All Army Rugby Team in the Media

From the Pensacola Journal, 14 Oct 2000:

Army wins Armed Forces Championship

By Sean Smith News Journal correspondent

While the Armed Forces Rugby Championship is edging closer towards parity, the Army still runs the table.  Army recaptured the Interservice title from Air Force with a dominating defensive performance in a 38-12 win Friday, capping the three-day tournament at Pensacola Naval Air Station.  Army had won the title from 1994-99, with the Air Force winning the title in January of this year.  The grueling tournament, which saw the teams play five games in three days, was the first time the sport was sponsored by Armed Forces as an official event.  'Whenever we play the Air Force, it's a nip-and-tuck match.  We were able to get some key tries right before the half to give us the edge," said Army coach LTC Mike Stephenson.

With three members of its squad playing for the USA Eagles - the U.S. rugby national team - the Army had an answer for everything the speedy Air Force squad could throw at them.  'We made some tactical mistakes with our kicking game.  That and a few other mistakes put us in a hole and we were under pressure trying to fight back, " said Air Force coach LTC Larry Grant.  'But, hats off to Army.  They were able to capitalize on our mistakes and they had an answer for every thing we threw at them."  The pivotal point of the championship match occurred midway through the first half, when Army scored two successive tries to take a 19-5 lead.  The score stood through halftime.  In the first half, the Air Force tied the game 5-5 after a series of quick passes set Air Force's Jarvis Baker free down the right sideline for a try.  After a long kick by Rick Schuster pinned Air Force near its own goal-line, Army's Mose Timoteo, an Eagles national team player, blocked an Air Force kick across the goal-line and Schuster pounced on the ball for a try.

Just before the half, the Army used power and guile to break away for good.  Getting the ball in a maul - where a group of attacking players try to drive forward across the goal-line - Schuster swung the ball around the opposite side to Simona Totiva after a fake pass to the middle set him free running full tilt down the left side.  "It's a set play we use.  The (middle) guys look like they're crashing (in on goal), but we're hoping to pull the defenders in toward the middle,' Army back Lt.  'Chip" Curtis said.  'There's so much tactics involved.  You're always trying to set guys up to give one of your backs an opening.'  Nate Reel rumbled in for a second-half score that effectively put the game out of reach at 26-5.  In the consolation match earlier Friday, Navy overcame a 14-0 deficit to rout a mostly inexperienced Marines team 32-14 and take third place.  The Coast Guard, which had only 18 players, as the USCG did not fund its team, finished in fifth place at 0-4 in pool play.

Navy had missed reaching the final Thursday with a heartbreaking 17-16 loss to Air Force in pool play Air Force rolled unbeaten- through the round robin pool, and had beaten Army 29-15, but both squads used second-team players, having already qualified for the final.