The young guns of Super League giants St Helens proved formidable opposition for the Army men’s rugby league team as they ended a run of three games in eleven days with a heavy defeat.
Dubbed the Capital Challenge, the clash ended 74-4 in favour of a dynamic Saints outfit, whose rising stars offered rich attacking entertainment for crowds at the Honourable Artillery Company.
The match followed swiftly on from the Reds’ loss to Wests Warriors in the second round of the Challenge Cup and with a host of senior players unavailable on the day, an already tough assignment was made even more difficult.
Wing Elliot Jamieson opened the scoring for the visitors in the fourth minute and it was one-way traffic throughout the first half as strong carries and incisive passing saw them run in seven tries and build a 40-0 lead at the break.
The soldiers showed greater endeavour in the second period and despite conceding within minutes of the restart, produced promising signs in both attack and defence as their intensity levels increased.
Cpl Liam Lindsey (Para) caught the eye with some big carries, and they deservedly got themselves on the scoreboard in the 59th minute.
Having previously attempted the cross-field kick on the sixth tackle to no avail, skipper LCpl Mikey McDonald (RE) boomed a high ball from right to left and with the Saints rearguard failing to gather, Sig James Amachree (R Signals) was on hand to touch down in the corner.
A flurry of five tries in the final 15 minutes—all converted by the boot of Kian McGann—then underlined the gulf between the two teams as the visitors headed home with an emphatic win to their name.
“We were not really focused on the result,” head coach Cpl Leigh Paul-Rientoul (R Yorks) told SoldierSport.
“Having just played in the Challenge Cup and with people unavailable, we only had four or five senior players in the squad so had to backfill with academy talent. It was a great opportunity to look at them before our next match in June.
“We didn’t get to attack in their half during that first period so our goal at the break was to see if we could play more downfield. We managed to do that, and we got our reward with the try.
“The final score was not great, and they had some fantastic players—five of them were on first-team contracts.
“But this was not just about what happened on the field. There was a networking dinner afterwards and it was a great occasion. It is something they want to do annually and hopefully we can continue to build on this relationship.”
Four days earlier the Army lost 36-18 in their Challenge Cup clash with Wests Warriors, who will go on to face Leeds Rhinos in the next round.
“We were right in it until the last ten to 15 minutes,” Paul-Rientoul said.
“We thought we had equalised, but the try was then ruled out for offside. With a kick to come that would have put us two points in front.
“Our heads went down after that, but it was a good competitive game.
“We will return for pre-season in April and now have time to get the squad nailed down.
“Our strength and conditioning coaches will be sending individual programmes out to all the players and as we only get a two- or three-day lead-in before each of our fixtures, they have to do the hard work beforehand.”
