RAOC Gazette - page 184
Image details
| Corps | RAOC |
|---|---|
| Material type | Journals |
| Book page | |
| Chapter head | |
| Chapter key | |
| Chapter number | |
| Full title | RAOC Gazette |
| Page number | |
| Publication date | 1980 |
| Real page | |
| Colour | Yes |
| Grey | No |
| Early date | 1980 |
| Late date | 1980 |
| Transcription |
WE CORPS RUGBY R E G A I N THEj PALESTINE AFTER FIFTEEN YEARS CUP RAOC 4, REME NIL ON 12th March 1980, at 0900 hours the Corps Rugby Team assembled at West Moors in preparation for the Palestine Cup Match that afternoon. Most of the team members had met at CVD Ashchurch on the previous Sunday for a ' warm u p ' match against Tewkesbury Rugby Club, which the Corps had surprisingly won. There was however one important team member missing, one Dovell, who was being collected in Brigadier Short's staff car from Heathrow. The Brigadier, in the meantime, was walking to work! The weather was overcast and windy accompanied by a fairly constant drizzling rain. Although the ground remained firm the surface was obviously slippery. A game of ten men rugby was therefore predicted and the heaviest pack was selected for the day. REME arrived shortly before lunch. They seemed upset that we had made them travel all the way to West Moors and we couldn't convince them that some people pay a fortune for a trip to the seaside! Dovell arrived after the morning training session which was not unusual. The West Moors pitch is a new addition to the world of rugby ' parks' but has two classic features already. The first is the narrow ' in goal' area, about ten metres at the maximum, and the second is a strong gusting wind which blows from one end of the pitch to the other. The skipper for the day did his usual trick of losing the toss and REME elected to play with the wind in the first half. To add insult to injury the rain fell harder as kick-off approached. Thus the scene was set for war, and at 1430 hours battle commenced. As predicted the game adopted a pattern revolving around the pack and involving many line outs and scrums. Playing into the wind and rain the Corps was destined for forty minutes of defence. Dovell, playing somewhat out of position at full-back, and Bradshaw at fly-half were vital at this stage. They both kicked well and succeeded in clearing our line on numerous occasions. REME came close but stout defence and the occasional lucky bounce kept them at bay. The handling by both sides was scrappy. The forward battle started fairly evenly but the closer the game got to half-time the more we realised that REME were having difficulty holding us in the tight, and we were matching them in all aspects of loose play. Having a fairly tall pack we took our fair share of line-out ball with good contributions from Lloyd, Hollinshead and Snape. We reached the interval with the respectable score of nil-nil. In the second half we decided to kick for position, keep the opposition in their own half and attempt to score from inside their twenty five. It was about ten minutes into the half that the forwards began to dominate the opposition. The front row of Pether, Coleman and Edwards began to put real pressure on their opposite numbers, ably assisted by their second row, and Perry, Chandler and Snape started to create some good ball in the loose. This was well distributed by Davies at scrum-half despite the conditions and an early knock he had sustained. Unfortunately, a combination of inexperience and the bad weather resulted in much of the good ball being wasted and the large scare that was threatened never materialised. We pressed the REME line for long periods at a time but could not cross it. The REME full-back was very good at the counter attack and, even though the pressure was on REME, they always threatened to score breakaway points. In fact they pushed us back to our line on a few occasions but. good tackling by Balding, Oliphant and Barry, and thankfully the boot of Dovell. returned them each time to their own half. The one try that we did score came in fact, from our own half about three quarters of the way into the game. The ball was moved to the left quickly from a ruck leaving Balding with a half-break and fifty metres to run. The opposition could not catch him and he scored a deserved, although uncoverted, try. Towards the end of the game REME pressed hard and started to run everything thus stretching our defence to the full. Fortunately, they did not succeed in crossing our line and the Corps emerged 1980 winners of the Palestine Cup. It can now be admitted that the cup has been out of our poscssion for some fifteen years! There was no happier face than that of Brigadier Short (who had luckily managed to get a lift to the game!). In summary, it was a game of two separate halves dictated by the conditions. We were fortunate that REME did not succeed in scoring in the first half and we were unfortunate not to score more points in the second due to a mixture of lack of experience and bad handling. Thanks must go to the Petroleum Centre for their hosting arrangements; all the players who turned up including the trusty Kineton reserves of Randall and Holt; Philip Inman, who can smile through most ad- versities ; Gareth Davies who it is rumoured can smile some- times and Taffy Edwards who is perhaps the most biased touch- judge I have ever seen ! (The Palestine Cup was originally an athletics trophy com- peted for annually between RAOC and REME in Palestine. After we left Palestine, as that part of the Middle East was then called, the trophy gave its name to this keenly contested annual Rugby event.—Editor). THE INTER-SERVICES SQUASH CHAMPIONSHIPS THE Inter-Services squash championships were held at RAF Uxbridge. Sergeant Robbie Robinson represented the Army at No 1 and there is no doubt that Staff Sergeant Dave Bradley would have also represented the Army in the fifth position had he not broken his leg earlier in the year. Major Woodliffe and Major Champion both took their places in the Veterans team. All three Corps players contributed to the Army's outright wins over the other two Services to take the Cham- pionship for the sixth year in succession. THE ARMY SQUASH CHAMPIONSHIPS FOLLOWING up our win of the Inter-Corps Championship, five Corps players entered the Army Championships at Alder- shot. This was enough to ensure wins in three out of the four events. Major Ted Champion was a clear winner of the Plate competition. Major John Woodliffe, after a lengthy and skilful final took the fifth game to win the Veterans competition. Sergeant Robbie Robinson predictably met Captain Niel Stewart, Royal Signals, in the final and achieved a devastating three nil win over the Scottish international to take the title for the second year running. — 377 — DON'T READ THIS IN SOMEONE ELSE'S COPY. ORDER THE GAZETTE TODAY AND HELP TO IMPROVE YOUR OWN MAGAZINE |
| Book number | R0403a |