Army Men …………. 36pts
Tries: Dawson 21, 52; Vasuturaga 38, Qorowale 43, Vula 64, J Johnson 66
Conversions: J Johnson 22, 39, 53
Tries: Rigelsford 1, Elliott 13, Chambers 17, Hayler 33, Matavesi 59, Wright 76
Conversions: Hanley 2, 18, 34, 60
Penalty: Hanley 49
A playmaking masterclass by flyhalf Jake Hanley and a brutally effective driving maul proved pivotal as the Royal Navy made history by retaining the Babcock Trophy and the Inter Services Championship for the first time in 52 years.
In an enthralling end-to-end 12-try encounter by two star-studded sides of international quality, the boys in blue halted an Army fightback before replacement Jack Wright barrelled over for the winning try in the final minutes.
Navy captain Jarrard Hayler said: “Being the man to lift the trophy at the end was incredible, it’s what dreams are made off.
“Words can’t explain how I’m feeling, but I’m extremely proud and happy right now.”
Awesome
He added: “It’s awesome to play this fixture at the home of rugby, and looking forward to celebrating.
“We knew the Army would really come at us; we had been in a similar position before in 2024 when there was so much pressure on us to go back-to-back, but the Army overturned us near the end.
“That experience actually helped and luckily we were able to regroup and stay in the fight until the end.”
Match action
Navy fly-half Hanley kicked off and it took the blues barely 60 seconds to open the scoring with scrum-half Will Rigelsford finding a gap, cascading past several Army defenders and powering over full-back Matt Blee to stretch and score down the left.
The Army dominated territory but couldn’t break through, and as soon as the Navy turned the ball over, Hayler dashed down the park, offloading at speed to No.8 Ratu Vakalutukali and winger Freddy Elliott for the 22-year-old to dive over in the left corner.
Four minutes later, a tap and go led to some quick interplay with wing Ben Chambers dotting down by the right touch flag.
A running break by Blee led to Army openside Matt Dawson charging over the whitewash on the 21st minute, but a high penalty count led to Army openside Drew Davidson seeing yellow for a ruck infringement.
The Navy took advantage, a five-metre lineout led to Hayler ducking and diving his way over the whitewash.
Despite being a man down, the Army scored either side of half-time, debutant Sitiveni Vasuturaga muscled over.
Second half
Then wing Vereimi Qorowale broke down the right to go over.
Hanley scored a 48-metre penalty kick before Dawson got on the end of a grubber to make it 29-26.
Ex-Fijian international Sam Matavesi dotted down from a maul for the Navy, but the Army kept pressing with tries by backs Tomasi Vula and Jack Johnson making it all square as the atmosphere went up a notch.
But the Navy regrouped, several line-outs ensued before Wright grabbed the winner from another maul.
Army captain Pete Austin said: “We had a gameplan but the occasion got to us, so it was a case of getting everyone under the posts after their third try, going back to basics, focusing on our process and I’m proud of our fightback.”
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