In rugby, 1CER defeated 2 Cav Regt to win the final in the last minutes 13-10. 1CER and 2 Cav Regt ruckmen contest the centre bounce. The battle in the scrum is tight and fierce. A 1CER player lunges for the ball during the 1 Bde Rugby final. Photos by Spr Bernard Pearson, 1CER

1CER defeats 2 Cav
Engineers claim any mugs game against Cav

By Capt Mark Doggett
1CER's combat engineers recently went two-up over 2 Cav Regt in two weeks in the finals of the 1 Bde Rugby and AFL competitions, held recently at Robertson Barracks.

The Rugby win was the first for 1CER since 1990, and was clinched only in the last minutes when 1CER was granted a penalty try to win the match 13-10.

The match remained close throughout; although 2 Cav threatened to dominate following their first half try. But, sparked by calls from 1CER coach Sgt Jeff Newman, the engineers recovered and fought to achieve the final result.

After the match, Sgt Newman praised his players for their focused attitude to training to the final. He also appealed to the extraordinary esprit de corps that marks out 1CER, and his team responded.

"I told them that we'd never made a final in Rugby since 1990. I told them it would be history to win and they took it to heart," he said.

"The game had a lot of passion in it, and the guys dug in and towards the end they stayed focused."

The team's captain, Spr Adam Molineaux, agreed that the team was fired up for the final following three weeks of daily training to ensure skills and fitness were adequate.

In a hard-fought game typical of Army rugby, Spr Troy Davis and Capt Scott Davidson were voted best on ground.

The following week, 1CER defeated 2 Cav Regt in the final of 1 Brigade's AFL competition by 52 points.

The 1CER team was undefeated in the competitions, and went into the game as favourites.

But the captain of the winning team, Cpl Jeremy "Bomber" Brown, said his team did not take the result for granted, as it had just two weeks to prepare for the final because pf players' exercise commitments and courses.

"A lot of the boys were away, too, and four or five blokes had to fill-in for us," he said.

Cpl Brown nominated several players for their outstanding performance, including Spr Brent Slattery, who has since been picked for the Army AFC team, Cpl Sean Barry, Cpl Daniel Schultz, and WO2 Brent Doyle, who "took some hard hits for the team".

"He's a fairly solid boy," he said.

"We were expecting a much tougher game because we heard that 2 Cav had been training and had gone into a camp for a couple of days, but come game day, we got up [because] the boys came together."

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