A Western Australian Police rugby union side upstaged some fancied opposition to win the HMAS Stirling annual rugby union competition at the FBW Sports Pavilion Field recently.

Invitations were this year extended to the Police, Army, Air Force and the Emergency Services (Fire Brigade & Ambulance), with teams represented at the event being HMAS Darwin, Westralia, Adelaide, Army (13 Brigade) Karrakatta and a Police team made up of players from the regional stations of Perth, some from as far south as Bunbury.

Unfortunately pre-Kakadu commitments saw the late withdrawal of teams from FIMA, Canberra and Arunta, with the competition quickly reformatted into a round-robin.

Support from the Western Australia Rugby Union was received with local officers LCDR Andrew Crocker, LCDR Glenn Green and POAWASM Ken Douglas designated the officiating duties.

For those in the RAN rugby fraternity familiar with Mr Crocker and Green's talents, please be rest assured they have not totally given up the boots for the more subtle duties of 'whistle blower'.

Throughout the day, if teams fell short of players the temptation was irresistible, and both took to the paddock showing the flair and skill so often displayed in years gone by.

The WA Police rugby team was a surprising but worthy winner of the competition, with a mixture of experienced rugby players, outstanding rugby league players, sprinkled with some talented novices.

The first game between the Police and HMAS Darwin commenced at a frenetic pace, with the Police soon down 21-0. The captain of the Police team later explained that this was due to his team not having met or played together before. The Police held the opposition scoreless in the second half as they gained confidence and began to organise definite patterns of play.

The Police played its second game against HMAS Adelaide with a far more competitive combination, winning the 12-5 against a talented and determined Adelaide side.

Game three saw Police dispose of the Army 12-0 in a contest which was closer and harder than the score indicated. This win however meant Police only had to draw or not lose by more that 12 points in the next encounter against HMAS Westralia to make the grand final. They achieved this with ease, defeating Westralia 24-0.

The Police now had to meet its round one opponent HMAS Darwin in the grand final.

Darwin took an early lead, but the Police fought back to score in the corner late in the match. The conversion from the sideline saw the game finish at 7-all. During extra time the WA Police scored the winning try, posting an unexpected victory.

Congratulations to Matt Aiken from the WA Police who was selected by the officials as the most valuable player of the tournament.

Congratulations to all players, the sportsmanship displayed by all teams on and off the field was of the highest order, once again proving, that real gentlemen play rugby.

Special thanks to the 'groundies' for the venue preparation and all support organisations of HMAS Stirling that assisted in the organisation and conduct of the event.

A view from the tanker - HMAS Westralia

Westralia could only just manage to field a team of 15, as many personnel were on leave or required pre-deployment responsibilities at Kakadu and South East Asia.

The first hit-out of the day was against a very big and mobile pack from HMAS Darwin, making the scoring opportunities and use of the backs very difficult as we had a very inexperienced pack.

This game led to injuries and sore bodies but didn't dampen the spirit of the lads from the 'Battle Tanker'.

It wasn't until the game against HMAS Adelaide where Westralia put a score on the board from some decent lineout work and mauling to allow ABMT Simpson the honour of scoring the team's first and only try for the day.

Player's player was ABMT Shonrock, who stood up as a very strong and defensive fullback.