Drama at Craven Park as Army's win over RAF hands Inter Services title to the Royal Navy
The final clash of the men's Inter Services rugby league has ended in dramatic fashion after an Army 28-18 win against the RAF handed the overall title to the Royal Navy on points difference.
Following the Army's disappointing 20-10 loss in Portsmouth to the Senior Service, and a week later, the RAF frustrating the Navy in Wakefield with an 18-16 victory, it meant that the title race would go down to the final clash at Craven Park, the home of Hull Kingston Rovers.
The RAF's journey to the title looked simple; they had to either win or draw against the Army. The team in red however, needed to beat the RAF by a 19-point difference to win the title, otherwise the title would go to the Navy.
The Army applied the gas early in the game with Semeti Driti scoring the opening try and Joeli Vare following suit with a try of his own, pushing the team in red up to an 8-0 lead.
The RAF were up against a strong Army defence in this opening first half, but it was Finn O'Brien who managed to slip through to get the light blue's onto the scoresheet.
Cam Lees slotted in the conversion to push the light blues up to 8-6.
The Army's response came 10 minutes later, with Andrew Smyth diving over for their third try of the game, and Mikey McDonald converting to keep the Army in contention and a 14-6 lead at half time.
The RAF looked to come back strong in the second half, and it looked like they would find their groove after Sam Roberts pushed his way past the Army defence and dotted over for the RAF's second try.
RAF skipper Liam Bradley converted to push the light blues up to 14-12.
But the RAF's upturn in performance didn't last, as the Army then scored three tries in the space of 12 minutes courtesy of Kajii Sugavanua, Pita Tamini and Adam Hooper.
With the Army now sitting pretty with a 28-12 cushion, it seemed like that lead would be unassailable for the RAF to claw back.
The pressure began to mount on the Army, who were a try away from achieving the 19 points difference needed to claim the title, and they came close to scoring on several occasions, but the RAF defence held them up.
Knowing that their hopes of winning the Inter Services were now dashed, the RAF managed to score one more try in the game's dying minutes thanks to Tomasi Rasoki.
But as the full-time whistle sounded, there were no celebrations on the pitch as a 28-18 result meant that neither the Army or the RAF would claim the Inter Services title, with the title instead going to the Senior Service, who reclaim the title that they won in 2023 after they conceded to the RAF last year.
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