Page 160 - RAPTC Year of 2019

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RAPTC RUGBY FOOTBALL CLUB – APOSTLES
SSgt (SSI) C Mayhew RAPTC
Rugby Season 2019/20
The 2019/20 season started with the RAPTC ‘Apostles’ Rugby Club conducting its tri-annual Overseas Sports Visit (OSV) to Alberta, Canada. SSgt (SSI) L Brimble, SSgt (SSI) M Brightey and Sgt (SI) J Atherton RAPTC put significant effort into organizing this tour and are commended for their work. The Apostle players and staff were handpicked from all over the UK and did a superb job of representing both the British Army and the RAPTC.
Our first fixture was against ‘Edmonton Select’ which saw their finest players come together to meet our challenge, this was not going to be an easy task. The game was conducted at St Albert Rugby Club in front of a large crowd, mainly for Edmonton, but this did not discourage the Apostles as we went at them hard from the start. Edmonton had a big pack but the Apostles held their own defending multiple try scoring opportunities for a large part of the first half. Eventually Edmonton broke our defensive line and scored the first try of the game. Fortunately, the Apostles are not a team that give up easily, we fought back with purpose and with fitness on our side we scored a well worked try and built confidence back into our play. With this positivity and a bit of magic from individual Apostles we started to build momentum which continued for the rest of the match; the final whistle went with the Apostles winning 66 – 7.
The Apostles second fixture was against the Bow Valley Rugby Club ‘The Grizzlies’ and was played on Canada Day, the ‘National day of Canada’. This federal statutory holiday celebrates the anniversary of 1st July 1867 which united the three separate colonies of the Canadian province. The Apostles vs Grizzlies game was the main event of the Cochrane town festival and it was our privilege to play in front of so many supporters. This was a tough game with the Grizzlies displaying early dominance in front of their home crowd. Nevertheless, the Apostles battled hard and put in a solid performance but it was clear that the opposition were not going to be turned over on their home pitch on National Day; the game finished with the Grizzlies winning 63 – 19.
Team photo
The next mission was entering 2 teams into the Calgary 7’s, a competition which sees over 200 male and female competitors each year. We split the Apostles to make our 2 strongest teams and entered them into separate leagues with both teams playing multiple games over a 2-day period. Team B played a total of 6 games and finished 4th in their league whilst team A played a total of 8 games and reached the semi-finals finishing in 3rd place overall. Both teams played some great rugby and should be proud of their performances.
All Apostles who attended the tour would like to take this opportunity to thank Maj (MAA) R Bailey RAPTC for all his support during the tour. Without Maj (MAA) Bailey and his staff at TEC the Canadian tour would not have been the success it was. Sir, you are always welcome in the ‘Apostles Rugby Club’.
The tour was over but the season was just beginning and with our new skills honed in Canada we were ready to tackle the new season. We started with the Corps 10’s festival in Aldershot but unlike previous seasons where the RAPTC struggled, the Apostles performed well largely attributed to the success of our Canada tour. Being able to train and play as a squad for a full 3 weeks really benefitted us as a team and we hope to carry this success into the coming season. We hit the Corps 10’s tournament running and started strong winning multiple games, our pace and enthusiasm continued throughout the tournament seeing the Apostles reach the final. This was a difficult and hard game against the RAC and even with them being a well drilled squad the RAPTC held their own, inevitably the skills of the RAC prevailed and they ran in some well worked tries. Finishing 2nd overall was a great achievement for the Apostles and we walked away with our heads held high albeit holding silver medals.
On completion of the 10’s tournament the Apostles played their first fixture the following week. As always, the teams we face in Merit League 2 are well drilled and of a high standard; there is no such thing as an easy fixture in this league but the team played some quality rugby despite the final scores.
RAPTC Rugby League
As always, the Rugby team roll from Rugby Union straight into Rugby League and join forces with the AMS to form the Spartans Rugby League Team. With the player development and recruitment successes from the union season the Spartans will be a force to be reckoned with this year. The Spartans will look at capitalising on the successes of the union team in the 2020 season as they play through the summer months...
Merit 2 League Results
Fixture
AAC
INT
AMS
RAC
AGC
Date
25-Sep-19
23-Oct-19
13-Nov-19
04-Dec-19
15-Jan-19
Result
Win 19 - 24
Lost 34 - 17
Lost 5 - 43
Lost 24 - 42
Lost 10 - 55
Apostles formed up ready for departure to Canada
Apostles vs The Grizzlies on Canada Day