Army Women (34) v United States Navy
(0)
Aldershot - 16 Mar 10
Army win the game - US Navy win the hearts
Reporter/Photographer: Roger Thompson
The USN into the attack All smiles. There can seldom have been such an enjoyable
exhibition of rugby on the Army Stadium pitch. Forget
the likely pre-match score and the final result, these
girls from the United States Navy put on a display of
well drilled 'get up and go' rugby and were fit enough
to have the propellers churning at full speed for the
80 minutes. |
At the end a modest crowd was urging the Navy forward
to score a memorable try-- and they were only just adrift.
They handled well and instinctively knew the moment
to make the ball do the work. More particularly they
tackled like American 'grid-iron' footballers-in one
side, through and out the other. It was fantastic to
watch and much appreciated by the now thoroughly warmed-up
crowd.
The reality was that the Army won 34pts-nil and although
a number of newcomers pulled on the red shirt for the
first time it was the 'old' timers who called the tunes.
'JoJo' Joubert at No15 opened the scoring
on 7 minutes with a great angled run which straightened
up to the posts. |
Jo Jo Joubert opens the scoring on 7 minutes |
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Throughout the Navy found the speed and elusive running
of Dani Phan more than a hand-full,
particularly when she combined with the threatening
presence of wing Tatillia Bani. Bani
is a thundering Route 1 flyer who is adept at finishing
and duly scored a great try in the fourth quarter.
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 Dani Phan - more than a handful |
 Tatillia Bani - Route 1 |
Alvie Beanie, Joubert (a second) and the ever present Rosie Haigh completed the scoring. Haigh goes from strength to strength in the open where her twisting assaults to the heart of the defence continue to be a feature of Army play. Kat Woods, now back in the front row ferociously led the battle in the contact zone. |
Army Women (7) v Scotland A (10)
Edinburgh - 30 Jan 10
Scotland Gain Revenge
Scotland A ran out 10 - 7 when they played the British Army Women at Murryfield on 30 January. This being the first game of the season for the Army after the bad weather, Scotland used the occasion to look at a number of new players for the forth coming Six Nations Campaign
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| The day started with the game at Lasswade being cancelled
and the fixture being moved to a 4G pitch in the shadows
of Murryfield, which resulted in the game not starting
until 17:30. the game started with both teams trying to
find there feet on the unfamiliar surface both teams competing
for every inch of ground playing from end to end fast
flowing rugby. Army were forced in to 2 substitutions
in the first half, first No 14 Bdr Garside Replaced by
No 21 Cpl Phan Left wing, and No 18 SSgt Wilde on her
birthday replacing No 3 Capt Harris, who had to be carried
from the field and taken to hospital, but she was latter
discharged with no further problems.
At the begging of the second half Scotland A were reduced
to 14 after the No 6 flying tackled with no use of arms
the right winger No 11 Cpl Allen, who was replaced by
LCpl Roberts No 22, from the subsequent penalty Scotland
stole the line out and a good run by the 9 took Scotland
to within 10 meters of the Army line our scrum and which
resulted in a free kick to them for a crooked feed they
took a tap and go and surged forward towards the Army
line 2 quick rucks and some quick hands by there ¾
line saw the left winger score in the corner, conversion
unsuccessful. Scotland A 5 – Army 0. Substitution
No 2 Cfn Robinson for LCpl Metters No 17
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1. Capt. C Maxwell AGC(SPS)
2. Cfn P Robinson REME
3. Capt S Harris * RA
4. Lt E Slungaard * AMS
5. Cpl R Haigh REME
6. LCpl L Steer * RLC
7. Capt K Douglas AGC(RMP)
8. LCpl C Loftus R Sigs
9. Cfn L Marsh REME
10. Capt E Astley-Arlington RLC
11. Cpl C Allen Int Corps
12. Cpl S Mitchelson (captain) RLC
13. Cpl T Bani RLC
14. Bdr K Garside * RA
15. LCpl J Joubert RLC
16. Lt F Cox * RLC
17. LCpl R Metters * REME
18. SSgt C Wilde REME
19. Bdr L Latimer * RA
20. Capt E Radcliffe AMS
21. Cpl D Phan REME
22. LCpl C Roberts * REME
* Denotes non capped players.
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This renewed the Army’s quest to win the game,
they restarted and went straight back into the opposition
half and stayed there for the next 20 mins applying
pressure and knocking on Scotland’s try line but
to no avail, Scotland broke out with a dubious pass
to the 12 from the 10 and went the distance the Army
covered well but Scotland supported well and ended up
scoring in the corner, conversion unsuccessful. Scotland
A 10 – Army 0.
This really got the Army fired up, which led to assault after assault on Scotland which resulted in a number of penalties being warded to the Army which marched them back to there 22. No 9 Cfn Marsh replaced by No 20 Capt Radcliffe. From a penalty kick to touch which was missed, but the Scotland winger knocked on. Substitution No 6 LCpl Steer replaced by No 16 Lt Cox, from the scrum the Army picked and went up the middle after what must have been 15+ phases with forwards and backs interlinking from one side to the other towards the try line Cpl Phan crossed the line. (What a fantastic try 1 of the best the Army Ladies have scored). Lt Cox stepped up and converted the 2 points, Scotland A 10 - Army 7. With 4 minutes on the clock you could see the Army team still thought they could win and from the restart surged back toward the Scotland line, from a knock on from a chip over by the Army Scotland started to slow everything down the scrum took 2 minutes to set and from this the time just ran away from the Army.
For the first game of the season this was truly magnificent encounter with bodies placed on the line by both sides. The Army fielded 8 new players for this game and they all stood up and represented the red jersey with honour.
Next match for the Army is against the Dutch National side, at the national stadium in Amsterdam on Thursday 25th February 20:00 kick off
Posted: 10 Feb 10
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