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Mighty effort by our blues
By Barry Rollings
Volume 49, No. 12, July 12, 2007 |
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TOUGH TACKLE: CPL Ian McWhirter from RAAF Base Williamtown charges through Navy’s defence in a hard-fought game during the Combined Australian Services Rugby League championships at Coogee Oval in Sydney.
Photo by AB David McMahon |
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MAKE WAY: CPL Luke Kirk from RAAF Base Williamtown tries to dodge a tackle in a game against Navy during the Combined Australian Services Rugby League championships at Coogee Oval in Sydney.
Photo by AB David McMahon |
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Air Force’s ‘new faces’ were glorious in defeat after losing two hard, close games to Navy and Army in the Combined Australian Services Rugby League (CASRL) championships in Sydney recently.
“With many new faces this year, it was always going to be tough against our settled Navy and Army opposition,” Air Force coach SGT Geoff Britton said.
“After several training sessions, we seemed to gel and the team played well during the carnival despite the fact that, because of a lack of personnel, many guys had to adapt to positions they had never played in previously.”
Air Force lost to Navy 26-18 then suffered a heart-breaking 28-24 loss to Army after leading 24-14 at one stage.
Tries to PLTOFF Ben Daly and LAC Royce Niciejewski out wide from well- worked plays left Air Force down 8-12 at half-time against Navy.
Injury sidelined front-rower CPL Shane Marshall for the rest of the match and the forwards, lacking in size compared with Navy, had to step up a notch as the reserve bench was reduced to three.
Air Force levelled at 12-12 but Navy’s fresh legs and more up-tempo game gave it the upper hand by controlling possession to score another converted try.
It jumped out to an eight-point lead with a penalty goal and both scored again for a final scoreline of 26-18 Navy’s way.
“Air Force stuck to it right to the end but our lack of ball control in crucial moments let us down,” SGT Britton said.
“We had them on the back foot a number of times in which we could have come back and won if we had been able to hold onto the ball.”
Air Force faced Army without the injured CPL Marshall but gained a valuable workhorse in FLGOFF Jules Garland.
CPL Dale Richardson caught Army’s markers napping for an early try, converted by LAC Callan Burmester.
Air Force’s bench was reduced to three after LAC Liam Mulhall injured his shoulder. Further misfortune struck when Air Force was reduced to 12 men after a player was sent off for an infringement.
The Air Force forwards were excellent, especially CPL Ian McWhirter and CPL Graham Westling, who made good yards up the middle.
A neck injury in the scrum to hooker CPL Richardson further weakened Air Force’s reserves and it trailed 10-6 at half-time.
When LAC Burmester converted his own try and then Air Force scored again through Mick Tanascovic (APS) with another conversion from LAC Burmester, Air Force had built a handy 18-14 second-half lead.
Now on a roll, Air Force built that to 24-14 before Army fought back with a converted try out wide and a penalty to trail 24-22.
Then, PTE Leon Adbul-Rahman scored one of the best tries of the carnival to snatch a 28-24 win for Army.
“It was a courageous effort by everyone considering that in the final 15 minutes we had one reserve compared with Army’s seven,” SGT Britton said.
Visit the Air Force Rugby League website at http://intranet.defence.gov.au/raafweb/sites/afrlc
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