BELTER: A gallant Navy couldn’t hold on against a superior Army team in the Australian Services Rugby Union (ASRU) championship in Canberra.

Photo: ABPH Paul McCallum

By Barry Rollings

Injuries to key players and a failure to make the most of its numerical superiority or its scoring opportunities contributed to a spirited Navy losing an exciting Australian Services Rugby Union championship game 13-22 to Army on June 3 in Canberra.

Earlier Combined Navy and Air Force women lost 10-12 to Army.

Navy’s men had wrested the Wing Commander John Caldwell Shield from Army in 2005 after its reign of about five years, and after both teams had beaten Air Force – Navy 32-15 and Army 60-11 – their final match at Vikings Park, Erindale, became a championship-decider.

Navy did well to hold the half-time scoreline at 12-6 in Army’s favour, aided by penalty goals to PO Andrew Thorpe.
Navy had enjoyed some early attacking opportunities but loose handling and Army pressure combined to see play often break down among the inside backs.

Further damage was done early for Navy, when Army was able to make some incisive runs through loose Navy defence for tries at 17 and 26 minutes.

The loss of its skipper LEUT Tor Sorensen in the first 10 minutes and halfback AB Brad Sharman about seven minutes from half-time were blows from which Navy struggled to recover. AB Sharman broke his left leg when tackled as he put in a clearing kick for Navy and was replaced in a recast backline by LEUT Dean Brown.

Navy was given more than a glimmer of hope with Army leading 19-13 and with a converted try enough to snatch victory. CAPT Sean Kearns and LT Stephen Wright both were sin-binned in quick succession after about 65 minutes for repeated Army infringements, followed about five minutes later by the sending off of CFN Matt Fraser.
Navy went desperately close to scoring at least twice against the 12-man Army side, aided by a procession of about a dozen successive penalties.

Late in the game a rolling maul was held up over the Army line, LS Jason Harrington made a strong run down the sideline before play broke down and LEUT Brown’s blindside pass close to the line sailed out untouched after his winger had elected to slip through on his inside.

Army, which had earlier gone close to scoring twice to put the issue beyond doubt, defended grimly and locked the ball up at every opportunity.

Navy coach WO Geoff Stokes said his team had not taken its opportunities and had turned over too much possession.

“We did not execute our plays well and as a result turned too much easy possession over to Army and they were able to execute their plays much better,” he said.

“We were not patient when he had numerical superiority. We thought we had to score from every touch rather than let it happen; that was disappointing.

“We did some good things but did not retain enough possession to threaten their defence. Credit to Army, they were the better side.”
Better players for Navy were LS Harrington, who stood out with strong lineout work and in general play, LEUT Brown at half and LS Shaun Megahey.

Against Air Force, Navy was surprised by the determination and quality of the Air Force scrum, who dominated their more fancied opponents with superior technique and drive.

Despite conceding several scrum penalties and a tight-head feed, Navy was able to capitalise on several Air Force lapses in concentration, particularly out wide in broken play which leaked two tries to Navy in 20 minutes.

Poor discipline by Air Force at the breakdown also resulted in a number of penalties which gave Navy both field position and its 22-0 lead.

After converting pressure into points just after half-time to bring the score back to 15-22, Air Force then began to tire noticeably as Navy kept the ball in close, making good ground upfield before swinging it wide to both flanks to probe for weaknesses.

Air Force’s desperate scrambling defence was able to hold until the 60-minute mark despite often being caught short of numbers out wide before a Navy penalty and a deserved try to Navy put the result beyond doubt.

 

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