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Tour berths beckon our rugby men
By Barry Rollings
Volume 49, No. 14, August 09, 2007 |
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EYES ON THE PRIZE: FSGT Jason Ryan has one hand on the trophy Air Force hopes to hold aloft on August 18.
Photo by LS Yuri Ramsey |
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Berths on the tour of South America beckon the best of the best who prove themselves on the field of battle in the Australian Services Rugby Championships in Canberra from August 11-18.
Army will be defending both its WGCDR John Caldwell Shield in the men’s competition and the CDRE Mick Dunn RAN Cup in the women’s.
The Australian Services Rugby Union (ASRU) representative teams will be selected at the end of the carnival, with the men’s team to make a 25-day tour of Chile and Argentina in October.
FSGT Jason Ryan expected Air Force would be very competitive for the first time in several seasons.
The players’ representative on the Air Force rugby committee, as well as the Air Force and ASRU tighthead prop, FSGT Ryan has been involved for about 10 years and expects the men in blue to do well this year.
“We are in a rebuilding phase and each year we have improved,” FSGT Ryan said.
“We have some new players this year and expect to improve again on 2006.”
Last year, Army toughed out a memorable 22-13 championship decider against Navy.
The two will lock horns on the opening day of the tournament, August 11, at 12.10pm at Manuka Oval. The focus will move to ANU North Oval on Barry Drive, O’Connor, for the rest of the carnival with Air Force opposing Navy at 3pm on August 15.
On August 18, the combined Navy/Air Force women meet Army at 1.30pm. That will be preceded by a match between noon and 1pm contested by the ACT Veterans and the ASRU Old Boys for the Chiefs Trophy.
The carnival winds up with the match between Army and Air Force at 3pm followed by medal presentations. ASRU representative teams will be announced that night at University-Norths Rugby Union club, where trophies will be presented to the winning Services, as well as awards to the men’s and women’s Player of the Carnival and the Malcolm van Gelder Trophy for Rookie of the Year. |
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