The soldiers started their campaign with a 27-8 victory over the Royal Navy, and with the airmen also defeating the same opposition the battle for honours went down to the wire.
Capt Jacob Shotton (RRF) scored the first of four touchdowns for the soldiers, while Maj Drew Newiss (R Signals) twice found the end zone to highlight his class.
And rookie running back Gnr John Dawai (RA) enjoyed a debut to remember as he crossed with just his second touch of the ball.
“The navy always give us a tough game,” Jackals’ general manager WO2 Abe Day (RA) told SoldierSport. “They came out swinging and were considerably better than last year.
“While it was 0-0 for a long while, we were in control and our defence didn’t give them anything. We finally got into the end zone for Jacob to score and with Drew getting the extra two points we led 8-0 at half-time.
“We gained confidence from that and never really worried about the result.
“We were missing four or five key players from last year, so this was quite a young team with new people stepping up.”
Dawai became the first Fijian, and Royal Artillery soldier, to score for the Jackals and fellow gunner Bdr Rich Ridings also impressed as he claimed one of the game’s MVP awards.
Day was expecting a sterner test against the RAF, who beat the senior service 64-4 in the tournament’s opening round.
“This will be a lot tougher,” he continued. “We run a simple defence that works and unless they do something special, it should win the day.”
