Rugby Union

Valuable lessons for UKAF as Belgium bring international quality to Kingsholm

12th November 2026 at 8:02am

The men’s UK Armed Forces rugby union team have been beaten 58-23 by Belgium in their annual Remembrance fixture at Kingsholm Stadium.

A strong UKAF team featuring Jarrard Hayler, Pete Austin, Will Rigelsford and more were no match for a Belgium side who are currently ranked 22nd in the world.

It follows a good night for the Army, who won their Remembrance fixture against the USA Military and the UK Armed Forces rugby league team, who comfortably beat Scotland A on Saturday.

If the UKAF team wanted to be tested ahead of the 2027 International Defence Rugby Competition, Belgium certainly showed their ability to do that in the first 20 minutes as they ran in four unanswered tries.

Lindberg John Ekandahl opened the scoring with a burst through the line and Paul Gerard added a second after a large amount of Belgian attacking pressure. Julian Berger’s great offload allowed to fly over and UKAF were 21 points down in a flash.

UKAF head coach Lieutenant Colonel Tim Osman’s team didn’t help themselves at times with some unforced errors and tackling that sometimes didn’t represent the usual Forces force.

That was shown in Ekandahl’s second try as he brushed through the challenges in a speedy run from his own half to score.

Four tries down was the alarm clock that UKAF needed to wake up. Senitiki Nayalo drove over from close range and skipper Jarrard Hayler showed his Royal Marines muscle to add a second for the home team.

Once again though, defensive issues were punished by a top team.

Maurice Fromont had the freedom of Kingsholm to go in under the posts and Marius Dehoust’s fifth conversion of the half saw the Belgians go into the break in a 35-14 lead.

UKAF still had hope and that was boosted when Matt Dawson went over for a converted try, but two penalties from Mathieu Hautier put the Belgium lead basically out of reach.

Cody Vereti came off the bench to add another try for UKAF, but Samuel Opsomer and Curtis Moucheron added two more before the end to give a boosting win for a young Belgium side who will look to rise up the rankings in 2027.

For UKAF, a high-profile Remembrance fixture inside a Kingsholm Stadium that attracted a steady crowd should be celebrated, but the coaches will have pinpointed a number of issues to work on going into next summer’s International Defence Rugby Competition in Australia.