Inter-Services Preview: RAF Rugby Stars Hoping To Shock Ominous-Looking Army

The RAF's rugby stars are hoping to score a pair of Inter-Services upsets in Wednesday's clashes with the Army at RAF Halton.

The Air Force's men's and women's teams are currently making their final preparations for the crunch ties. 

Forces Network sports editor Jon Knighton went to see how the men were getting on in one of their last training sessions ahead of their fixture.

The squad has been taking advantage of the all-weather playing surface at nearby Aylesbury RFC in the build-up to their match.

One man making his mark was Corporal Josh McNally, who having played and scored for his Premiership Rugby club side London Irish after undergoing surgery to correct a hole in his heart, is now back firing on all cylinders.

The RAF's build-up has been hampered by lack of player availability and matches falling foul of the weather, but a convincing 44-3 win over the French Air Force a fortnight ago was a real confidence-builder.

Cpl McNally said: "This year we've been slowly building.

"A lot of guys have got a lot of commitments outside of rugby... [but] I think against France we had pretty much everyone back and against the Army I think we'll have a full-strength side so... I think we'll be fine."

The RAF believe the France win and the togetherness of a squad that won the Inter-Services title three years ago will be a crucial factor in their matches against the Army and Royal Navy.

The team's vice-captain is RAF Regiment Lance Corporal Darren Johnson. He said:

"I've been in the set-up for about five years now and it's been building over that time. We've got a really close bunch of lads.

"There's a real emphasis on building a good culture and a good ethos around the team."

"In previous years we may have been written off and looked at as whipping boys, but for the last four [or] five years we've really competed at the highest level and had good wins over the Army and Navy - especially last year against the Navy for the first time in a long time."

The RAF players know the Army will be a difficult obstacle to overcome.

The men in red are fresh from a week in Portugal and a thumping win over Birmingham Moseley in their last match, although the Halton pitch has a habit of being a great leveller.

RAF forwards coach Sergeant Justin Coleman says keeping mistakes down to a minimum will be key:

"I think the errors from both sides and trying to minimise that as much as possible [will be crucial].

"We've been aiming at one game at a time. We'll analyse them, they'll analyse us.

"Down at Aldershot last year... we struggled a little bit up front. We've tried to fix some areas, reassess what we did well last year, what didn't work so well."

"Hopefully [we can] carry that forward."

It'll be a fascinating opener to this season's championship.

The Army will start as favourites but the RAF believes it has the players and ability to win the title.

Keep your eyes on Forces Network on Wednesday, where we'll be providing live coverage of all the action from both the men's and women's ties...

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