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Aviation History
1931
1931 - 0208.PDF
FLIGHT, FEBRUARY 27, 1931 INTER-SERVICES RUGBY TOURNAMENT Royal Navy v. Royal Air Force •* If]—'HE Navy beat the Royal Air Force at Twickenham \J HI On Saturday, February 21, by two goals and twoIII tries (16 points) to nil. The general result was not unexpected, for the Navy has shown itself tobe the strongest Service team of the year, but the run of the play made the final score a little surprising.The weather was kind. The sun shone genially, and the turf was in good condition. Walking down from the stationto the ground, there seemed to be a very large number of spectators going to watch the match. The number seemed toshrink when they'got inside, and to those who had seen the International match there on the previous Saturday, thestands seemed comparatively empty. But that is the way with Twickenham. The crowd, however, was full ofenthusiasm, and each set of partisans kept up constant cheers for its own side. This all added to the holiday atmos-phere of the afternoon. As a game of Rugby, this match was not at all high class,but it was a very jolly game to watch, and it must have been a very jolly game to J>lay in. Every one of the 30 men wentsixteen annas to the rupee, and yet there was hardly a stoppage for injuries. The very best point about the gamewas the general excellence of the tackling on both sides— except on the occasion of the last try, when Wood went intothe arms of more R.A.F. men than I could count, and came out again as if they were merely bumpers intended to mark thelimits of his tacking movements. The second point which gave some class to the game was the fine full back play ofGosling for the Navy. Everything he did was of the highest merit. He caught with unfailing accuracy, his kicking wasfine, and he was largely responsible for the first try by running up himself and setting his three-quarter line going. In the first half of the game, the Navy three-quarters seemeda very moderate lot, apparently without the power and skill to overcome the very sound tackling of the R.A.F, outsides,St. Clair Ford, the Scottish international, was playing in the centre instead of on the wing. In the first part of the gamehe seemed to be feeling his way into this position, but towards the end he settled down in it, and by very strong running hedid a good half of the work in gaining two of the tries which Wood scored. Wood had a very good day, crossing theline for three tries. He did not seem to move very fast, but he went for the line with great power and determination.He also had a drop at goal, which did not miss by very much. The Navy's half-back line was not very good as an organisa-tion, but Hinde did many individual good things. There was not a great deal to choose between the twopacks of forwards. The Navy got the ball in the tight scrums more often than not, and at times their loose rushes werevery effectual. But the R.A.F. forwards, finely led by Beamish, were a useful lot, who broke up quickly and tackledthe Navy outsides with great gusto. Christie was often conspicuous in the loose. But most of the set scrums wereirritating affairs to watch. Almost invariably they started swinging round and round before the ball went in, and, largelyas a consequence of this rotating movement, the heeling was slow and gave the scrum halves very little chance of gettingthe ball away well to the fly halves. This, in turn, had a lot to do with the general ineffectiveness of the three-quartermovements on both sides. Turning to the R.A.F. team, levers has often played betterthan he did last Saturday. He was cool, sometimes too cool, but he made two or three mistakes in fielding and in judg-ment. His worst fault, however, was the shortness of his touch-finding punts. He was so determined to be sure offinding touch, that he did not seem to try for length, and in consequence his side lost a lot of ground. That, however,is not to say that he was bad. His display was that of a good full back not on his day, and suffering by comparisonwith a very good one. The R.A.F. three-quarters distinguished themselves by theirdefence, except on the one occasion mentioned above. This is a year of good tackling, such as is a joy to watch. Everyman in this line went for his opposite number good and hard, and usually laid him flat on the turf. In attack they showedmore pluck than skill. Each individual did some good things, and Coote was particularly conspicuous, but they did notwork together as a machine. The passing lacked snap and accuracy. Too often a slow lobbed pass let the defencearrive at the same moment as the ball, and a good many passes were given much too high. Once in the second half it was deplorable to see no backing up when Coote brokv Wellthrough the centre but found no one to take the ball when he was tackled. No ; to be accurate, a Navy man took it andran back. The best attack by the R.A.F. three-quarters ended in Robinson having no one to pass but Gosling. Hemade a good effort to side-step inside the full back, and the movement looked very hopeful, when unfortunately Robinsonslipped. Hodder hardly got a decent chance. When he did get the ball there was often nothing to do but to put hishead down and make an effort to bullock through. The Navy defence could not be treated that way with anvhope of success. At half back, Bader and MacLean worked very hard withoutmuch success. They were hampered by the slow heeling from the surging scrums. Early in the game, MacLean twicewent round the blind side, and made considerable progress before he was brought down ; but thereafter he was watchedtoo closely. In the loose, both sides showed too much desire to pick up,instead of dribbling. Over-keenness made man after man fumble the ball, with the result that there was much stragglingand unscientific play. But in the latter half of the game the Navy forwards made some useful rushes.The game had only been in progress for three minutes when a free kick was given to the Air Force. The attempt of theNavy to work back was stopped by a good tackle by Coote. Then Gosling was tackled in possession, and play went intothe Navy 25. A free kick to the Navy brought relief. They got nearly to the R.A.F. 25 and there were given another freekick. This looked dangerous, but Forrest missed the goal, MacLean sold a dummy and got past the half-way line. Theball came along to Hodder, but he was well tackled about 15 yards from the goal line. Then a series of Navy rushes anda miss-kick by levers brought the Navy back. A couple of runs by Robinson took play up to the Navy goal line, and aperiod of Air Force pressure followed, which was not relieved by a free kick to the Navy. After eight minutes of this, the Navy forwards brought off arush, and the ball went along their three-quarter line to the left, where it ended in a bad pass to WTood. Hargravekicked across the Air Force line to touch-in-goal, but the relief was only momentary. An Air Force kick which did notfind touch was well caught by Gosling, who ran up and set his three-quarters in motion. Again, Hargrave kicked over theline, but this time Light followed up and touched down for the first try of the match. This was after 43 minutes' play.Gosling kicked the goal, and two minutes later the whistle blew for half time. The sides crossed over with the score : Navy, 5 ; Air Force, 0. During the interval the Central Band of the R.A.F. marchedround the field making sweet music. It is surprising how much a band can get through in five minutes.The Navy played much better in the second half. Hinde made most of the running in a good movement which endedby giving Wood an easy score in the left-hand corner. Gosling missed the goal this time, so the Navy were 8 points to love. Two free kicks to the Air Force did not help matters much.The Navy were getting the ball now in nearly all the scrums, but their passing was not good class. They gained groundby kicks and by forward rushes. Still one run looked d?n- gerous, but the final pass to Wood was a bad one. Robinson relieved the pressure with a very good run topast half way, and then Coote went through and found touch in the Navy 25. There a free kick was given to theAir Force, and Simmons had a creditable shot at goal. For a few minutes the Air Force kept up the pressure, but Navykicking sent them back to their own 25. Then Ford got the ball and ran strongly down the centre and somewhat acrossto the left. Cutting out Hargrave, he gave a pass to Wood, who again slipped easily over in the left corner. This kickwas also beyond Gosling's powers, so the score was now : V Navy, 11 ; Air Force, 0. Though the Navy were now asserting superiority, a runup the right by Hodder took play back to the Navy 25. From a scrum the Navy passed put to their right. The ballwent loose, and levers tried a fly-kick, but missed the ball. This had sad results for the Air Force. From half way, Fordstarted a run much like his last one, cutting in to the centre with great power, until he got within reach of Wood. When 192
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