Navy U23s Sink Portsmouth Students

A vocal crowd and attacking flair set the stage as the Navy gear up for the Inter Service Championship. In their second fixture ahead of the Army and RAF matches in November, the Royal Navy U23s kicked off against the Portsmouth University in front of a raucous and packed Burnaby Road! Both sides were keen to blood new talent and test mettle early in the season. This led to, at times, free-flowing game, which was end-to-end, but often fragmented because of multiples changes. There was plenty of niggle, egged on by the student ‘freshers’ crowd. Ultimately the Navy’s more calculated and coherent execution saw them prevail 39 - 19, despite some stand out performances from Portsmouth, especially in the pack.

After a lively start, both sides showed real attacking intent and defensive line speed. Very early on the Navy were able exert their dominance in the scrum, with Arrowsmith, Smith and Devereux getting under their opposition, but multiple changes meant this was not to continue all match. The students did well to maintain territory in the opening encounters with their locks and No.8 making gains. Portsmouth did not have it all their own way with the Navy back row able to pounce on loose play. A sly turnover from Navy 7, Aeron Greenland, saw the Navy clear their lines with what was to become characteristic long and accurate clearances from flyhalf, Sam Javes.

As the Navy found their flow and gained the upper hand in both territory and control, so poor final execution saw several missed chances, despite some strong running by co-captain Freddy Elliott at outside centre. It was the 13 that provided the penetration to set up the pack for their first try, with the hooker Ben Smith driving over for his first try of the night; neatly converted by Javes. 7 - 0 to the Navy. Despite the students been spurred on after their initial concession it was the hooker, Smith who powered over again to get his brace. With the conversion missed, the half-time whistle blew which saw the Navy go into the changing rooms 12 - 0 ahead.

Coming out with their tails up, Navy extended their lead to 17 - 0 almost immediately after the restart with replacement Jay Smith bundling over. It was great to see that despite Portsmouth being under the cosh, the Burnaby Road stands, packed with students remained in good voice! They remained unsubdued even when Elliott ran over for a very well-deserved score to make it 22 - 0. The Navy extended this after replacement Tamailebo made it 27 - 0.

It was now time for the Navy coaching team to roll out the changes and assess the performance of their 18-strong bench, the perfect headache for any backroom outfit. Naturally this led to some fragmentation and Portsmouth got back a well worked and deserved try to make it 27 - 7 to give them a chink of light. This was quickly snuffed out when the Navy extend to 34 - 7 as centre George Edson went over and converted himself.

Portsmouth was able to exploit further changes from the Navy and rallied to 34 - 19 before the Navy dealt the coup de grace and finished the game 39 - 19 with replacement Alex O’Brien touching down, again converted by Edson.

The match was brilliantly officiated by the excellent RNRU referee team and superbly supported by the efforts of US Portsmouth RFC and RNRU volunteers. Reflecting on the performance, Head Coach Declan Johnson shared his thoughts: 

“This was a great result for the team. It was another strong defensive performance, which is something we aim to pride ourselves on throughout the season. Improved player availability this week allowed for better training sessions and provided a more stable platform at the lineout, enabling us to launch more effectively. 

There’s plenty for us to take away and review over the next couple of weeks as we prepare for our trip to the Southwest and a challenging match-up against Redruth 23s.” 

Navy U23s: J Arrowsmith, B Smith (CC), J Deveraux; T Ashton, G Robins; O Doyle, A Greenland, F Harvey; E Bailey, S Javes, H Johnstonn, G Edson, F Elliott (CC), C Over, B Callard.

Replacements: ⁠B Chaston, C Tant, F Walls, J Henderson, D Pescadore Smith, Lawson, H Royle, A O’Brien,
S Tamailebo, A Brown, L Leeman, J Cross, B Coughlan, A Wasasala, Houghton, J Smith, E Griffin.

Words by Aidan Riley

Images by Cinnabar Studios