A strong second-half performance was not enough to see Britannia Royal Naval College rugby team overcome HMS Seahawk’s early lead in the Navy Cup final.
The two teams met at the Rectory in Plymouth on Wednesday, December 7, in what was HMS Seahawk’s sixth Navy Cup final in eight years. The team from the Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose were out to avenge defeat by BRNC in 2014.
BRNC had pulled out all the stops on the training pitch prior to the game and the spirit to win was apparent on the faces of the team as they warmed up for the game.
But it was HMS Seahawk who made the better start and were rewarded for some fine forward play inside the first nine minutes of the match.
Seahawk skipper, air engineer technician Sam Carter, ran in to post their first points on the board.
His conversion narrowly missed but he made amends with a penalty kick minutes later to give the airmen from west Cornwall an eight-point lead at the midpoint stage of the first half.
BRNC, made up mainly of officer cadets newly joined the Naval Service and have only been together for a few weeks, rallied well and applied pressure on Seahawk, but they were hit with a remarkable counter-attack that showed full-back leading air engineering technician Paul Saberton’s football skills, as much as his rugby ability.
Carter’s extras gave Seahawk a 15-0 cushion, but the Dartmouth outfit were not going to lay down and take a beating from the Fleet Air Arm and they ending the half in a strong position.
It was the Dartmouth skipper, officer cadet Luke Tupholme, who ran home a tremendous try, but missed the conversion to bring the score back to 15-5 at the break.
BRNC conceded an early penalty in the second half, which allowed Seahawk to increase their lead by 18-5.
It proved to be the last time Seahawk scored as the young officers dug deep to show their resilience and came out fighting.
For long periods the defending champions were under the cosh, protecting their line with all their might.
But with just a few minutes remaining the incessant pressure finally yielded points for the 2014 cup winners and they got a deserved try.
A reverse pass from Tupholme to midshipman Luke Guildford allowed him to race in and score, closing the gap and with Tupholme’s conversion, it made for a fitting end to a hard-fought cup final at 18- 12 to Seahawk.
AET Sam Carter, HMS Seahawk captain, said: ‘The boys dug out blind tonight. We took on a lot of pressure in the second half and credit to everyone we managed to hold them off.
‘Fair play to Dartmouth, they were close at the end but I think our team spirit held us together as a team. I’m well happy with that.’
Captain of the BRNC team Officer Cadet Luke Tupholme said: ‘It was a spirited performance from us I think.
‘This team was put together around the new intake 15 weeks ago and come January there will be a new intake and a new team.
‘It’s credit to our coaches that we got to the final and played well.’