A comprehensive win over the Royal Air Force has set the Navy’s rugby union squad up nicely for the clash of the season against the Army at Twickenham on Saturday.

A crowd of 800 gathered at the Rectory in Plymouth to see the hosts steamroller the RAF 49-5 in their Inter-Services clash.

With indifferent form by both sides in the lead-up to the game, few could guess how this match would go.

But the Dark Blues provided the answer within 15 minutes.

First S/Lt Tim Southall ran through a gap to score in the corner after a ruck set up by Capt Matt Parker on 11 minutes.

Four minutes later, Southall ghosted past three RAF defenders to touch down for a second try.

He had to leave the field shortly afterwards with a knee injury, but it didn’t stop the RN’s momentum.

LA Jan Laity went over in the corner on 19 minutes, and four minutes later he touched down again to put the RN 22-0 ahead.

Man-of-the-match 2/Lt Will Pilkington forced his way through on the half-hour to give the RN a 27-0 half-time lead.

Memories of last year’s amazing RAF fightback were still fresh in the minds, when the RN had a seemingly unassailable lead, but in the end only scraped home.

But this year, there was to be no comeback from the airmen. The Navy’s Parker broke free on 54 minutes to score unopposed and Pilkington notched up his second try on the hour after a scrum five metres out.

The RAF scored a consolation try on 66 minutes, but it only spurred the RN on to greater efforts.

First LAEM Dave Pascoe ran in from ten metres out, then CH Josh Drauniniu scored the try of the match, intercepting an RAF pass and running the length of the field to close the scoring at 49-5.

Another winner in the match was Christopher Martin, from Bromley, in Kent, whose name was picked from a hat by Rear Admiral Tim McClement as the Navy’s mascot for the Twickenham clash.

On the same day as the senior side was running riot, the RN women’s side narrowly lost out to the RAF 5-7, while the men’s veterans were heavily defeated by their air force counterparts 8-54.

Away from the Inter-Services games, POWTR Jane Pizii has made history as the first woman to referee a rugby union clash on Maltese soil.

PO Pizii (HMS Drake) regularly officiates on the county circuit in Cornwall, but on this occasion accompanied the RN U21 side to Malta.

The tour also saw the first match between the RN youth side and Malta’s U23, which the sailors won comprehensively, 30-12.

Back in the UK, rugby fans in Portsmouth were treated to a sight of the Webb Ellis Trophy, captured so dramatically by England in Australia last autumn.

The trophy is doing a tour of the country, with a little help from 702 Naval Air Squadron, which has been ferrying the silverware around in Hampshire and the Channel Islands.

The trophy, nicknamed Bill, was shown at Burnaby Road before the RN took on the Hampshire County side, and its presence obviously had the desired effect on the sailors, who crushed the civilians 41-20.