Reported by: Kimberley Fowke

The Infantry welcomed the Royal Engineers to the home of Army rugby, Aldershot stadium, Queens Avenue on a crisp dry December afternoon. Last seasons game had seen the Sappers run in a host of tries to nil at Chatham however the Infantry senior coach and Army coaching coordinator Chris Chudley has assembled a fine group of players that have a blend of talented running backs and powerful forwards that have already put the Gunners and Signals to the sword this season. The Sappers handed a first start to Tim Brewer at scrum half with 'Gilly' Gill injured and welcomed back Andy Hurran in the center after a fractured wrist.

Sapperrugby

1 - Nathan Young, 2 - Gareth Evans, 3 - Jungle Hince, 4 - Ian Black,
5 - Ralph Cooke, 6 - Mike Wildon,
7 - Grant Gatford,
8 - Ben Hughes (Skipper),
9 - Tim Brewer, 10 - 'Bocker' Viljeon,
11 - Ben Seru, 12 - Andy Huran,
13 - Bruno Green, 14 - Danny Coutes,
15 - Martin Wright,

Replacements: Kev Rank, Gilly Gill, Garry Windle, Talli Taylor, Matt Hood, Jeff Saunders.

Coaching Staff - Pete Rowlands & Mike Thomas.

The Sappers kicked off and after a kick to touch threw into the line. From the resulting scrum, of a not straight throw, the Infantry drove deep into the Sapper half mixing their forwards and predominantly Fijian backs with good ball interplay, forcing the Sappers defensive line to concede a penalty for offside that was not kicked successfully. However, after just eight minutes the Inf broke through the defensive line to score to the right of the posts and converted the try; 7 - 0 to the Infantry. Straight from the restart the Infantry backs smashed through an unorganized Sapper defence and scored their second try and successfully converted to put them 14 - 0 up after only eleven minutes. The Sappers looked shell-shocked and the alarm bells were 'full on' after a third Infantry try in just fifteen minutes looked as if the Infantry were to inflict carnage at Aldershot taking the score to 19 - 0 with twenty five minutes of the first half to play!

The Sappers could only improve and at last started to go forward; the pack started to drive and it was the turn of the Infantry to defend. Fierce pressure on the Infantry line resulted in two yellow cards being awarded for repeated infringements but remarkably they held their line firm despite the two man disadvantage and the first half ended with the Infantry deservedly up by 19 - 0.

Sapper rugby senior coach Pete Rowlands and the senior players had some deep soul searching to do as they headed to the changing rooms for the half time break. The Sappers made two changes at half time, Kev Rank replaced Jungle Hince and Martin Wright swapped positions with 'Bocker' Viljeon. The Ex England student looked comfortable at '10' and soon slotted a penalty to put the Sappers on the scoreboard 19 - 3. Shortly after the restart the Infantry hooker was shown a second yellow card for infringement and was dismissed. The Infantry continued to press and their backs were always dangerous when they ran the ball. After ten minutes of the second half the Sappers replaced Gareth Evans and Ian Black with Garry Windle and Jeff Sanders intending to add pace to the pack. The Sappers pressed the Infantry line and a good break by skipper Ben Hughes popped the ball to 'Bocker' Viljeon to score under the posts and with the conversion good took the score to 19 - 10. From the restart Ben Hughes drove into the heart of the Infantry pack forcing the opposition to knock on. From the resulting scrum the Sappers drove into the 22, new boy Tim Brewer starting to move the ball wide with good effect. At the breakdown the Infantry lost their second player to a red card for foul play and shortly after the Sapper flyhalf was sin binned for a repeated infringement. With 10 minutes left the Sappers continued to push forward Garry Windle gaining good yardage in close contact linking well with the backs and put Danny Coutes over in the right hand corner of the Infantry line for an unconverted try to push the score to 19 - 15.

From the restart the Sappers knocked on and the Infantry displayed true spirit and adventure attacking down the right flank with their thirteen men, sucking the Sappers in they quickly moved the ball wide to score on the left to increase the lead to 24 - 15 with an unsuccessful conversion and just four minutes to go, this must have been the killer score…… Yet the match was yet to have a further twist, The Sappers weren't finished! The Sappers secured a lineout on the Infantry ten metre line and drove forward again, several rolling mauls edged them towards the try line and despite spirited defence the Sapper skipper squeezed over to close the score to 24 - 20. With one minute left the Infantry restarted deep toward the Sapper line for the last time, the Engineer forwards caught and droved the ruck to the 22, Ben Hughes picked the ball up breaking four tackles before offloading to Bocker Viljeon at halfway; he drew his defence before passing to wing Ben Seru who sprinted the 45 mtrs to score under the posts and with Martin Wright dropping the conversion the Sappers turned out winners by 27 - 24.

This was a game that had just about everything; the Infantry team must be congratulated on their electrifying opening start to the game and despite being reduced to thirteen men for two periods played with outstanding spirit and adventure. It was however the Sappers that proved the game isn't done until the referee blows his whistle for the last time, and through 'dog' and grit they persevered to snatch a memorable and hard fought victory. Phew !

Result: RE 27 Inf 24

Man of the Match - Skipper Ben Hughes. Ben returned from his 'sabbatical' with AIL team Ballymena to produce a magnificent display of forward power running. It was his driving tackle breaking runs that were a major factor in the Sappers last two tries. Well done !

See also Sapperugby web site.