Services outsmarted by students in annual rep match

By Michael Weaver

THE Australian Services Rugby Union (ASRU) men’s team was beaten but far from disgraced by Australian Universities in their annual clash for the Weary Dunlop Trophy at Ballymore Oval in Brisbane on June 29.

The students have kept a firm grip on the trophy since its inception, but this year's ASRU side had learnt some lessons and was highly competitive in an entertaining game.

Five Air Force players featured in the side: Flying Officer Nick Leseberg, Sergeant Jason Ryan, Corporal Michael McCabe, Leading Aircraftman Brenden Christensen and Aircraftman Ted Wilson.

Both FLGOFF Leseberg and LAC Christensen scored tries for ASRU.

Though the final score went 54-34 in Unis’ favour, ASRU coach Wing Commander Graham King said the team achieved its objectives during the four-match tour, easily winning the first three games.

“I thought the guys fought it out against Unis and it’s by no means a shellacking. It’s important for Australian Services that the players and the hierarchy understand that this year's tour is the first step back in our rebuilding phase,” WGCDR King said.

“I think for too long ASRU has been used to losing, so this was a good test of mettle for our guys. We were competitive, which is all I could hope for and to win would have been a bonus. We were valiant and quite competitive in defeat.

“We did very well considering we came back and worked hard in the second half. We put some tactical replacements on that were creative players rather than the defensive set we started with and we scored some lovely tries.”

The building crowd for the Queensland Reds v Fiji main game fully appreciated the action, getting behind ASRU each time they scored.

However, tries to Unis within the first three minutes of each half were telling factors in the final result.

“It’s difficult to play behind a 14-point margin and at the end of the day there was 20 points in the result, so you take away those two converted tries and you're down to six points, so the game would have been evenly poised.

“The absolute bonus of the game and the whole tour was that for the first time in a long time there was no Navy, Army or Air Force. It was ASRU and we were a team of rugby players that supported each other all tour.”

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