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Aviation History
1932
1932 - 0336.PDF
FLIGHT, APRIL S, 1932 SERVICES RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP Army versus Royal Air Force s—[wr-^HE Army beat the Royal Air Force at Twicken- (" || ham on Saturday, April 2, by three goals and III two tries (21 points) to one dropped goal (4 points). This was the last match of the Services Rugby Tournament. The previous results were : —Navy beat R.A.F., and Army beat Navy. Thus the Army wins the championship, and the R.A.F. holds the wooden spoon. No one could grudge the Army their success in both their matches. They have a very fine and well-balanced team, all lines being good in themselves, and all lines working well together. The attacking power of the Army three-quarter line is particularly penetrating. In the match against the Navy, Novis, Hunt and Crawford showed an ability to force and dodge their way through a very strong defence, which it is a joy to watch. On the other hand, the R.A.F. have had a very unsuccessful season, in the course of which Bader has been crippled in a flying acci dent and levers lost his life in a motoring accident. On the record of the two teams, I felt as I went to Twicken ham on Saturday that the only point for speculation was whether the Army would run up a score of over 20 points or not. The answer proved to be in the affirmative. It would be unjust to blame the R.A.F. for going down to such a strong combination as the Army was able to field. The forwards, finely led by G. R. Beamish, worked desperately hard and played in good form. It was no fault of theirs that, even after the Army three-quarter Tyler had left the field and Jackson had been taken out of the scrum to play on the right wing, the R.A.F. pack was usually beaten for possession by the seven Army men. The worst criticism which can be brought against the Air Force forwards is that more than once after successfully screwing the scrummage, they lost the ball. This is certainly a very bad mistake to make, especially when playing against two such extremely nippy half backs as Simpson and Cole. Of the R.A.F. half backs, Collard worked very hard at the base of the scrum, and his long passes out were well directed. Williams took those same passes very well, and played a very brilliant game. He was full of ingenuity, and varied his tactics, sometimes running, sometimes pass ing, and sometimes kicking. He never overdid any one of the three, but he soon realised that the R.A.F. three- quarter line had not the pace to make much ground against the strong Army defence, and that the best way of gaining ground was to kick to touch. If only every fly-half would appreciate the situation so accurately, Rugby would gener ally be a more interesting game than it sometimes is. More games are spoilt by bad tactics on the part of a fly-half than by any other cause. Of the R.A.F. three-quarter line, when one has said that it was too slow, one has said all that needs to be said in criticism. Men cannot make themselves run faster than nature allows them to do. These four defended well, and if they could not keep out the dangerous Army runners, they should not be unduly blamed for that. Those Army runners take a lot of stopping, and the Navy team, which has far more points about it than the R.A.F. can boast, also found that the Army men were practically unstop pable. One tackle by Hodder was magnificent, and stands out in memory as one of the bright points of the match. There was a great duel in the centre between the two Irish men, Coote and Hunt. Hunt had the better of it, and for once Coote had a match without making a sensational run. He compensated for this by dropping a goal. This, again, showed good appreciation of the situation. The R.A.F. men were fairly obviously incapable of crossing the Army lines, and the best thing to do was to snap up four points during one of the periodic R.A.F. raids into the enemy's 25. P/O. R. N. McKearn made an excellent debut as full back in Service matches. He was full of life and dash, and usually displayed good judgment, as well as good hands and feet. He seems to be a distinct discovery. As the teams took the field a fine drizzle started, and it grew steadily worse all through the game. There was practically no wind. The Army kicked off, playing towards the south, and at once got down on the R.A.F. line. After three minutes' play, Tyler, an Army centre, hurt his shoulder, and soon after had to leave the field, though not before he had scored a try. After seven minutes' play Hunt made a typical side-stepping run and passed to Tyler, who scored the first try of the match. Sayers missed the kick. Soon after, Williams broke through the centre and kicked to touch in the Army 25. A counter-attack by the Army was well cleared by McKearn. Then a good opening was made for Crawford, a dangerous runner, who went hard for the line. He had almost got there when Hodder dived whole-heartedly for his knees and sent him crashing into touch amidst the cheers of the onlookers. A good kick by Williams took the game back to the other end, and the Army had to touch down. This brought no relief, and soon a scrum was formed in front of the Army goal. The ball came out to Coote, who very calmly dropped a goal, and put the Air Force into the lead. Hunt took full revenge four minutes later. He had the ball, and he seemed to be tackled ; but Hunt never is tackled unless he is on the ground with several men sitting on top of him. He slithered out of the tackle and gave a pass to Hobbs, who scored the Army's second try. This time Sayers converted, and the Army now led 8 to 4. There were 10 minutes of scrambling play before the next score. This was got by the two Army halves on their own. Simpson started off and made an opening, and when he had drawn the defence he passed to Cole, who touched down near the posts. It was an easy kick, but Sayers missed it. This brought the Army score up to 11 to 4, and now the only question was how many points they would get. Just before half-time George Beamish had a great dribble, keeping the ball wonderfully close to his toes and moving at a good pace. He was alone, however, and even George Beamish could not go on for ever like that. In the second half play continued scrambly. Hunt missed a drop at goal, and the R.A.F. soon after had to touch down. Then a free kick was given to the Air Force not very far beyond the halfway line. Coote made a splendid effort to kick a penalty goal. His kick had the length and the height, but just curled off to the left before reaching the posts. For a while the Air Force seemed to be holding their own rather better, until it seemed to occur to Novis that it was quite time that he, as captain of the Army and an English international, should score a try himself. He was then playing right centre, and he got a pass which did not seem to promise overmuch. Novis decided to make it do better than its promise. He went off to the left at a great pace, and was not interfered with by any Air Force defenders. When he had got nearly to the left touch line, he swung right again, crossed the line, and finished up behind the posts, which gave an easy kick which he himself put over the goal. It was a brilliant try, and looked so easy that one wondered why Novis ever did anything else but run round and in. The other goal came 10 min. later. Simpson again started the movement, and it went off like lightning. Cole took his pass and made his bit of ground, and Crawford finished it off by touching down. The try was scored rather far out, but Hunt converted with a very fine kick. The teams were: — R.A.F.—P/O. R. N. McKearn (Digby) ; P/O. T. A. B. Parselle (57 B.S.) ; P/O. P. B. Coote (Cranwell) ; F/O. S. D. Slocum (43 F.S.) ; Fit. Lt. F. S. Hodder (Henlow; ; L.AC. S. Williams (Boscombe Down) ; P/O. R. C. M. Collard (2 F.T.S.) ; F/O. C. Beamish (Gosport) ; P/O. G. E. Valentine (2 F.T.S.) ; L.AC. A. E. Simmonds (Hen- low) ; Sgt. J. Lewis (Uxbridge) ; F/O. H. A. Constantine (C.F.S.) ; P/O. E. A. Collyns (57 B.S.) ; F/O. G. E. S. Williams (58 B.S.) ; Fit. Lt. G. R. Beamish (Capt.) (Henlow). Army.— Lt. S. T. A. Radcliffe (R.E.) ; Lt. A. L. Novis (Capt.) (Leicestershire Regt.) ; Lt. E. W. F. de V. Hunt (R.A.) ; Lt. A. W. Tyler (R.A.) ; 2nd Lt. J. A. Crawford (R.E.) ; Lt. J. R. Cole (Loyal Regt.) ; 2nd Lt. F. W. Simpson (R.E.) ; Lt. H. Rew (R.T.C.) ; Lt. H. H. C. Withers (R.E.) ; 2nd Lt. C. L. Troop (D. of Wellington's) ; Lt. G. S. Hobbs (R.A.) ; Lt. T. H. Clarke (Gloucestershire Regt.) ; Lt. F. C. Jackson (Indian Medical Services!: L. Cpl. E. H. Sadler (Royal Signals) ; 2nd Lt. H. T- Sayers (R.A.). F. A. DE V. R. 312
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