A TRY with the last play of the game by forward Jordan Warren guaranteed the Royal Marines victory over the Plymouth & Exeter Medical School in the annual Medics Rugby Challenge at Brickfields on Friday night.
Just four points separated the teams going into the final minutes and the students tried to run the ball from their own 22 on the last play in an attempt to snatch the win, but they were turned over and Warren pounced to give the Royal Marines a 26-15 victory.
There was little between the sides the whole contest played in front of a big crowd at Plymouth Albion’s home ground.
The match was tied at 12-12 at the interval and was in the balance until the end.
The Royal Marines, who included Plymouth Argaum’s Tom Worboys in their side and were coached by Karl Sullivan, took the lead in the first minute with a converted try by full-back Shim Roets in the right corner.
But the Medics, whose side featured Devonport Services’ Bertie Fordham and Mike Howell, replied quickly when centre Ioan Phillips pounced on a loose ball and kicked forward and won the race to gather it and score.
The Marines were reduced to 14 men for 10 minutes mid-way through the first half and the Medics scored a converted try from a maul courtesy of Danny Turland, which Howell converted. That made it 12-7 to the students.
However, the Medics were not in front for long as within four minutes the Marines had pulled level with a try from close range from prop Luke Townsend.
The Marines surprisingly missed the conversion in front of the posts and Howells missed a penalty at the other end seven minutes later as the teams could not be separated after 40 minutes.
But the Marines got the decisive breakthrough 11 minutes into the second half when John Tyler scored a converted try after some intense pressure to make it 19-12.
Midway through the second half, the students had a good spell and pressed the Marines’ line. They did get a penalty and opted to kick it to close the gap to just four points.
They then wasted two glorious chances to score – once with an overlap out on the left and then from a five-metre line-out.
But the Marines tackled hard and survived and then in the closing minutes pinned the Medics back in their own 22.
With time up, the students’ only option was to try and run it from their own line, but they lost the ball and Warren pounced to score, much to the delight of the Royal Marines supporters.
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