
There had been an excellent response to the open trial invitation advertised earlier in the summer and a good week’s training followed by a fixture against a Royal Artillery development side, largely base around 12 Regt RA, gave the management a good look at the large pool of talent coming through.
The young Reds played some encouraging rugby in their first outing together against a talented and physical Artillery side who had a good mix of experience from Corps and Community rugby.
The Army started quickly out of the blocks from the kick off, crossing the try line after two minutes, however the Gunners were quick to respond with a try of their own five minutes later. The Army’s successful conversion the only difference between the two sides on the score board.
An unfortunate high tackle lead to an extended break in play to allow for the injured player from the Gunners to receive the appropriate care and the Army U23s were understandably left minus a player for the remainder of the match. The score remained 7-5 to the Army U23s heading into the half time break.
It was the Gunners that started the second half on the front foot, breaching the Army try line after just 6 minutes, with the conversion successful they took the lead for the first time 7-12. Both sides were looking to play attacking rugby and there were some ferocious tackles in defence. The Army were only able to add to their points tally for the evening with accurate kicking of three penalties, discipline had cost both sides throughout the evening with the penalty count ticking over each way. The Army received a yellow card for repeated infringements in the red zone taking them down to 13 men and the Gunners were able to capitalise with the extra space out wide to score a further two try’s in the last 20 minutes of the match to seal victory 16-22.
It is always good to get the first fixture of the season under the belts and shake off the cobwebs from not having played competitive representative rugby for the past 18 months. Our sincere thanks to the Royal Artillery for the fixture, a physical encounter and vital preparation for the Army U23s who have laid some good foundations to work and build on over the coming weeks as they build towards their first Inter Service match v the Royal Navy on the 10th November in Plymouth.
A full image gallery from the match can be viewed HERE
All images © Alligin Photography, Scrumpix
