RAF men looking 'really sharp' ahead of Inter Services Navy showdown

The Royal Air Force men's rugby league team say they feel sharp and ready to go, ahead of their Inter Services rugby league clash with the Royal Navy in Portsmouth.

The RAF are looking to stop the Royal Navy from winning another trophy and all three rounds of matches are live on the BFBS Forces News YouTube channel.

In a feisty encounter between the sides last year, the Navy retained their Inter Service crown with a 22-16 win over the Air Force.

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The RAF’s captain, Liam Bradley, told BFBS: "Everyone's always excited for Inter Services [rugby] football, the lads have been looking forward to it all year so we're buzzing to get going.

"Luckily enough, we've been together all year and we've kind of had the same kind of team for every camp we've been in, so the lads are gelling together and, yeah, we look really sharp for Friday."

The senior player is under no illusions as to the threat the dark blues pose, especially on home turf.

Bradley added: "They're a good side, obviously they won it last year and they're a big pack and I think they play to that strength where they try and bully teams up the middle, we've just got to deal with that, and we'll play with some flair and that's our threat and they've got to deal with that.

"We just worry about ourselves and hope they're worrying about us rather than us worrying about them."

The tournament's fixtures come thick and fast, as the Army and Navy go head-to-head on Sunday 22 September, before the RAF take on the Army in Wakefield on Friday 27 September.

Bradley said it's crucial to start strongly: "You want to start well, but these games are never really blowout games, so as long as you're within touching distance within the last 10/15 minutes, the game could go either way really, so we'll just make sure we're in the contest and yeah, we'll just let the result take care of itself."

With the chance of lifting the trophy in two weeks, Bradley spoke of his pride in putting on the light blue shirt: "To represent the service is what it's all about, it's the highest level you can play within the military.

"Everyone wants to pull on that jersey and it's always a fight for places because everyone wants to say they've got that first team cap in an Inter Services fixture, so it's always a big pride when you're standing there singing the national anthem and you're ready to go."

You can watch the Royal Navy v RAF men's and women's matches live on the BFBS Forces News YouTube channel on Friday, with the women's match kicking off before the men's, at 16:00 UK time.