OIC Rugby: Capt "Phil" Cush
Coach And Scribe: Sgt "Shotti" Shotbolt

As soon as I arrived within the unit at the start of Feb 2007 Capt Cush nominated me to run and enter the Bn side into various rugby events. After a quick training session I soon realized that we had a depleted rugby squad, mostly rugby league players, and I set upon the task of converting the league players to the union rules. This task is a lot harder than you think, mostly because they were 'reccy mechs', but after a few weeks the squad started to play well together.

Our semi final was to be one sided affair with tries coming from Cfn "Teddy Bear" Ballantyne, LCpl "Ginge" Darnell and Cfn "VT" Thorneycroft. So of to the final, a game we new we could win. How wrong where we after losing after extra time to a UOTC from Sheffield. Big thanks must go out to Cfn "VT" Thorneycroft for a great evening he had organized in Hull.

So I then decided then to take the Rugby squad away on a short tour. After a lot of faxes and emails we were given permission to tour and the date was set. The tour began with a long drive to Dover then a short hop to Calais. We were of to play beach rugby, yes beach rugby in the holiday resort of De Haan in Belgium.

This was going to be our biggest test has beach rugby is a completely different game, something we found out at the early stages of the tournament. Hangovers, a sea breeze and 'big hitters' from Cambridge University soon put us back down to earth and after some refreshments, we started to play rugby. Awesome displays by Cfn "Basher "Bishop, Cfn "I've got" Shingler and LCpl "Big Guns" Treadgold put us good stead for a quarter final match against a pro-French side on the second day.

After a great evening of a bbq and disco we awoke on Sunday to find our heads very sore, but still up for the game. I must say that Sgt "Gavin Henson" Fletcher and LCpl "the persuader" Richardson and tried their hardest to infiltrate the pro-French side at the disco, but only managed to tell them their error of their ways. So the game came upon us, and after an exchange of hard tackles LCpl "monster" Jones broke through and scored a try to the sounds of the crowd shouting Army, Army. Whoever told them that we were from the British army still remains a mystery? But sadly our quest to become beach rugby champions was stopped rather abruptly after players from our side we hospitalized from some rather foul play from the French. However we weren't to be beaten so easily, and after some ferocious tackling by Cfn "Fish Eggs" Roe and Cfn "Daggers" Partridge the French side started to crumble. Unfortunately the referee blew his whistle and we lost to a pro-French by only 10 points.

Then it was of to Aldershot to play in the Rugby League 9s. This was to be an eye opener, has our bodies hadn't recovered from our weekend in Belgium, and we were quickly disposed of by some very good sides. So of to the plate quarter finals again, a game that was very close, but we lost to a better side 16-6. Good displays of rugby came from Cpl "ten chins" Beale and LCpl "Knuckles" Smith.

So our next tournament was to be the REME Corps 7s. By this point our bodies where worse for wear and we had to rest some of our players. We were knocked out in the plate quarter final by a much drilled side from Northern Ireland.

The whole squad, many I haven't mentioned, have had a great few months playing rugby and we wish to invite any unit with an average rugby side to take us on at 15s. If any team is interested contact Sgt Shotbolt on Cat mil 5136. Look forward to seeing you.