The RAFRU Divisional Tournament was played at RAF Halton on Tue 3 & Wed 4 Nov 2009. The Divisional Trophy has been renamed ‘The Jeff Young Memorial Trophy’ in honour of Wg Cdr Jeff Young, the British Lion, Wales, Combined Services and RAF player who sadly died a few years ago. His wife, Pat, consented to present the trophy following this years final.

The opening game of the Divisional Tournament saw the Sharks take on the Wolves in a repeat of last years final. As was expected these two well drilled and motivated sides gave no quarter and with both team defending resolutely it was never going to a high scoring game. This did however not prevent it being a marvellous spectacular of RAF Rugby and in particular a demonstration of the talent that exist above the station level. Playing with a strong wind in the backs the Sharks showed promise and dominated the early the phases but a strong defence and forced errors by the Sharks saw them come away from the Wolves line with no reward. As the Wolves then began to settle they were able to string together a number phases and camp themselves within the Sharks 22 meters for a good 10 minutes. But yet again excellent defence this time by the Sharks saw the Wolves peg back to their own half with no points yet on the score board. The first half then drew to a close with both teams probing the other’s defence but making no headway with the score remaining at 0-0 through to the half time break.

The second half played out much as the first however after an early passage of play and following some determined and dogged forwards pick and drive the Sharks were awarded a penalty which Cpl John Harrison (RAF Henlow) converted to give the Sharks a well earned 3-0 lead. Undeterred the Wolves immediately hit back with a penalty of the own from long range by SAC Gareth Hopkins (RAF Lyneham) to level the game at 3-3. The Wolves were now in the ascendency and began to dominate in the forwards and peg the Sharks down in the corner of their own half. Magnificent defence and with bodies quite literally being put on the line, the Sharks held out. The Introduction of Cpl Paul Hills (RAF Brize Norton) gave the Sharks some much need pace and following a thumping tackle and turnover by SAC Michael Dixon (RAF Brize Norton) Hills was able to gain valuable yardage and again the Sharks were awarded a kickable penalty which was converted by Hills 6-3 to the Sharks with 10 minutes to play. What followed was all out attack by the Wolves but which was met by a resilient line of Sharks players who gave their all to prevent a score. With the referee having called the last play the Sharks won their own scrum but failed to put the ball out of play. Turnover to the Wolves and desperate defence by the Sharks who infringed giving away a penalty which was again converted by Hopkins and the game was tied 6-6 as full time was blown.

There then followed 10 minutes each half of sudden death extra time. Receiving the kick the Shark immediately returned it with interest through strong running by LAC Antoni Flammia (RAF Brize Norton) and Flt Lt Adam Rezazadeh (RAF Northolt) but as was the fashion of the whole game the Wolves defence was magnificent and held out through to the extra time half time break. With the wind now having dropped and the sun appearing over the trees for the first time the final chapter of the epic game was started the Wolves received the kick off and immediately kept the ball within the their forward pack Cpl Spider Le Mar (RAF Cosford), SAC Avazian (RAF St Athan) and Cpl Ross Billing (RAF Stafford) lead by example and with rampaging runs and pick and goes from the base of the ruck manage to bring the Wolves into drop goal territory. With the final minutes on the clock the ref awarded a penalty to the Wolves for ‘hands in the ruck’ infringement at the breakdown and holding his nerve Hopkins slotted between the posts to give the Wolves a hard earned 9-6 victory.

The Tournaments second game saw the Eagles take on the Stags. With the Stags aiming to reach the final in order to fulfil the target set by their Chairman last season, they went into the game fired up. In what was a ‘full on contest’, the well drilled and much bigger Scottish side were eventually to prevail. The game also proved the old adage that missed tackles lose games. A 10 minute lack of concentration by the Eagles was to prove their undoing in the backs v forwards contest which ended in a 21-10 for the Stags. However the Eagles sometimes ferocious tackling had taken its toll on the victorious Stags and this was to prove crucial in the final. After the game, the Eagles knew that they had much more to offer; their no-nonsense and physical ‘smash it up’ style would only take them so far and they would have to be more intelligent in their next game if they were to lose their ‘Cinderella’ name tag.

In the 3rd and 4th place match between the Eagles and Sharks there was only going to be one winner as the Eagles were still smarting from a defeat against a team they felt ‘beatable’. All of the Eagles squad wanted to start and there was some angry lads sat on the bench when the whistle blew to start the game. With no love lost and plenty of pre-match banter exchanged between the Sharks and Eagles the game got off to a cracking start and was to fizz for 80 plus minutes. The Sharks were tired following their extra time defeat by the Wolves and were hanging on for most of the first half, but with an open side flanker playing at outside centre they were still capable of causing problems. The match was still anyone’s at half time but after the break the Eagles at last started firing on all cylinders; replacements came off the bench and literally flew into the now depleted and weary looking Sharks side. Injured and exhausted Sharks players left the field in a steady stream. The eventual score, 34-0, was a mark of the Eagles dominance over a brave but depleted Sharks side.

The final match of the 2009 RAFRU Divisional Tournament saw the Wolves, the defending champions, take on the Stags. Both sides were feeling the knocks that they had received the previous day and knew that they were going to be in for a hard game. The Wolves started the game at a very fast pace and this was continued throughout, with their pack dominating the Stags to such an extent that the game was all but over by half time. The second half was less intense as both teams began to show the effects of two matches in two days, nevertheless the game continued to be played in a hard but fair manner due mainly to a very competent display by the referee. The final whistle resulted in a clear victory for the Wolves, 23-3, the score perhaps not doing justice to the effort displayed by a much improved Stags team who were unfortunate to lose some key players to injury during the match.

The Wolves captain, SAC Joe Avazian was presented with the Jeff Young Memorial Trophy by Mrs Pat Young, who made a gracious speech saying how proud Jeff would have been to see so many players enjoying what had been a fine tournament. The BAES Trophy for the ‘Player of the Tournament’ was presented to Cpl Tom Billingham (RAF Henlow), the Eagles captain and scrum half.

The general consensus of opinion was that although no ‘stars’ were discovered, the overall level of play during the Tournament was a big step up from the inaugural competition last year. The presence of the representative coaches who watched all the games, showed the players that there was a way to move onwards and upwards through the representative sides. The Chairman of Selectors, WO Steve Worrall, said that he was very pleasantly surprised by the high level of commitment shown by all the players.

After just two events the Divisional Tournament is now firmly established in the RAFRU calendar, having more than met its objectives. And although people are praising this ‘new’ concept, there is reference to an ‘Area Tournament’ in the minutes of the RAFRU Management Board meeting in 1926!!