Army aims for rugby supremacy
Volume 11, No. 43, May 18, 2006


TWO trial matches and a team training camp are the foundations on which Army hopes to build a winning challenge to Navy in this year's Australian Services Rugby Union Championship in Canberra from May 28 to June 3.

Army's national manager Maj Robert Shearman said a squad of 35 would go into camp on May 19 at Garden Island.
The annual match against a Randwick selection, a combination drawn from the Galloping Greens' first- to fourth-graders, will be played at Sydney's Victoria Barracks on May 24.

The squad, drawn from Perth, Darwin, Townsville, Brisbane, Sydney, Albury and Wagga Wagga, will be cut to 26 on May 25.
The final squad will remain in Sydney until the end of that week before travelling to Canberra and playing a second trial against district team, Monaro, at RMC Duntroon on May 28.

"We have a very new side this year and, after losing to Navy last year, we are determined to make amends and take back the cup," Maj Shearman said.

"We were the cup holders for about four years until last year.

"Last year it was a close game and that was reflected on the scoreboard.

"They were a more committed Navy side last year, but in terms of talent, I think we had better players. We just didn't aim up on the day."

Army coach WO2 Aaron Booth expects Navy to be the main opposition again this year.

"I think we definitely have the better stock, but it is a matter of whether we can put them on the paddock in the right frame of mind," he said.

"Players like Gavin Whiteside, Matt Fraser, Shaun Richardson and Joe Raines, who are the veterans of Army rugby, have been around long enough to have won and lost nationals. They will know the intensity needed to win the title and the younger players obviously will draw from their experience.

"Our forward pack is big and tough and we have a very talented backline, but very junior in terms of the nationals they have played. We have two state players in our backline and three in the forward pack who have played for either Queensland Country or the Northern Territory."