RUGBY
LEAGUE
By
Paul Cross
Australian
Service rugby league players took it up to their British counterparts
during the recent tour of England but could only come home with
one win from three encounters.
The Australians began their maiden tour at Wigan, with a match
against the British Amateur Rugby League Association’s (BARLA)
under-23 side – reputed to be one of the best amateur teams
in the country.
Coach WO2 Al Lynch said the BARLA match up was hard-fought all
the way to the final whistle with the Australians going down 46-32.
“It was an encouraging performance, the British services
combined team played them the week before and went down 42-10.
So the fact that we were able to put points on them buoyed the
team for the battle against the combined services,” he said.
“For every player it was the first time playing for their
country overseas and we were a little apprehensive and excited
going into that first match.
WO2 Lynch said he was confident in the team’s ability to
beat BARLA.
“Even though we had no match practice as a team before that
first game it was in the balance at the end of the first half.
Once the blokes got into the match they started to gel as a team,
which is indicated by the score. It was only in the last five
minutes that BARLA slipped away.”
Four days later the Australians met the British Army team at Dewsbury
near Leeds, for a night encounter that would see the tourists’
first victory, 22-10.
“We were mindful of the fact the British play a physical
game, dominated by a solid forward pack. Our pack was certainly
capable of matching it with them and in both games we dominated
in the forwards and I intended to spread the ball wide and run
their forwards ragged, which was a plan we basically stuck with
for the three games.”
The final bone-crunching game of the series was played in Hull
– a very physical match that saw several Australians sustain
injuries before going down 7-6 in the dying moments.
“The Brits scored three penalty goals and a field goal to
our try and a penalty goal but I was fairly happy that they did
not cross the line,” he said.
“I was confident that we would win that game but in a very
rough and tumble game there were some factors that were out of
our control. In the second half we lost our direction a little
bit and played into their hands.”
WO2 Lynch said that on the whole he was proud of what the team
achieved in what is believed to be the first-ever overseas Services
rugby league tour.
Next up on the Services rugby league agenda is a tour by the British
Army next year.
Navy
players in the side were:
CPO
Rick Meehan (manager),
CPO Dave Biddle (manager),
LCDR Sion Griffiths,
LSET Scott Taylor,
LSCD Kevin Grinham,
LSCD Grant Killen,
ABCSO Josh Hanson.
Meanwhile,
the Navy team for next year’s interservice national titles
in Newcastle from March 6-13 is being rounded off.
Any player not already selected who would like to be included
in the squad should contact coach SBLT Dave Wallis on 02-4424
1843.
