ROYAL SCOTS BORDERERS BATTLE TO ARMY 10-A-SIDE RUGBY TITLE The Royal Scots Borderers, 1st Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland won the annual Army Rugby 10-a-side Cup on Wednesday at Newbury Rugby Club. Superbly led by Fijian star, Private Jack Prasad the Royal Scots Borderers team won in fine style defeating the current Army 15-a-side cup holders, 12th Regiment Royal Artillery, in the final. 10-a-side rugby is the perfect way to transition from sevens rugby to the full fifteen-a-side season and the Royal Scots Borderers were in magnificent form in Newbury defeating some very high quality opposition. The tournament was divided into four pools with the winner of each pool progressing to the semi final of the cup. The Royal Scots Borderers started slowly but managed to squeeze past the School of Electronic and Aeronautical Engineering by 12 points to 7 in their opening game. By the second pool game the team was getting into its stride and defeated 3rd Regiment Royal Horse Artillery by 34 points to 12, before going on to defeat the Grenadier Guards by 37 points to 7. The team wrapped up the pool with an impressive 47-7 win over the Infantry Training Centre (Catterick). The semi-final saw the team pitted against a much fancied 17 Port & Maritime Regiment (Royal Logistic Corps) team but another fine display lead to a convincing 6 tries to 1 victory. The final, played in warm evening sunshine, saw the team put on their best display and win against 12th Regiment Royal Artillery by 29 points to 17. It was an excellent team performance by the Royal Scots Borderers squad throughout the tournament and, as has been the case on many occasions, Private Prasad from Fiji was central to the success. When Private Prasad joined the Royal Scots Borderers in 2008 he was already a proven rugby talent having represented Fiji at full international standard seven times. He has been playing for the full British Army rugby team since 2009, appearing five times in the annual Army versus Navy fixture at Twickenham, the home of English rugby. This year, in front of 80,000 spectators, Private Prasad produced the stand-out individual performance and was duly recognised by winning the man of the match award. Prasad’s sporting contribution to the Army is very special, but it comes second to his commitment to infantry soldiering and to his unit. He has always seen himself as a soldier first and deployed on Operations to Afghanistan with The Royal Scots Borderers in 2011 and 2013. A hugely popular member of the Battalion, Prasad is humble despite his sporting success and is a role-model for other soldiers. Prasad says in his ever modest manner: “It has been a great honour for me to represent The Royal Scots Borderers both on the rugby field and on operations in Afghanistan ” I feel very much part of a family in The Royal Regiment of Scotland and it has given me so many great opportunities. In the last eighteen months alone I have been on operations in Afghanistan , been part of Her Majesty the Queen’s Royal Guard in Balmoral and deployed with Charlie Company to Cyprus on a four week training exercise which included going mountain-biking and rock climbing during the adventure training phase. On The Royal Scots Borderers victory in the Army 10s Cup Prasad, said: “This was a great day for Royal Scots Borderers rugby. We are a very close knit squad and this was a real team effort to win despite facing some excellent teams. Hopefully we can carry this form into the fifteen-a-side season and win more silverware to put us back at the pinnacle of Army rugby.”
Posted on: Fri, 05 Sep 2014 12:04:14 +0000
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