Students from English and Welsh universities took the spoils as Scotland hosted the annual University Royal Naval Units (URNU) Olympiad.

Mixed teams from all the URNUs competed in four events – netball, hockey, rugby and shooting – hosted by personnel at Clyde Naval Base, which boasts excellent sporting facilities.

And it was the Southampton University team which triumphed, followed by the Welsh Universities.

The South Coast team did not actually win any of the events. but picked up enough points to take the top prize.

The Welsh students won the rugby and netball – egged on by their colourful Welsh dragon mascot – while Oxford won the hockey and Glasgow the shooting.

Prizes and trophies were presented by Flag Officer Scotland, Northern England and Northern Ireland (FOSNNI), Rear Admiral Derek Anthony.

Scotland was home to the first URNU – Aberdeen was set up in 1967 with the aim of encouraging undergraduates to find out more about the Royal Navy without any obligation to join on completion of their studies.

Each URNU today is a Naval training establishment with its own offices, classroom and officers’ mess, and each unit also has an Archer-class patrol boat assigned to it, with a full-time RN crew.

The 49-ton Archers, or P2000s, are fitted with modern navigational equipment, and run on exactly the same lines as larger Royal Navy warships, giving students an accurate insight into life in the Senior Service and the seamanship skills required.

The Archer-class patrol boat normally operates with a crew of five, but has accommodation for up to 12 people, making it an ideal size for training and short deployments.

These small craft deploy during the Easter and summer holidays, often to foreign ports – recent years have seen URNU craft visit Norway, Spain, France, Germany and Russia.