Army Navy Match
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| Locale | London |
|---|---|
| Teams | |
| First meeting | 13 February 1878 (Annually since 6 March 1909) |
| Latest meeting | 29 April 2017 Army 29–20 |
| Stadiums | Twickenham Stadium |
| Trophy | The Babcock Trophy |
| Statistics | |
| All-time series |
Army 61, Navy 35, Draws 4 (1939, 1969 1980 and 2016) |
| Largest victory | Army, 50–7 (2009) |
| Smallest victory | Navy 11–10 (1921), Navy 9–8 (1948), Navy 17–16 (1978), Army 10–9 (1983) |
| Current sponsor | Babcock International |
Note: The infobox does not include the matches of 1905 or 1906. 1907 was the first official Army Navy match played after the formation of the two respective Unions.
The Army Navy Match is the annual rugby union match played between the senior XV teams of the Royal Navy and British Army. It marks the culmination of the annual Inter-Services Competition. Although a match was played between the officers of the British Army and the officers of the Royal Navy at The Oval, London on 13 February 1878, it was not until 1907 that the Army Navy Match became an annual fixture, when it was jointly administered by the newly formed Royal Navy Rugby Union (RNRU – 1906) and the Army Rugby Union (ARU – 1906). Since then it has been played every season, with the exception of during the world wars (1914–19 and 1940–45) when the matches were suspended. Traditionally the Army Navy match has been played in the second half of the domestic season but in season 1907/1908 it was played in December and due to this anomaly the calendar year 1908 did not see an Army Navy match played yet they played each other twice in 1907. The 2016 Army Navy was the 99th in the series and the match saw another new record crowd of 81323 watch the Army Navy match which was one of the most compelling ever. The Navy took the lead 7–0 (Dave Fairbrother) on 20 minutes before the Army scored three tries (Semesa Rokoduguni 2, Owain Davies) before half time to lead 19–7 at the beak. A further try for the Army (James Farrell) early in the second period saw them extend their lead to 26-7 with half an hour of the match remaining. The Royal Navy staged the most remarkable of comebacks with tries from Gareth Rees and Rhys Dymmock-WIlliams either side of a penalty try to level the scores at 26-26 with 9 minutes remaining. An Owain Davies penalty with 2 minutes to go seemed to seal the win for the Army before Royal Navy fullback landed a 45m penalty of his own to again tie the game 29–29 with less than a minute to go. The draw meant that the Army Navy Trophy was shared but he Royal Navy were Inter Service Champions having beaten the RAF 9–8 at USSG Portsmouth. The RAF had beaten the Army 13–12 at RAF Halton in the opening round of the Inter Services. Royal Navy Number 8 completed a remarkable game which included a try, a yellow card and being named Man of the Match.
The 100th Army Navy Match will be played at Twickenham on 29 April 2017.
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