JEDDAH, 25 November 2007 — Honors were even at the end of the traditional Jeddah Rugby Football Club (JRFC) versus Royal British Navy seven-a-side rugby matches at the American School in Jeddah on Friday. Three reduced time matches saw the Navy take to the field with considerable energy catching Jeddah on the back foot. Navy’s Moon Vula’s try drew first blood for the visitors followed by Tim Rumble,. Both were converted.

Recovering in some style, JRFC fought back scoring three tries, first from Steve Hunt rapidly followed up by Dave Kinkead and Andy Veale, to the Navy’s two converted tries. This left the locals in the lead by 15 points to 14.

The second round of the trio of matches was a great deal tougher with each side having taken the other’s measure. Some formidable power running from Jeddah was stopped with crashing tackles by the Navy who capitalized on fumbled passes and used every opportunity to sprint though any loose covering by the Jeddah three quarters. Denying almost any chance to cross their line to JRFC, the Navy ran in two tries and converted one for a total of 12points to JRFC’s one unconverted try for 5 points by David Dunn.

The third and final match became a furiously contented affair as JRFC, still unable to find their try-converting boost, furiously pushed the Navy back onto the defense. As the intensity rose, so did the temperature of the encounters as each side displayed its determination to win the set. For much of the second half of the final match, JRFC was camped inside the Navy’s five yard line; the occupation yielded one try in a corner and was followed by a second by Archie Frame.

Characteristically, the Navy bounced back and themselves ran in a corner try and another as the result of a breakaway from a frenetic maul just inside their half.

The drama continued up to the dying seconds of the match when after a well judged lofted punt over the JRFC three quarters line, Navy broke through and sprinted the length of the field, gathered the ball but were intercepted a couple of meters from the line by Matt Jay who forced a fumble during an attempted reverse one hand pass as the whistle blew for time that sent the Navy across the line without the ball leaving the score at one unconverted try apiece for 10 points each.

JRFC’s captain Jacob Ball said that the three matches had been particularly testing. “We seem to have something of a reputation among the visiting crews,” he said. “It was tough; definitely no tickling contest. It was however a very good warm up under pressure for the Dubai Seven-a Side tournament at the end of the month.” Saudi Arabia is fielding four teams in the contest, JRFC, Khobar and two from Riyadh. Follow their fortunes on www.jeddahrugby.com and click the Links page.

All thoughts of the formal mayhem put aside, the teams left the field in high spirits and posed for the now de rigor team photos that will decorate berths and studies of the temporary combatants.