{"id":28772,"date":"2024-03-21T08:21:41","date_gmt":"2024-03-21T08:21:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/?p=28772"},"modified":"2024-03-21T08:26:36","modified_gmt":"2024-03-21T08:26:36","slug":"very-valuable-few-days-says-osman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/very-valuable-few-days-says-osman\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Very valuable few days’, says Osman"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t
<\/div><\/div><\/div>
\n\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n
\n\t
\n\t\t

A 33-22 \u2018Le Crunch\u2019 victory against the French Army came at the end of a \u2018very valuable few days\u2019 according to Men\u2019s Head Coach, Lt Col Tim Osman.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In front of a partisan crowd in Pau, the Red Shirts made a perfect start as Spr Jack Johnson (RE) converted a try from Tpr Levi Roper (QDG) inside two minutes, but the hosts hit back with a trio of penalties.<\/p>\n

Despite losing Sgt Matt Dawson (Int Corps) to the sin-bin, a superb Johnson solo score and kick gave the British Army a 14-9 half-time advantage, albeit two more three-pointers nudged the home side back in front in the third quarter.<\/p>\n

Yet two more converted scores, this time by Lt Frank Kelly (AGC (SPS)), gave the visitors a 28-15 lead heading into the closing stages.<\/p>\n

The French hit back with a penalty try, but Rfn Vereimi Qorowale\u2019s (2 Rifles) touchline effort finished things off for the Army.<\/p>\n

Lt Col Osman was pleased with plenty of aspects of the victory and reflected: \u201cWe focused on trying to get the win away \u2013 you don\u2019t often have the chance to, and France is one of the hardest places to go.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe never truly got going, but on the few occasions we got the ball in the right place we caused them all sorts of problems.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had five tries from across the backs, so they retain bragging rights again \u2013 I think most of our tries have been from them this year, which has been entertaining. There are some exciting players out there and hopefully a lot more to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cWe had a good training week, and it was a step up in terms of performance; also pleasing to deal with the environment and pressure.<\/p>\n

\u201cInter-Services is very hard to replicate, playing in front of 50-60,000 people, but the fact it was a Capped match against an international Army was probably as close as you\u2019re going to get to the pressures you\u2019ll come under.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were within a score to win it towards the end, but it didn\u2019t feel like a game as close as the score-line suggested \u2013 on a different day and in different conditions potentially it could have been more reflective of the way we felt it could have gone.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll in all, it was a very valuable few days, a good win and a useful step forward. I was very happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two areas the Red Shirts struggled at were the scrum and their discipline, and Tim admitted the latter especially needs to be improved.<\/p>\n

He explained: \u201cThe penalty count was about 23-3, but we defended well and on both occasions we were down to 14, we scored.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, we\u2019re going to need to work hard to adapt and understand referees\u2019 interpretations, which has probably been the biggest criticism of the squad during the past 18 months.<\/p>\n

\u201c(With the scrum), they had an enormous tight-head prop and enormous lock behind him, and they caused us problems on a pretty soft surface \u2013 they\u2019ve had 1,000mm of rain since October which is very unlike that part of the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a standalone I\u2019m not too concerned, everyone knows the French like to scrummage, they were very good, and when you break the game down, the ball in play time was pretty low which helped them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Next up for the Army is Bedford Blues next Thursday, with Tim revealing: \u201cWe\u2019ve got a few guys coming back, LCpl Mikey McDonald (RE) from playing for Germany, Capt Stu Cross (RMAS\/Yorks) is back from Kuwait and a couple more, so the team will change.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to get those guys reintegrated into what we\u2019ve done over the past couple of weeks and we\u2019re looking forward to it.<\/p>\n

\u201cTeam selection is very competitive and there\u2019ll be a few disappointed guys who won\u2019t be in, but it shows the breadth of talent available and allows us to chop and change a bit, hopefully without dropping off.<\/p>\n

\u201cBedford always like to put on a show, they\u2019re playing a decent standard and have a couple of weeks off so they\u2019ll have a good mix of decent players coming back in and youngsters, so it\u2019ll be a tough challenge, albeit in a game with the pace we want to play at.\u201d<\/p>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/div><\/div>\n
\n\t
\n\t\t

Words \u00a9 Richard Ashton<\/p>\n

All images – Alligin Photography \u00a9 Cedric Vlemmings<\/p>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/div><\/div>\n
\n\t
\n\t\t

IMAGE GALLERY<\/h3>\n

A full gallery of images from the match is available\u00a0HERE<\/a>\u00a0images are free to download for personal use.\u00a0 Create an account, use the add to cart function and follow the check out process.<\/p>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div> \n<\/div><\/div>\n\t\t

<\/div><\/div><\/div>
\n\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n
\n
\n
\n \"\"\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div> \n\n\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n
\n
\n
\n \"\"\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div> \n\n\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n
\n
\n
\n \"\"\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div> \n<\/div><\/div>\n\t\t
<\/div><\/div><\/div>
\n\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
<\/div><\/div>\n
\n\t
\n\t\t

INTER SERVICE CHAMPIONSHIP<\/h3>\n

Tickets for the 2024 Inter Service Championship matches are on sale now!<\/p>\n

To purchase yours click the links below;<\/p>\n

Saturday 4th May | Army v Navy | Twickenham |\u00a0BUY TICKETS<\/a><\/p>\n

Saturday 11th May | Army v RAF | Kingsholm |\u00a0BUY TICKETS<\/a><\/p>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div> \n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A 33-22 \u2018Le Crunch\u2019 victory against the French Army came at the end of a \u2018very valuable few days\u2019 according to Men\u2019s Head Coach, Lt Col Tim Osman. In front...","protected":false},"author":507,"featured_media":28773,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n'Very valuable few days', says Osman - ARU<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/very-valuable-few-days-says-osman\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"'Very valuable few days', says Osman - ARU\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/very-valuable-few-days-says-osman\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ARU\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-03-21T08:21:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-03-21T08:26:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/ARU-OFFICIAL-20240315-RUGBYUNION-CV052-1024x683.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"683\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kimberley\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kimberley\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/very-valuable-few-days-says-osman\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/very-valuable-few-days-says-osman\/\",\"name\":\"'Very valuable few days', says Osman - ARU\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/very-valuable-few-days-says-osman\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/very-valuable-few-days-says-osman\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/ARU-OFFICIAL-20240315-RUGBYUNION-CV052.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-03-21T08:21:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-03-21T08:26:36+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/928be04bf4ec6251a4f54e4e8690b20f\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/very-valuable-few-days-says-osman\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/very-valuable-few-days-says-osman\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/very-valuable-few-days-says-osman\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/ARU-OFFICIAL-20240315-RUGBYUNION-CV052.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/ARU-OFFICIAL-20240315-RUGBYUNION-CV052.jpg\",\"width\":2400,\"height\":1600,\"caption\":\"With 12 new capped players the British Army beat their French counterparts 33-22 in the latest of the 'Le Crunch' Series.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/very-valuable-few-days-says-osman\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"‘Very valuable few days’, says Osman\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/\",\"name\":\"ARU\",\"description\":\"Official website of The Army Rugby Union\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/928be04bf4ec6251a4f54e4e8690b20f\",\"name\":\"Kimberley\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/author\/kunrhy857mg\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"'Very valuable few days', says Osman - ARU","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/very-valuable-few-days-says-osman\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"'Very valuable few days', says Osman - ARU","og_url":"https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/very-valuable-few-days-says-osman\/","og_site_name":"ARU","article_published_time":"2024-03-21T08:21:41+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-03-21T08:26:36+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":683,"url":"https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/ARU-OFFICIAL-20240315-RUGBYUNION-CV052-1024x683.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Kimberley","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kimberley","Estimated reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/very-valuable-few-days-says-osman\/","url":"https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/very-valuable-few-days-says-osman\/","name":"'Very valuable few days', says Osman - ARU","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/very-valuable-few-days-says-osman\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/very-valuable-few-days-says-osman\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/ARU-OFFICIAL-20240315-RUGBYUNION-CV052.jpg","datePublished":"2024-03-21T08:21:41+00:00","dateModified":"2024-03-21T08:26:36+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/928be04bf4ec6251a4f54e4e8690b20f"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/very-valuable-few-days-says-osman\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/very-valuable-few-days-says-osman\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/very-valuable-few-days-says-osman\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/ARU-OFFICIAL-20240315-RUGBYUNION-CV052.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/ARU-OFFICIAL-20240315-RUGBYUNION-CV052.jpg","width":2400,"height":1600,"caption":"With 12 new capped players the British Army beat their French counterparts 33-22 in the latest of the 'Le Crunch' Series."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/very-valuable-few-days-says-osman\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"‘Very valuable few days’, says Osman"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/","name":"ARU","description":"Official website of The Army Rugby Union","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/928be04bf4ec6251a4f54e4e8690b20f","name":"Kimberley","url":"https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/author\/kunrhy857mg\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28772"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/507"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28772"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28772\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28774,"href":"https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28772\/revisions\/28774"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.armyrugbyunion.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}