Adjutant General's Corps Rugby League

The AGC beat the Army Medical Services on Wed 11 Jul 12 at Keogh Barracks, Aldershot - 34 to 26 in the Lawson Cup.

Both teams were hit by player availability and fielded squads of only 14 players - which made selection for Head Coach Mark Bairstow relatively straight forward (apart from matching players to positions) but meant that the players knew that they were in for an afternoon of hard graft with little or no opportunity to be spelled.

The AGC quickly established a 12 - 0 lead through tries from Andy Stanbury, making only his second start for the Corps, which was quickly followed by Charlie Berry going over the whitewash. Gordon Farrar, having borrowed some kicking boots, duly converted both tries.Scot Walkey making a return to the side delivering some impressive and powerful runs from 2nd Row that the AMS struggled to cope with.

After 18 minutes the AMS responded with the first of a brace of tries to level at 12-12. A mixture of complacency and inexperience led to the conceding of a 3rd soft try by the AGC who went in to lead for the first and only time during the game (12-18). The AGC responded through Jack Berry and Faz converted to make it 18-18 at half time.

The 2nd half was only minutes old when James Allread, making his Corps debut, scored after chasing down a good kick on the 5th by Faz. Unfortunately, having created the try Faz was unlucky not to convert a difficult kick from wide on the left: AGC 22 - AMS 18. Good running by Noxy Bainivalu resulted in a try after 60 mins which Faz converted for the extra 2 points, making it 28-18. The AMS were not yet done and came back with 2 tries to take the score to 28-26.

In the final quarter of the game both sides pressed hard and Scot Walkey, Matt Smith and Paddy O'Rourke all contributed hard yards. As the AMS pressed, the AGC line discipline and defence was excellent as they kept the opposition out from 10 yards twice - defending stoutly. In the final minutes the AGC crossed the whitewash again. Taff Rose delivered a jinking run and V Vavataga completed the move to make the final score AGC 34 - AMS 26.

Man of the Match goes to Scot Walkey for some impressive hard drives and total yardage made. That said, a resolute and commendable performance that the team should be proud of and build upon for the future.