Director of Unit Competitions Maj Andy Bennett looked back fondly on a successful season as Stormers were crowned Premiership champions and 1 Yorks Plate kings at Newbury RFC on Wednesday.
Both sides built up healthy leads in their respective finals – Stormers leading Royal Welsh 24-0 at the break before holding on for a 29-12 triumph, and Yorks heading into the interval 20-8 up before repelling a 2 Rifles fightback for a 34-18 victory – on a day when some high-quality rugby was on show.
Starting with the Showcase Day to kick-start the campaign, Maj Bennett explained: “It’s been good and I’m happy with how the season mapped out.
“Thinking back to October we had a great example of the top quality in Unit rugby, and today we’ve had four sides who shone through to show how good the Premiership is.
“Although 1 Yorks proved a little too strong after getting out to a fast start, I thought 2 Rifles did well while missing a couple of players for various reasons, including a couple who’d represented the Army at the weekend.
“Then the Stormers got out to such a fast start, and they never really enabled Welsh to come back into it.”
It was mission accomplished for Stormers, who were edged out 19-17 by 1 Yorks in last year’s final, only to beat their rivals 18-12 in Aldershot back in October before also defeating them by a single point in the semi-final.
Maj Bennett continued: “At the top level of the Unit game there is a strong rivalry building up, and it was great to see Welsh back in this year having missed last season.
“We’ve had close games across all eight teams throughout the season and it’s something we hope can keep happening to keep the level of rugby moving forwards.
“Contrasting styles make games and Stormers base their style around power, it was quite attritional, similar to Saracens in the Premiership of the French sides like La Rochelle, they used that to take control.
“I can also only compliment both the Royal Welsh and the Stormers for bringing up their fans from 12 and 16 Regiment RA.
Outside of the two main finals, 2 Yorks edged out 1 Lancs 15-12 in a cracking Knock-out Cup decider, while 1 Rifles proved a little strong for Lyneham Knights in the Spirt of Rugby contest.
With plenty of support on offer for all sides, Maj Bennett said: “It’s been a fantastic day and Newbury have been great hosts, very accommodating to let us not only show the Premiership but also the other two games where the sides got to play in front of a crowd and feel the atmosphere Unit rugby has to offer.
“On the main pitch we recognised those who entered the cup competition from January through to May, and while there were some games not played and some teams played more than others, having 1 Lancs travel over from Cyprus come up against 2 Yorks in a very competitive final shows there shouldn’t be barriers to us getting 15 and hopefully 23 players on a pitch and allowing our services personnel to play a sport which echoes the values of the Army and what we stand for.
“To see them go out and show that, along with the Spirit of Rugby game, the Lyneham Knights and 1 Rifles, who both have struggled with availability for various reasons, they’ve come through a very busy schedule of events and have been able to play a great game.”
Looking ahead, Maj Bennett, who is stepping down as Premiership secretary, believes lessons have been learnt this year which means the competition will continue to thrive.
He ended: “I don’t think we’ll go back to the days of 15 years ago when we had Championship and below with a lot of teams playing, but this season has shown we can adapt our competitions to enable competitive rugby.
“We want to keep advertising the benefits and quality of what playing at Unit level can do (and I’m sure that will happen).”
Words – New Dogs, Old Tricks © Richard Ashton
Header and featured image – Alligin Photography © Lee Crabb
