The Royal Air Force were dispatched with some style as the Senior Service opened its Rugby League Inter-Services campaign with a double show of strength on home turf.

The full squad and the academy side both saw off the fliers at Burnaby Road in Portsmouth.

The full side were ten points up within ten minutes with tries from Paul Clark and James Wagstaffe and one conversion from the boot of Scott Partis.

The RAF kicked back with a penalty, but the impetus lay with the Dark Blues as second row Danny Fallon celebrated his first cap with a great try to give the Navy a 14-2 lead at the break.

After a scrappy opening to the second half, winger Marc Warren re-asserted the Navy’s dominance with a try on the right, again converted by Partis.

Partis kicked another penalty before Richie Neve completed the RN’s scoring, dotting down under the posts. Once again Partis converted.

With an unassailable 28-2 lead, the Navy team took their foot off the gas, allowing the RAF to run in two tries, one converted, in the closing ten minutes, giving a final score of 28-14 which made the match appear closer than it was.

The academy side scored an even more comprehensive victory, although at half-time it looked as if they might end up losing.

The airmen went into the break with a 10-6 lead, largely because the RN failed to take their chances, beyond three penalties kicked by Dean Smallbone.

But Paul Read set the stamp on the second half with a try on 44 minutes to level the scores, and it proved to be the straw which broke the camel’s back.

Five minutes later Boothy Booth went over, followed by Smallbone, and two more converted tries gave the RN a 36-10 lead, which was only pegged back to 36-14 by a last-gasp score from RAF sub Sheffield.

Now the squad moves on to the showdown, against the Army at Aldershot.

Pic By LA(PHOT) Nicola Harper