101st Army Navy Match in 17 Images

Cat Goryn

A glorious day for playing rugby. Clear blue skies, a packed stadium and two sides with so much history and rivalry. The 101st Army Navy Match was not going to disappoint and was a game of drama, excitement, passion and its fair number of close calls.

The match probably turned on the sending off of Sam Matavesi.  Would the Navy have won if he stayed on, we'll never know.  In this blog I have tried to capture the essence of the game in 17 images captured by my ecellent team of photographers - Andy Bonner, Lee Crabb, Nick Flexman, Andrew Fosker, Cat Goryn and Neil Kennedy.  Always makes my job easier when they produce such compelling imagary.

The drama started when Tim Wigglesworth, after a legthy TMO review, issued a red card to Navy flanker Sam Matavesi.
Andrew Fosker - Chris Leathem's opening try
Andrew Fosker - Junior Bulumukau puts the Army in front with their second try
Andrew Fosker - Jamie Miller's long arm reaches out for their third try and a 19-9 half time lead.
Andy Bonner - It could have been more as Connor O'Riley went close but denied by excellent cover tackle from Rhys Dimmock-Williams
Nick Flexman - The Navy had their moments as Jarrard Hayler went close
Lee Crabb - Tim WIgglesworth, the match referee, reviews another close call on the video screen with assistant referee Jack Makepeace
Nick Flexman - foot in touch, as Seta Raumakita goes close.
Nick Flexman - Toots Vaklutukali finally scores a try for thheir Navy after sustained pressure on the Army goal line
Neil Kennedy - captures the same try from a slightly different angle.
Neil Kennedy - Toots try though proved to be too late to allow the Navy to stage a comeback.
Cat Goryn - having played in the youth comeptition at half time there was clear delight to see their heros win the match
Lee Crabb - Junior Balumakau has a Raphael Nadal moment as he pretends to bite the Babcock Trophy
Lee Crabb - after all that hard work Jamie Miller clearly needs a helping hand with the trophy.
Lee Crabb - a bottle of Bollinger to man of the match, Matt Dawson
Lee Crabb - to the victors the spoils

Leave a Reply