Page 19 - The Wish Stream Year of 2021 (Crest)

Inter-Company Sports Competition – Winter Term 21
With the resumption of sports at RMAS after a long COVID-19 hiatus, The Somme Company set out to “bring it home” in the inter-company sports day. The event involved rugby, basketball, tug of war, football, hockey, cross-country and British Army Warrior Fitness competitions (BAWF).
The rugby team got off to an excellent start with a heroic end-to-end score from OCdt Matadigo of Fiji in a convincing 17-5 victory over our fellow Junior Term OCdts in Gaza Company. The team built on this excellent result with a close fought 5-0 victory over Falklands Company – putting The Somme in the final and the only Junior Term team left. Unfortunately, due to unforeseen cir- cumstances, Inkerman Company could not play contact rugby and The Somme ended up a close second after a game of touch.
The Somme Company was even more dominant in basketball than in the rugby; only conceding one basket throughout the entire tournament. This was not a massive surprise to most given that we had the experience (and height) of our Rwandan OCdts, Mr Nsengiyumva, Mr Kagame and Mr Udahamuka, who all played the sport to a high level whilst at university in the United States.
The Somme Company continued in fine form into the hockey tournament. Despite losing OCdt Logan early with a nasty injury caused by a fast- moving head-height hockey ball, the team rallied brilliantly and finished an excellent second place behind Inkerman Company – the Company who proved to be our closest competition throughout the day.
In the tug of war, the team reached the third / fourth playoff after losing their first bout but winning the rest in the group stages. Unfortu-
OCdt Child
nately, even bringing in the additional mass of Mr Mower as a substitute was not enough to beat the Intermediate Term team we faced; the team finished a slightly disappointing but very commendable fourth. However, the team was the highest placed from the Junior Term and the effort from all members was incredible.
Unfortunately, football did not go quite as well as the other events, drawing one match and losing the rest in our pool, meaning we got knocked out of the tournament early on (we obviously had to lose something to keep the other companies in the running!).
The cross-country route was a tough 8km run over Barossa Training area and we were unlucky to miss out on a podium spot. The Company fielded a strong team with several good perfor- mances; OCdt Sutton in the top ten and OCdt Norman in the top twenty. The rest of the Com- pany were placed in the 30s and 40s – an excel- lent result given the 150+ runners taking part.
The day concluded with the British Army War- rior Fitness final event. With the whole Academy looking on, and the final event counting for dou- ble points, the atmosphere was electric. OCdts Barke, Kay and Peerless put in a herculean effort, and The Somme finished first in the final event securing them a landslide victory over all the other Company’s BAWF teams.
The strong performances in all events, com- bined with the final victory in BAWF, meant The Somme Company clinched the title of the best sporting company across the Academy. We now face the challenge of defending our 1st place over the next two terms.
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