By LCDR Colin Pryde
The Royal Australian Navy’s top rugby players will go to South Africa next month to contest the Commonwealth Navies Rugby Cup.
They will compete against the very best Navy rugby players from South Africa, the United Kingdom and New Zealand in Cape Town.
This three-way competition originated in the United Kingdom in 1997, involving the RN, RAN and RNZN.
It was decided to contest the cup every three years, with each nation hosting the competition in turn.
The Royal Navy were winners in 1997 and 2000, and retained the Cup in 2003 after narrowly defeating the RAN by a penalty goal on the final bell in the deciding match.
The entry of the South Africans will further enhance what is already a very tough competition.
The games are very physical and are played with all the passion, courage and pride of a
Test match.
The Commonwealth Navies’ Rugby Cup is the RAN’s version of the World Cup.
For the past three years the efforts of players, coaches and management have been focused on one aim: to wrest the Cup from the Royal Navy and bring it home to Australia.
The road to South Africa started in 2004 when the RAN Rugby Union set some long-term goals and embarked on a nation-wide rugby development program.
These efforts have realised outstanding results, not the least being the winning of the Australian Services Rugby Carnival in 2005, for the first time in five years.
Winning in South Africa presents a very large challenge.
The Royal Navy traditionally field sides with very large forward packs and the RNZN are usually big, fast and unpredictable.
The South African Navy are an unknown quantity, but it is a safe bet that they won’t be small. However, with Warrant Officer Geoff Stokes as head coach of the RAN side, confidence is high.
WO Stokes has coached Navy and Australian Services touring sides in the early 1990s, and returned to coach the victorious Navy team in 2005.
