Always a tough encounter, the Navy-Jeddah match is a much anticipated event as both teams relish the chance to test themselves, Jeddah for the season, Navy their fitness and teamwork.

Fresh from their very close run match against a professional side in Palermo and with one player from the Royal Navy team that beat Army in their annual "civil war" at Twickenham this year, Navy had brought out the big guns.

The combination of very fit Royal Marines and their genetic discipline made up handsomely for the lack of rugby practice but Jeddah's sapping heat and humidity was a challenge.

Virtually all Navy's points came in the first half and all Jeddah's points came late in the game. No one expected an easy match and play was hard, very fast and determined. Navy constantly built moves that took them deep into Jeddah's half but were often thwarted. The points came from individual breakthroughs that split Jeddah's defense open.

After seven tries by Navy, Andrew Kennedy opened Jeddah's account with the first and second tries followed by Dave Kinkead and Ali Banawi. A crunching charge from Andy Kennedy that took him over the Navy line was the result of a fine whole-team sequence of moves. Heavily supported and fed the ball at exactly the right moment, the try demonstrated that pre-season preparation was paying dividends, albeit rather low ones as yet.

Banawi constantly provoked Navy with his jinking runs and lithe athleticism that made him nearly impossible to catch or hold and resulted in two of Jeddah's tries. He will be a force to reckon with this season with his combination of speed and maneuverability.

Johhny Narro accounted for the last of the home team's score, but the tally was short.

Kinkead, mixing roles of scrum and fly halves was an exemplar of the British work ethic, constantly pouncing on the loose ball and creating opportunities.

The event this year was played on the full size astroturf pitch at the new Kaaki sports center in Jeddah. Both sides praised the quality of the surface, but were very wary of the sharp concrete surrounding that hampered full field-width running and sideline tackling.

"Lethal" was a description voiced by more than one player. Nonetheless, the pitch has good potential and with some restructuring of the kerbs might yet become the home of rugby in Jeddah.

The outcome was a deserved win for the Royal Navy. They were fitter and stronger than Jeddah, rather to be expected. The Jeddah team deserves high praise for their doggedness and effort as this was their first outing of 2010 and they played themselves to a standstill.

There was a sense of sad occasion to the match as well. HMS Cumberland, the Type 22 Frigate from which the visiting team hailed, was on her last ever visit to Jeddah. On her return to the UK at the end of her current deployment, the 21 year-old stalwart will be decommissioned and the crew dispersed. Navy had something to prove in this their last match as a close-knit Cumberland crew.

In her time HMS Cumberland has along with her patrolling duties seized SR1.2 billion in cocaine in the North Atlantic, acted as rescue ship for the Greek ferry Express Samina when she ran aground off Paros and dealt fatally with Somali pirates attacking a Danish vessel.

The after-match handshakes on this occasion were unusually firm and mutual congratulations particularly well meant.