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The match report below is from the Army v RAF played at Aldershot on the 15th of April 2009, it has been provided courtesy of the RAF News. (Shaun Hesmondhalgh - Players' Manager)

WHETHER it was a determination to halt a hat-trick of rugby defeats or something else, the RAF men's seniors side started at a fabulous pace with crunching tackles in their Inter-Services opener against the Army at Aldershot. With the women (0-72) and current Inter-Services champions veterans' (3-38) side being heavily beaten earlier in the day, it was down to Steve Worrall's charges to prevent a landslide of defeats and beat the Army, something they hadn't done for several years.

The improbable seemed probable after the visitors capitalised on a nervous Army start, piling on the pressure through the middle and, led by early charges from Plt Off Dan Kennedy, Sqn Ldr Howard Parr and Cpl Scott Garrett, they took the game to the home side. Although hampered by a series of pre-match warm-up game cancellations and a heavy injury list, the visitors were finally well beaten 67-11 in a one-sided affair.

Aided by a red card in the eighth minute for kicking a player, the RAF took the lead from the proceeding penalty to take a shock, but well-deserved lead from the boot of Cpl Phil Thomas. Seniors boss WO Steve Worrall said: "I was disappointed because some
of our guys were overawed by the occasion." It is fairly clear that when we play at this standard we are simply not up to it because of the standard of competition we face. "I thought we were superb in the opening 20 minutes, we more than
matched them, but we have been badly hit by injuries and lost vital practice matches, couple that with the level of players we are facing and it's very hard for the lads, but they did really well I thought and kept it together right up until the final third of the game, when our lack of match time together began to tell. "I thought the forwards played really well, and we tried to stop them
playing and hit them hard, which we did. We were good value for our lead and our plan to get up in their faces was working well, but we let the big Fijian lad get some space and he punished us. Our plan was to restrict him, but as soon as one mistake is made international and league players, which they have, will punish, which they did."

It was not until the 27th minute that the visitors finally broke the RAF ranks and their side, boasted by the aforementioned Fijian
international and league players, ran through a clever try that was converted. A knock-on led to a penalty minutes later, which the home side captain raced clear for an unconverted try. The partisan crowd began to revel in the one-sided flow of the half
as the Army ran in another try on the RAF right after some good build-up play that stretched the visitors with 16 minutes left in the half, and three minutes later a fourth converted try made it 24-3.

A mistake by Parr from a scrum 25 yards out was punished by the home side who sprinted through to score on the RAF left. The conversion made it 31-3. A call of 'heads up, keep going' from the RAF bench was then mirrored as the side pressed the Army back with good kicking and tough challenges, before a stunning drop kick from Cpl Thomas hushed the crowd, except for the RAF fans. The kick lifted the visitors' spirits with eight minutes left in the half for 31-6.

To be fair, the RAF men never gave up, but when faced with opposition such as this they could do little against the powerful runs except maintain a professional approach and hit hard when the chances were available. It seemed every time the Army's forwards got the ball something happened and so it was with three minutes left that, after a period of heavy RAF tackling and containment, the Army broke and a superb cross-field pass produced a try to make it 38-6, which was well converted by try scorer Roberts. Another Fijian break over 30 yards resulted in a try, despite some great running and covering by the RAF, for a half-time scoreline of 43-6.

Half-time subs of Cpl Gareth Spain for Cpl Scott Garrett, Flt Lt Dave Carey for Cpl Matt Wood and Cpl Ritchie Craig for Cpl Ian Gilmour could do little to prevent another one-man try from the home side for a 50-6 converted score just after the break.
Taking the ball close to the Army touchline, the RAF were unlucky not to score and then responded quickly to a fast Army break halting them with a crunching tackle from Parr.

With just over half an hour to go, another try after a swift break made it 55-6, unconverted, as the RAF's lack of preparation matches began to tell. But the men in light blue refused to give in or break from their shape, forcing the Army back into their own 22 then five-yard line with some great pressing play. A fabulous line-out then saw the visitors create a great effort, but Cpl James Reid was halted 10 yards out by two heavy tackles, before the ball was spilled.

A heavy challenge on Flt Lt Tim Price brought the game to a halt with 25 minutes left, but he was fit enough to carry on.
A RAF scrum on the Army 22 failed to produce anything and a series of crunching challenges later saw the visitors steady the ship and bring the game under control for a brief period.

Then, with 18 minutes left and the RAF in the middle of a great charge following a superb line-out the ground's lights went out.
Playing to the conditions the RAF forced over a try on the home sides' right for 55-11, but it was not converted in the briefly
darkened pitch. The closing 10 minutes were played in darkness on the pitch while the stadium lights burned brightly.

SAC Colin Evans was then replaced by Cpl Jason Balman, only to witness a case of murder in the dark as the Army broke through from the half way line to make it 60-11, followed by a conversion underneath the posts. As both sides preferred to produce a kick-and-rush tactic, the RAF men lost out after a ball was spilled, and the Army completed the rout, next as a prop ran almost the entire length of the field to score and make it a 67-11 final scoreline.

The RAF face the RN at Newbury Rugby Club on April 22, 7.30pm.

Match report produced and provided coutesry of the RAF News.