RNRU Royal Navy Rugby Union

The Royal Navy u23s inflicted one of the heaviest defeats on the Army, in this fixture’s history, to win this year’s Inter Services Championship. The Senior Service has sent a message, loud and clear, that this generation of rugby players are the future. 

Scoring 7 tries on a night where visibility was so poor that marine sound signals would not have been out of place, the u23s were intent from the outset to play in the face of their opponents, attacking the space and defending with grim determination. They performed for the crowd, but they played for each other. They destroyed the Army in their own backyard; it was sublime.

The team had to cope with a late change of personnel to the starting XV before KO with Andy Hussell moving to the flank and Charlie Davis coming in at 2nd row. The team’s lined up to meet the senior club representatives and belt out the anthem as well as for a poignant minute’s worth of applause in recognition of Scotland’s George ‘Doddie’ Weir, fittingly on St. Andrew’s Day.

The tone was set from the outset catching both the spectators and the Army by surprise with the speed of play. Lucas Cann collected his own grubber to score in the first few minutes with Manson taking the extras on offer. Moments later a bruising carry from Jack Wright allowed Manson to sit in the pocket and knock over a drop goal. 10 points from 10 minutes.

The Army side must have done their homework as they focused on Cleverley as one of the Navy’s main ball carriers. They did enough to nullify his influence, but the RN team showed the nous to move the ball around and mix up their ball carriers with devastating effect.

The Army managed to claw back some points with a penalty from 40m much to the delight of the home support.

For the Army the rest of the match must have gone passed in a blur, in part due to the fog but also mostly due to the dazzling skills on display. Jack Wright scored from an impressive lineout; Freddie Elliott’s try saving tackle from the Army’s only sortie into the RN 22 and Clayton’s towering steal all went some way to take the wind out of the Army’s sails.

The Navy was well marshalled in defence. The Army was becoming one-dimensional. They looked to bring their heavyset 6 and 8 on to the ball but the setup was too slow, and the Navy had time to set up their defence.

The second half started on a fillip for the RN when the Reds Number 8 received a yellow. That was the turning point of the match as the floodgates opened with the Navy scoring 5 more tries. Tries from a joyous Penrose-Toms and a second for Jack Wright who was having an immense night. Not one to miss out on the action, Freddie Elliott scored after the pack won a scrum against the head. Replacement Ryan Scott wanted some of the action as well and was the welcome of recipient after some incisive running and crisp passes.

At 39 – 5 to the visitors you would have been forgiven to think that both teams had emptied the tank, but Charlie Davis had something to say about that after the ground was prepared by Hussell. If the TSG had been offered the half time lead of 15 – 3, they would have taken it but to win by a rout with a final score of 44 – 3 to the Royal Navy, well that is quite something.

Royal Navy Rugby Union u23s XV – Inter Services Champions 2022/23.

u23s Inter Services Champions: Cleverley (C), Wright J, Wright H; Kerr, Davis C; Hussell, Cann, Mills (VC); Steinburg , Manson, Davis J, Prentice, Bartlett, Penrose-Toms, Elliott.

Replacements: Rees, Wales, Sanders-Mortimer, Clayton, Owen, Scott, Ravi, Marsden

Images by NavyFit/ Lee Crabb