The RN season started on Friday 21st April with a training session run by Sean Dayus, the new club professional at Tidworth. Attended by Richard Mason, Adrian Aplin, Nick Cooke-Priest, Arnie Lustman, Peter Meigh, Nick Phillips, Steve Spiller and Bob Santrian, it was an excellent session and we were fortunate that ship programmes allowed us to get some of the younger players to the event.
The following day was the first match of the season,
the Admiral Kumar trophy against Eton. The RN team of Cooke-Priest, Lustman,
Meigh and Basset faced a very well trained and mounted young squad from
Eton who were the first to score in the closing moments of the first chukka.
The second chukka was evenly matched with neither side finding the posts
but, in the second half of the match, goals by Cooke-Priest and Basset
were followed by 3 goals from Eton to leave them the winners by 4 –
2. Nevertheless, it was quite an encouraging start to the season for the
RN and Basset played particularly well in his first match for the Navy.
The next RN fixture was on Saturday 20th May when the proposed Rundle
Cup team of Aplin, Mason, Lustman and Cooke-Priest entered the Druids
Lodge 2 goal tournament at Tidworth. Drawn against a strong Ridgebacks
team, the RN had a slow start and were 3 goals down at the end of the
1st chukka. In the 2nd quarter the team rallied to play a much tighter
game, stopping the Ridgebacks attacks and in the 3rd chukka the RN had
the run of the play, scoring twice with fine goals from Mason and Aplin.
The final chukka started at 3 - 2 but, despite a good penalty by Mason,
the Ridgebacks also scored and the game ended 4 - 3. Despite this it was
a promising showing by the RN who hoped to further improve the following
day. Regrettably, awful weather resulted in the tournament being cancelled.
On Saturday 3rd June the RN weekend began with the Sacher Cup against
Millfield. Having lost for the last 3 years, the RN represented by Aplin,
Cooke-Priest, Lustman and Phillips knew the Millfield team would be well
drilled and under handicapped. In the 1st chukka Millfield set the pace
and the RN struggled to respond with the result that the chukka ended
2 - 0. Much improvement by the Navy in the 2nd chukka kept the score steady
and the RN then dominated the 3rd with Aplin finding the posts. In the
4th Millfield managed to score and the game ended 3-1. Nevertheless, it
was a promising performance and Nick Phillips (taking a break from his
final year medic exams) did particularly well.
The following day, Sunday 4th June, was another gloriously sunny day.
Colin McGregor and Robert Guy had organised a lunch for the supporters
and it was lovely to see so many old friends at Tidworth. Following the
excellent lunch, the RN played Taunton for the Kemble Salver but, regrettably
were not to be successful. The Navy team of Mason, Aplin, Cooke-Priest
and Lustman started well and, at the throw in, a good pass from Lustman
to Aplin who then turned the ball beautifully to Mason resulted in a quick
run down the field and an excellent goal. Taunton fought back and before
the end of the 1st chukka they had been awarded a penalty from which they
successfully scored. In the next 2 chukkas the RN again made some basic
errors which resulted in Taunton scoring their second and third penalty
goal (one in each chukka) but the RN also scored so at the start of the
final chukka it was 3 - 2. The last chukka was fast and furious but despite
several attacks by the Navy, both teams scored leaving the tally at 4
- 3 at the final whistle. Overall it was a disappointing performance for
the Navy as, despite some instances of very good play, it was the basic
errors in giving away fouls that lost the game.
Saturday 10th found the RN defending the Duke of York Cup. Represented
by Aplin, Lustman, Cooke-Priest and Phillips, the Navy faced a very competent
RAF side who had the advantage of _ goal on handicap. Starting in an unusual
line up of Phillips at 1, Aplin at 2, Cooke-Priest at 3 and Lustman at
4, the RN made a very aggressive start and excellent team play had Phillips
scoring the opening goal in the first 2 minutes. The RN maintained the
pressure to dominate the chukka and Aplin scored the 2nd goal to leave
the RN leading 2-_ at the end of the chukka. The 2nd chukka saw the RAF
score but the Navy quickly retaliated with the score at 3-1_ at half time.
Regrettably the 3rd chukka went awry for the RN and the RAF were able
to score twice and so were leading 3_-3 at the beginning of the final
quarter. The Navy worked hard, scoring a goal to regain the lead but the
RAF found the posts just before the final whistle and so won the match
4_-4. Intensely disappointing as it is to lose to the RAF, it was nevertheless
a good performance from the RN and Phillips, again, did particularly well.
The next fixture was on Friday 16 June when the RN played the 1st match
of the IR. Always a difficult game to programme, this was the only day
that all 4 players could get together before the deadline. Drawn against
RMAS, a very capable 0 goal team playing on their home ground, the RN
were quietly confident of a win although they knew it would be a hard
match. Regrettably, the run of bad luck that seemed to have dominated
the season continued and Aplin’s horse box broke down en-route to
Sandhurst. Left with just 3 players, the RN had to concede the game, but
played a friendly 3 a-side match against an RMAS side, led by Prince William,
that now matched the RN handicap. The match started well with the RN scoring
twice in the first chukka but Sandhurst came back in the 2nd to have the
score level at half time. In the 3rd chukka some excellent play by the
RN, particularly Cooke-Priest, had them scoring 3 goals, to lead 5-2 at
the start of the final quarter. Regrettably the last chukka was poor and
mistakes by the RN allowed RMAS to stage a recovery, leaving the score
5-5 at the final whistle. Nevertheless it was quite a good performance
for the RN who played well for _ of the game.
The next match for
the RN was on Saturday 8 July at the Annual CA tournament at Ascot Park.
Represented by Cooke-Priest, Bowen, Lustman and Mason, the Navy were drawn
against a strong CA team in the first round and, despite playing well
with 2 excellent goals by Cooke-Priest, lost by 3-2_ in the final minutes.
In the 2nd round the RN faced the RAF. Keen to redress the upset of the
Duke of York loss, the Navy entirely dominated the match from the first
throw in and very easily won by 6-_.
However the Army steadily responded with 2 field goals and a penalty, putting the score at 2_-3 at the end of the first chukka. The 2nd chukka was hard fought and evenly matched and neither side scored, leaving the match 2_-3 at half time.
In the 3rd chukka superior Army horse power, specifically Prince Harry’s ponies, began to show and the Army scored 3 goals. But in the last 30 seconds a good attacking run by Lustman took the ball to the Army’s goal where Mason found the posts to leave the score at 6-3_ at the end of the chukka. The final chukka was exciting and hard fought but it was the Army that found the posts on 2 occasions, leaving the score 8-3_ at the final whistle. Despite the score, it was a well fought contest and the RN played very well against a strong and well mounted Army team.
However after such good team play in the first match, the RN lost form in the 2nd. Facing a handy RAF side, the Navy had a muddled chukka which allowed the crabs to score twice. In the 2nd chukka the RN recovered slightly and were unlucky not to score on 2 occasions. However shortly before the final whistle the Navy were awarded a penalty which Lustman successfully converted. Regrettably the final score was 2_-1 to the RAF.
On the following day the RN faced the Royal Dragoon Guards who began with a 1_ goal lead on handicap. The Navy started quickly with 2 goals from Meigh and Lustman in the first chukka to take the lead but the RDG clawed back a goal to end the first quarter 2_-2. The 2nd chukka was evenly matched with a goal each and at _ time the RDG were holding onto the lead 3_-3. The 3rd chukka saw the RN pull ahead with 2 goals (Lustman and Meigh) and kept the Army on the defensive and this continued in the 4th chukka where another goal by Lustman had the RN victorious 6-3_ at the final whistle. All in all it was a good victory for a largely inexperienced Navy side, ending up 3rd out of 7 teams.
Regrettably the planned fixture against Lloyds was cancelled. After an absence of 2 years the RN team returned to Windsor for the Major Generals Cup on 11-13 August, slightly disappointed to find that they were one of only two military teams entered. The first match was against a well mounted local team, but an early goal from Aplin added to our handicap start to put as 1.5 goals ahead. However they came back at us hard and despite a good field goal by Richard Mason in the second chukka, half time saw the RN trailing 2.5 to 4. Rallying well after the break, Tim Brown (from the RAF) closed down the back door and started getting the ball through to our forwards. With Richard Mason working hard in the centre, Adrian Aplin and Nick Cooke-Priest combined well to generate an ever increasing number of runs to goal which gradually overwhelmed the opposition to achieve a good win 8.5-5. This gave us a chance to play for a place in the final on the Saturday, against the holders of the Cup. The team played well and fought hard in an often scrappy game with Aplin again scoring the first goal, but by half time we were losing 3-2.5. The second half was a real struggle in the face of some amazing horse power and although Nick Cooke-Priest played particularly well up front with a couple of incredible goals, the game progressively slipped away to finish a disappointing 8-4.5. Unfortunately, the deteriorating weather cheated us of the opportunity to play for 3rd and 4th place on the Sunday, with our game being rained off just before we were due to play.
The last RN fixture of the season was the Falkner Cup played on Sunday 3rd September at Taunton, which was preceded by an excellent lunch kindly hosted by the Aplins. TVPC always produce a good team and the RN, represented by Mason, Aplin, Lustman and Wilson, knew they would have to play well to avenge the defeat of the Kemble Salver. Starting with a _ goal advantage, the RN began well but Taunton were the first to score. However, a good run by Aplin towards the end of the first chukka allowed Mason to score in the resultant melee and the score was 1_-1 when the whistle blew. The 2nd chukka continued with both teams evenly matched but, again, it was Taunton who scored giving them a _ goal lead at half time. In the 3rd chukka Aplin found the posts but Taunton again retaliated still holding the lead at the end of the chukka.
The victory was particularly pleasing as it was a very good team effort (especially by Allan Wilson just back from sea) that allowed the RN to overcome an arguably stronger team. In a season where the Navy has not found its form it was especially good to end on a win.
