Royal Navy's commanding victory over the French in annual rugby fixture

Britain seized back the Babcock Trophy from France in the annual rugby union fixture between the two countries’ respective Navies. The RN triumphed 21-10 over the Marine Nationale on a bitterly cold night at Burnaby Road in Portsmouth – home of Royal Navy rugby.

ALLIES off the pitch, but fierce rivals on it the Royal and French Navies clashed in their annual rugby union fixture – with the RN snatching back the Babcock Trophy from their Gallic opponents.

The Marine Nationale, who have never won on British soil, were looking to emulate last season’s performance in Toulon where they outshone the RN by 24-3.

But at the home of Royal Navy Rugby Union – Burnaby Road in Portsmouth – it was the hosts out the blocks the quickest.

After some early possession, they caught the French offside, allowing POAET Dave Pascoe (Culdrose) to open the scoring with a penalty for a 3-0 lead on just three minutes.

Whether it was the cold weather, but the RN handling was by no means the best, with the outcome of scrum after scrum favouring the French. Although the Marine Nationale held the upper hand in the scrum set pieces, the Navy had the power of ET(ME) Dale Sleeman (Raleigh) and new cap Mne Matt Tichias (42 Cdo) in the centre who caused the French defence significant problems.

It was one of these forages into the French defensive line that led to the second score of the game as Pascoe again slotted over a penalty kick for a 6-0 lead.

The French came back strongly from the restart and winger Staub made useful ground to earn a penalty, which was duly converted by Sauton to pull back to 6-3.

The response from the RN was immediate, pushing the French back into their own 22m the gained a third penalty which was converted by the trusty boot of Pascoe, 9-3 .

Things now started to go badly for the French as they struggled to deal with the attacking lines of the Navy and their discipline started to slip. The touchline official saw some foul play at the lineout which led to the French being down to 14 men for ten minutes.

The Navy kicked to the corner for a 5m lineout which led to a trademark ‘catch and drive’. ‘Redruth boy’ LS(AH) Ben Priddey (Culdrose) secured the ball at the back of the maul to score the first try of the night, converted by Pascoe, 16-3.

During this period of play it was clear that new cap AET John Lamsin (Culdrose) was struggling, which gave CPO(AET) Chris Thompson (Sultan) a chance to enter the fray and gain his first senior XV cap.

Thompson was straight into the action and almost scored from his first touch, but the French defence was to deny him his ‘Cinderella’ moment.

This was a short respite for the French as AET John Humphrey (845 NAS) crossed in the corner on half-time for an unconverted try. The RN went in at the break with a commanding 21-3 lead.

As the teams returned to the pitch Mne Greg Welling (RMASC) replaced fellow Royal Mne Jack Foster (40 Cdo) on the wing and added a Senior XV Navy cap to that of his Combined Services cap.

The second half did not live up to the first as both teams seemed to stall, but the RN still maintained the upper hand, which frustrated the French and eventually led to them receiving a red card.

2012 U23 captain ET(WE) Tom Davies (Collingwood), a last-minute replacement on the bench for Mne Seta Raumakita (SEME Bordon), was another player awarded his first senior XV cap as he replaced Humphrey at full back.

The Navy coaches started to make the changes to try to unlock the game by moving Sgt Gaz Evans (RMR London) from prop to No.8 and bringing on AET Kye Beasley (Culdrose) in the front row. Evans, released from the ‘dark place’ that is the front row, was to make an immediate impact as he picked up from a stable crum and made good yardage.

Mne Josh Terry (RM Poole) came into the front row and there were more new caps on the night with Logs(SC) ‘B’ Buinimasi (Devonport) replacing Tichias in the centre. POAET John Court (Culdrose) replaced MA Sam Laird due to an injury in the final minutes of the game.

The final play of the match saw the French throw everything at the Navy line and eventually be rewarded with a converted try to make the final score 21-10.

Skipper Pascoe collected the Babcock Trophy for the Royal Navy and following this presentation, Capt Chris Alcock, RNRU Chairman, presented caps to debutants Lamsin, Taylor, Tichias, Thompson, Welling, Davies and Terry.

The RN’s director of rugby Cdr Andy Kellett said:

“We started well and the tempo we played at was something we have been working on during the training camp and in games leading up to this fixture.

"However, we need to maintain this throughout the game especially when we meet the RAF next week in the first round of the 2013 Inter Service Championship.”