Army v Navy: British Army Rugby Team Prepare In Aldershot For The Big Game At Twickenham

Thousands of people from across the Forces World will be descending on Twickenham this Saturday to watch the annual Inter-Services Rugby Union match between the British Army and the Royal Navy.

The Army teams are currently training in Aldershot so Forces Radio BFBS Aldershot presenter Richard Wyeth caught up with Captain Mal Roberts, the British Army assistant coach during final preparations.

In their centenary year, the Royal Air Force has been crowned the Inter-Services 2018 Champions, their 15th title, after beating both the Army & Royal Navy in April.

Even though neither side will be Inter-Services Champions, the pride of being the winners of this match is still at stake.

This Saturday is the 101st time the match has been played since the first one in 1907 when the Royal Navy won 15 - 14 at the Queen’s Club, West Kensington.

It was not until after the First World War in 1920 that the match was hosted by Twickenham with the Royal Navy coming out on top once again. It was also the first year that the Royal Air Force took part.

The 100th match took place in 2017 in front of a record crowd of 81,577 with the Army winning 29 - 20.

Over the course of the competition, the Army has won the Inter-Services title 45 times, the Royal Navy 20 and the RAF 15.

There have been 10 years when it has been a three-way tie and a two-way tie twice in 1925 and 1949, both times between the Army & Royal Air Force.

The only time the competition was not held was during the Second World War.

There will be live commentary on Forces Radio BFBS from 3pm on Saturday across the Forces World with updates from Amy Casey and Nicky Smith in the build-up to the kickoff.