The Men’s Blues were on the road for the second week in a row, this time a trip to Aldershot the destination to take on the might of the British Army who are preparing for the forthcoming Inter-Services Competition and thus present a significant challenge for the Dark Blues. The groundsman had done a fantastic job in getting the pitch playable and despite the temperature plummeting during the mach, the surface just remained fir for purpose up to the final whistle. A you g Blues side started strongly and were rewarded for their early endeavour with a well taken try for Tom Stileman playing in the centres this week. However, this score only served to awaken the giant and the Army responded wit two tries from their two Fijian wingers, one of which was converted by the full-back, also Fijian to make the score at the interval 12 points to 5 in favour of the hosts. With fingers starting to chill the second half saw a number of errors creep in as both teams tried to stay warm by running the ball where possible, but the Army extended their lead to 22 – 5 with two tries, neither converted, before the Blues had the better of the final ten minutes and were unlucky to come away with only one further try to make the full time score 22 – 10 to the Army.

No 8 Ryan Jones picked up his second Man of the Match award in 2019.

The Men’s Blues return to Iffley Road next Wednesday when they welcome the Royal Navy, kick off 7.15pm.

Team Abhijeet Oswal, John Aaron Henry, Ben Parker, Jasper Dix, Charlie Pozniak, Euan Friend, Sam Miller, Ryan Jones, Dylan McGagh, Louis Jackson, Rob Quinlan, Sebastian Haddock, Tom Stileman, Tobi Clarke, James Dempsey

Subs Louis Wright (on for John Aaron Henry), Conor Hennessy (on for Abhijeet Oswal), Barney Vaughan (on for Ben Parker), Will Garson (on for Charlie Pozniak), Sam Ridgway (on for Sam Miller), Louis Pincott (on for James Dempsey), Henry Hackett (on for Tom Stileman), Robbie Fraser

Scores T: Tom Stileman (1), Sebastian Haddock (1)