Carney Park, 25th March 2007 – A sodden pitch inside the Lion’s Den at Carney Park was the setting for the NATO Lions’ most resounding win so far this season. It took only four minutes for the Lions to make their mark, when Martin ‘Taff’ John scored the first try of the game, coming from a powerful attack straight from the kick-off. This inspirational start for the home side set the tone for the remainder of the game. The Lions didn’t give the Montrose any breathing space following the opening try. Fantastic support play, excellent ball handling, powerful rucking and a towering performance from Pete Woodson in the lineout prevented the opposition from ...
Picture the scene – the NFF office in Castaway House, the whole team (all four of us – Jackie, Kate, Sarah and I) gathered together for a brainstorming session. The topic – the next edition of Homeport and in particular the front cover. We found that the James Bond Winter cover was one we were going to struggle to top, so the thoughts started to fly, mostly revolving around Spring. Nothing seemed to quite work until a shout went up from Kate “What about a photo of the RN Rugby Team with us?” (she did add “looking muddy” but I ignored that). I put my thinking cap on and emailed Bob Gray who happened to be marooned at sea at the time. He very kindl...