ALBION Takes on Second National Team in as Many Weeks
HMS ALBION XV
Tunisia u20s
On a warm sunny late afternoon in Tunis at the Terrains de Rugby Stadium, a match between the Tunisian RFU u20 team and HMS Albion RFC took place on Remembrance Sunday, 2022. A good crowd of over 250 spectators from HMS Albion and local supporters were there to witness both teams line up and sing the national anthems. On completion, a minutes silence was observed for the fallen. Tunisia won the Toss and chose strategically to play with the setting sun at their backs.
A clean take from kick off by Tunisia set them up to try and drive the ball out of their half but defensive work by Ton Hind, Dean Seals meant that the Carthage Eagles had to clear for touch. Tunisia stole the Albion line out, quick hands moved the ball across the Tunisian line creating space wide for a try by the Tunisian No. 14 in the far right corner.
Albion kicked off and despite the team working hard in defence, the better drilled and more cohesive backs and forwards for Tunisia played through their phases. When the play slowed, the Tunisian No. 10 dropped towering Garry Owens to put Albion No. 15 Dom Dodds under immense pressure. Although he dealt with each bomb with ease the follow up tackles meant Albion swiftly lost territory and eventually the ball. Again, with good hands and support lines the Tunisian srum half went in for the try under the posts this time with an additional 2 points.
Minutes later Albion needed to make its first substitutions with Jordan Brown and Steve Smallman off injured They were replaced by Shane Perry and birthday boy Mark Mueankeaw. Tunisia continued to press with Albion doing well to clear their lines, create turnovers and penalties to keep them out. However Tunisia were better at executing the basics in the line out and this meant they continued to dominate possession. Tunisia broke off the back of a mid-field scrum on Albion’s 10m line; after one missed tackle they were past the Ship's defence. Working the ball quickly to the left saw the Eagles No.11 dot down in the corener.
Following this play Albion lost hard-hitting Cal Southgate with amie Wiltshire replacing him in the centres. The referee called for a water break allowing the coaches to swap out Dean Seals for Tom Blythe. Albion now seemed to have sussed out how to play the faster Tunisians and the next period resulted in Albion working well around the fringes and pushing the Tunisians back. Using the scrum as a solid base to work from and from resulting rucks Albion’s pack lead by Tom Chatwin pushed the Tunisians back towards their try line. More injureies followed as Conner Tweedie and Gareth Veal were replaced by Alex Ainscough and Will Dobinson-Last. This enforced uncontested scrums. Seizing the advantage due to all the changes the Eagles stripped the ball in the tackle by Tunisia and were again crossing the white wash swiftly with No12 scoring. near the posts. The full back converted and half time was called at 24 - 0.
During the break more changes were made with Bungy Williams and Jon Lowe on for Chats Harris and Ash Wharton. Again Albion started well using small pods either side of the ruck to good effect and only going wide when there appeared to be space to do so. Tunisia's speed around the park in both attack and defence meant that they managed Albion’s efforts. Finally earning the right to go wide, Albion moved the ball to the right with Dom Dodds coming in on the end, stepping the Tunisian winger on the 22. His grubber was well placed but he was beaten to the touchdown by the covering defender. Again Albion push over extend themselve and an interception by Tunisian No12 on the Tunis 22m line. He was caught by the backpeddling defencehe but the ball is offloaded to the Eagles flying No10 who scored in the right corner. In response Albion threw on more fresh legs to keep up with the Tunisians; off came Leigh with Chatwin moving to second row, Hind to No 8 with the flanks now covered by Hutchins and Isieli Karikaritu. Tyler Fowler replaced Mark Mueankeaw.
The game had firmly swung in Tunisia’s favour and despite the fresh players, the Ship's side struggled to move the play further than the Tunisian 10m line. The Tunisians looked like they could from anywhere. Off another lost line out Tunisia scored via the No6 and with the conversion missed they edged ever closer to a 40 point lead (36-0). During the next water break on came Andy Coopy for Tom Blythe and Issac Walsh for Shane Perry.
The hydration break did nothing to stop the dam bursting and over the next 12 minutes, 3 more try’s were scored, one each from their electric right wing and fullback and one following a brilliant out of the back of the hand pass by the Tunisian openside to the No8 who scored under the posts. 2 of three were converted. Final score Tunisia u20s 55 - 0 HMS Albion. During this last period Albion managed to get a few more players on to experience an international match!
At the end of the game, his last as a player, Club Capt Bungy Williams stated he was proud of the effort of the squad, that at no point did Albion let their heads drop even at the end when the scores were quickly piling up. At the after match social it was revealed that 7 of the Tunisian players are in the senior national 7’s set up and as a squad they were training 3 times a week leading up to this game. Plaudits followed with AB Tom Hind voted in as new playing Captain and Albion's MoM was Dom Dodds with the Tunisian No10 taking the honours for them. Presentations were made between Albion's Club President, Lt Col Paul Timmins RM, and the president of the Tunisian RFU, Aref Belkhiria.
Team List: LSET Jon Lowe, MNE Billy Cartwright, Lt Gareth Veal RN, S/Lt Angus Leigh, AB Conner Tweedie, AB Tom Hind, ET (ME) Rob Thompson, ET(ME) Lt Tom Chatwin RN, MNE Dean Seals, SGT Bungy Williams RM, LET(WE) Jordan Brown, CPL Cal Southgate RM, ET (WE) Matt Kean, Mid Allen Smallman, MNE Dom Dodds,
Replacements: S/Lt Jamie Wiltshire, Lt Alex Ainscough RN, MNE Kyle Telford, MNE Jim Kirton, PLET (ME) Dave Jones, LS Issac Walsh, MNE Chaivivat Mueankeaw, LET (ME) Jonny Stupple, S/Lt Dave Floyd, L Phot Finn Hutchins, ET Joey Croft, ET (WE) Roy Kean, LET (WE) Lewis Hutchins, LCPL William Dobinson-Last RM POET(ME) Ash Wharton, CS Isikeli Karikaritu, SET Andy Coopy, MNE Kyle Telford, LS Chats Harris, MNE Shane Perry, MNE Alex Shipley, ET (WE) Tyler Fowler, BDR Tom Blythe RA
Words by Bruce Walmsley
Images by Royal Navy/ LPhot Finn Hutchins