Navy Rugby’s 2012 competition started yesterday with three regional heats held in Plymouth, Portsmouth and Scotland. At US Portsmouth five teams took part from HMNB Portsmouth HMS Collingwood, HMS Heron, HMS Sultan and the lone ship representative HMS York.
A full page of images has been posted on the rugby page which can be found here.
The story of the day
In my opinion John Clay was clearly man of the tournament. Despite missing the final through injury he did enough in the other four matches to earn the title. Playing at scrum half he brought control to Sultan’s play. Kept bringing their big runners in to the game, and was often on hand to score the try at the end.
The Tries
Many great tries were scored during the day. I particularly remember one scored by Sultan in their first game against HMNB Portsmouth. Just after halftime they attacked from deep in their own half down their left flank. The inter passing and off loads allowed them to score from 70m without a meaningful tackle being made. It would have graced any match.
Last season there was some controversy around the ‘Chris Ashton’ swallow dive tries. Now everyone has to start somewhere?
Sometimes the try scoring tackle arrived too late but with a Collingwood v Sultan encounter it is never too late….or is it?
The Humour
This photo stood out for me when editing. The ball has just been popped up out of the attempted tackle to the support runner out of shot.
Overall
Despite a better performance from HMS Heron in the final, HMS Sultan were clearly the team of the competition and deserved their win.
HMNB Portsmouth pipped HMS Collingwood to third place. Though they struggled it was great to see HMS York represented at the tournament.
The reason for Sultan’s success? A well balanced, well coached team.
And Finally
On what ended up as a cold, wet day with an increasing biting wind, thanks should go to the two referees who were ‘watch on, stop on’. Contributed to a good day of rugby.
Finals are on 14 March 2012 in Plymouth
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