All Army Rugby Team in the Media

From MacDill AFB Public Affairs Office, Jan 1999

MacDill hosts 1999 Interservice Rugby Championship Released: 25 Jan 1999

MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. (AFPN) -- The Army slipped by the Air Force 29-20 to defend its championship title at the 1999 Interservice Rugby Championship Jan. 14-17 here.

Teams from the Air Force, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, and Navy attempted to take the Army's championship title.

The tournament consisted of a single round-robin format that placed the top two teams into the championship.  The Army rugby team was defending its title for the sixth consecutive year and had not lost a match in the previous four years.

The first day of the tournament had the Air Force and Army winning both their matches.  The Air Force beat the Marines 17-10 and the Coast Guard 48-21.  The Army beat the Navy 17-10 and the Marines 25-15.

The Army-Air Force match started the second day of the tournament; the Air Force rolled to a 41-20 win and followed that with a 35-7 win over the Navy.  The Air Force finished the round-robin 4-0, Army 3-1, Marines 2-2, Coast Guard 1-3, and Navy 0-5.

The championship match pitted the Air Force against the Army.  The Air Force had not made the championship match for three years.  The Army team got off to a fast start and led 5-0 after only four minutes had gone by.  The Air Force responded with 15 unanswered points to lead 15-5 until a late score by the Army closed the gap to 15-10 at the half.

This time the Air Force got the fast start and led 20-10 early in the second half.  The Army team chipped away at the lead with three field goals to trim the lead to 20-19, with only a few minutes remaining.  After an Air Force miscue, the Army drop-kicked a ball through the goal posts to take a 22-20 lead and added one more score as time expired to win 29-20.