GUTS AND GLORY
Volume 11, No. 45, June 15, 2006
By Barry Rollings

Pace setter: Cpl Ben Jones tries to bust through the Navy defence in the victory by the undermanned Army team. Photo by AB Paul McCallum

TRUE grit came to Vikings Park Erindale on June 3 when a seriously-depleted Army team held out a determined Navy to win an exciting final match of the Australian Services Rugby Union Championship (ASRU) 22-13.

The win completed a double for Army after its women’s team had edged out Combined Navy/Air Force 12-10.

Navy’s men had prised the Wg-Cmdr John Caldwell Shield off Army in 2005 after its reign of about five years, but Army held on grimly with the odds stacked against it this year.

It overcame the twin hurdles of a run of about 12 successive penalties and having to defend desperately with only 12 men deep into the second half.

With Army leading 19-13 and a converted try enough to give Navy victory, Capt Sean Kearns and Lt Stephen Wright both were sin-binned in quick succession after about 65 minutes for repeated Army infringements.
About five minutes later Cfn Matt Fraser was sent off after a similar Army indiscretion.

An inspired Army lifted to frustrate the numerically-superior Navy, which went desperately close to scoring at least twice. It locked the ball up at every opportunity thanks to some great work by Capt Scott Davidson and some big hits by Pte Jake Jonkers after this Army duo had earlier gone close to scoring to put the issue beyond doubt.

Army really set up its win in the first half with an early onslaught which found easy metres through the Navy defence. LCpl Chey Bird gave Army a 7-0 lead after 17 minutes when he converted a try by Lt Wright, who charged over after being fed a pass at the scrum base.

PO Andrew Thorpe’s penalty goal five minutes later made it 7-3. LCpl Bird converted Tpr Jake Byrt’s try four minutes later for a 12-3 lead after Pte Keiran Dan had fielded a clearing kick for Navy and put in a long, probing run that set up Tpr Byrt.

Navy made the half-time score 12-6 when PO Thorpe kicked another penalty but Army went ahead 19-6 five minutes after the long break when Pte Jonkers and Cpl Jones set up Pte Dan’s try and LCpl Bird converted for a 19-6 lead before depleted Army was forced to defend for the last 16 minutes until LCpl Bird’s penalty goal with two minutes to go made the game safe for Army.

“We made it hard and did it hard,” Army coach WO2 Aaran Booth said after the win

“Daniel George showed grit and determination when he came on and we had those three players off the paddock, including two loose forwards. He pulled the side together and we were able to work forward from that.

“Scott Davidson’s work rate in the last 20 minutes was second to none and fullback Chey Bird was solid.

“Credit goes to the whole side because they did not let Navy cross our line while those players were off the paddock and we had about a dozen straight penalties against us.

“The guys dug in, dug deep, did it the hard way and came out with the win. We had been hoping that in the last 20 minutes the wheels would fall off for Navy but with the penalties and people off paddock, we did not have the ability to hammer it home.”

Army was best served by Spr George, Capt Davidson, LCpl Bird and Cpl Jones.

The crimson tide of Army’s red-shirted men was ominous-looking against Air Force on May 31.

It had shown the benefit of its pre-championship 22-all draw with Randwick club on May 24 at Victoria Barracks in Sydney by overpowering a gallant Air Force side in its opening game.

The 60-11 scoreline against Air Force should have been bigger.

Army conceded quite a few penalties throughout, had two players sin-binned and one sent off.

Four of the more difficult of the nine conversion attempts were astray and quite a few scoring chances went begging late in the second half, at least once through a dropped ball and several others through infringements or indiscretions.

Army found Air Force’s scrummaging and lineouts difficult to counter throughout but really shone in the tight work at the breakdowns where a powerful forward pack laid the platform for the backs to shine.

Fly-half Cpl Ben Jones showed some deft touches with his tactical kicking and he and fullback LCpl Chey Bird linked well in an attack that put the fleet-footed winger Cpl Neil Campbell over four times in the first half. Once Cpl Campbell chipped and regathered to score and later dotted down in the corner after a well-placed kick from LCpl Bird.

Air Force led 6-5 midway through the first half but by half-time Army had gained the upper hand to lead 29-6. Penalties and possession began to flow more Army’s way in the second half and although its attack was less expansive, it was equally effective against a tiring Air Force to score five more tries after long periods in attack.

Army was best served by Tpr Jake Byrt, Cfn Matt Fraser, Cpl Neil Campbell, Capt
Sean Kearns, LCpl Chey Bird and Cpl Ben Jones.

Army coach Aaran Booth said Air Force began with great passion and “really stuck it to us”.

“We chipped away, did the basic things right and from that came the tries out wide,” he said.

“The scrum got knocked around a bit but the forwards in and around the tight stuff – the pick and drive and little mini-mauls - worked really well.

“From that we were able to work to quite a good score in the end with good foot speed in the backline and very good support from the loose forwards.

“The boys new that it would be 40-50 minutes before Air Force began to drop off.”