Injuries Take Gloss off Navy Victory
The hard won victory over the Irish Defence Force has come at a cost as the Navy loses yet another lineout forward in their preparation for the 2011 Babcock Inter Service Championship. With Cpl (Damo) Chambers (30 Cdo IX RM) and POAET (Marsh) Cormack (854 NAS, RNAS Culdrose) already deployed they could ill afford to lose lineout specialist Mne (Dennis) Scotthorne (42 Cdo RM) to a dislocated shoulder. He is joined on the injured list by club colleague Mne (Seti) Raumakita (42 Cdo RM) also with a shoulder injury and ET (ME) Jon Marlin (HMS Chatham) with a neck problem. Both Seti and Jon are out for the match this week against Wooden Spooners Anti Assassins but Navy Rugby is hopeful that they will be available for selection for the match against Marine Nationale, in Plymouth on 31 Mar.
Before then the Navy Senior XV travel to Sedgley Park RFC, Manchester on Wed 23 Mar to play the Wooden Spooners Anti Assassins. The team will be captained for the first time by inside centre ET (ME) (Dale) Sleeman (HMS Cumberland). The team sees the return of AB (Darren) Bamford and Lt (Nial) Copeland RN (both HMS Collingwood) from injury. Nial makes his first appearance since the Oxford game where he suffered a fairly serious injury whilst Darren was forced to miss the IDF match due to a slight set back following his extensive lay off with an ankle injury.
The full team is as follows:
SLt Tom Blackburn (HMS Sultan)
Capt Tom Evans-Jones RM (LWC Warminster)
POAET John Court (829 NAS, RNAS Culdrose / HMS Westminster)
AB Will Cairns (CFPS)
Capt Stu McLaren RM (RAF Halton)
Lt Nial Copeland RN (HMS Collingwood)
AET Gareth Jones (RNAS Yeovilton)
LPT Gareth Cadmore (HMS Raleigh)
Mne Jonny Stephen (CTCRM)
POET (WE) Wayne John (HMS Liverpool)
NA (SA) Aaron Hunt (RNAS Yeovilton)
ET (ME) Dale Sleeman (HMS Cumberland) (Capt)
Mne Scott Llewellyn (Cdo Logs RM)
AET Jon Humphrey (848 NAS, RNAS Yeovilton)
POET (WE) Dane Smallbone (HMS Collingwood)
Replacements:
NA Ben Priddey (RNAS Culdrose)
NA Kyle Mason (845 NAS, RNAS Yeovilton)
AB Marc Roberts (HMS Bulwark)
PO Paul Mortensen (RNAS Yeovilton)
MA Sam Laird (Keogh Barracks)
POAET Dave Pascoe (771 NAS, RNAS Culdrose)
AB Darren Bamford (HMS Collingwood)