Army Squad for Inter Service Matches

[sorrento]

The squad includes Lewis Bean, Ravai Fatiaki, Nathaniel Titchard-Jones and John Davetanivalu. They have a training camp in Portugal from April 1-7 followed by a match against Bedford on April 10th before the inter-service championship games at the end of April.
So the Esher fixture may be the last time we see them this season ?

[grooveavenue]

Yes...as I mentioned earlier in the year with RAF 27.4.19 and Navy after season ends. With the wind in the right direction physically an metophorically, our Army contingent may not be missed too much v Caldy (h) on 27.4 as we will have avoided "the drop" with another WIN at Cambs!

Can it be confirmed in any case that Clubs have first call on players requested for representative matches?!

[sorrento]

My understanding is that the Army have first call on them at all times. My point was that they may well be unavailable for the whole of April.

[grooveavenue]

Ah yes sorrento. My thought on this is....as we pay wages should not the Club have first call on playing time. Army maenouvres + action postings would certainly be Army's call for active soldiers. I bow to your info. Perhaps Club can clarify.

[kingsheathlad]

I wonder whether we will have them for Plymouth game on March 30.

[cheshmos]

I don’t think the club are very good at telling the supporters anything

[southernmose]

Mar 19, 2019 20:09:02 GMT grooveavenue said:

Ah yes sorrento. My thought on this is....as we pay wages should not the Club have first call on playing time. Army maenouvres + action postings would certainly be Army's call for active soldiers. I bow to your info. Perhaps Club can clarify.

You might remember me saying this at the start of the season... once the inter-services get going then you can kiss goodbye to the services players. Hence getting as much out of them as possible between Sept and March.

Hopefully it won’t come back to bite us but it is the big drawback with the otherwise financially attractive forces signings....

[southernmose]

Mar 19, 2019 17:08:42 GMT sorrento said:

The squad includes Lewis Bean, Ravai Fatiaki, Nathaniel Titchard-Jones and John Davetanivalu. They have a training camp in Portugal from April 1-7 followed by a match against Bedford on April 10th before the inter-service championship games at the end of April.
So the Esher fixture may be the last time we see them this season ?

Hopefully the returnees form injury will see us through but this was always going to be a problem.

[westmoreland]

The Army are their "primary" employer and they are given special dispensation to allow them to play pro or semi pro rugby. The agreement as the club has always been aware of , is that they be released for the interservices championship.