Army V Navy

Date: Tuesday July 30, 2019 at 3:03pm

The morning of the 4th May, I was feeling nervous as it was my first Army V Navy game and having wanted to go to one since I was 12 years old, I felt extremely privileged to be going to my first game… not just as a supporter but part of the media team as well.

The atmosphere was incredible, I hadn’t seen anything like it. Being an Army pad brat, I was supporting team Army. But in all honestly, the Navy played brilliantly! Having interviewed the Army and Navy captains for our March issue of NCNB, I felt so proud to see both teams play at Twickenham Stadium in front of 80,000 people, hearing their families and friends around us cheering them on!

It was great seeing Fleur East perform live as both teams were preparing for the big game, and a brilliant speak from Ross Kemp. The chilly weather and odd showers of rain didn’t affect the atmosphere one bit, as they called out the names of each player, the cheers from family, friends and work colleagues filled the stadium.

The first half of the game showed both teams defences were tight and the odds on who may win was hard to guess. Myself and my colleague Jay spent numerous times discussing which team might win, it was unclear as both teams were playing so well.

As the game came to an end and Army winning 27-11, all I can say is a big well done to both teams. Thank you to the Army v Navy team for making us feel so welcome and inviting us to be part of the media coverage on the day. It was a day to remember. – Alisha Dean

You know the day is going to be good when you start at McDonalds. Alisha and I were on our way to the Army vs Navy Rugby match at Twickenham. In the car journey down to London we weren’t sure what to expect, neither of us had attended an event as press before and we had only found out the week before that we were going. With only a few days to prepare and not knowing what to expect, we were a little nervous.

The worry about a lack of experience though was soon outweighed by our excitement. Once we got there it was easy to pick up press passes, but we did have a little difficulty finding out where to go. This led to us doing a lap of the stadium as well as climbing up and down what felt like a hundred flights of stairs, only to find out that where we needed to go was where we started.

After all the exercise we had done in search of where we needed to go it was a relief to see that there was a lift going from the press room area straight up to where our seats were, right in the commentary section, we had a great view of the match. After a speech from Ross Kemp and a performance for Fleur east, the atmosphere was growing, 80,000 people pouring into the stadium from the local pubs and beer tents, many of them in fancy dress for the occasion.

It was a close first half, ending with the army leading 5-3, although had the Navy not had a try disallowed the score line could have been significantly different. In the second half both teams were quick to add to their tally, with neither being able to break away with a clear lead. It was easy to see that we were going to get a lot more out of the second half. It wasn’t until the final ten minutes though that the Army managed to pull away by extending their lead from 15-11 to 22-11, followed by a final try shortly after.