Head Coach WO2 Tuvita Tamatawale hailed a ‘great achievement’ as his 4 Regt RLC side won the Unit 7s tournament with a 29-12 final victory in a Corps derby with 17 P&M Regt RLC.
The champions earlier toppled 8 Bn REME (29-12) and 1 Regt AAC (48-0) in the pool stages, before they downed 5 Bn REME in the last four and then secured the showpiece with a come-from-behind success.
And Tams, who wants to give back to the sport having played for the Army in both 7s and 15-a-side, began: “We’ve not won silverware for a very long time, but 4 Regt has been known for rugby so it’s a great achievement and nice to put our name back on the map.
“To play in a final at Aldershot against our own 17 Regt is a privilege and we are so grateful for the win – it goes back to the boys who have fought so hard all week, but credit to my Commanding Officer who released the boys to train.
“The excellent quality on show is down to how hard they’ve been working.
“Last week we had our Corps Festival and we lost to 17 Regt, so to come and win the Community Cup is great.”
It did not always look on the cards as 4 RLC trailed 12-5, but four late scores – including a run-in from his own half by Pte William Dalrymple – turned the tide as they went onto be deserving winners.
Explaining how his team got back on track, Tuvita said: “The guys went back to the basics. On a big pitch with wonderful weather, earlier on we were running into their big guys too much, but then we stayed away from them, used the width of the pitch and it worked out in our favour.
“William was our super-sub and we’ve made him man-of-the-match!”
And at the end of a cracking day, he ended: “We’ve been trying to develop within the Corps, both 4 and 17 Regt, we want to build within the RLC as a whole.
“As a regiment we’re so grateful for the win, the Commanding Officer will be delighted because he was here to watch the early games but then had to go back.”
Words © Richard Ashton
All images – Alligin Photography © Jarrad Hulm
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