Royal Australian Signals Spartans v Brisbane Veteran Jackals RLFC – 28 April 24
With the ANZAC commemorations for 2024 almost over, there was final playing of the last post at North Devils Brisbane Rugby Club. The Devils were hosting a small piece of history for the Royal Australian Signals Spartans team. They would be entertaining the large crowd with a match against a fellow Veteran team, the Brisbane Jackals. However, this year’s annual ANZAC match, would for the first time see the Spartans play Rugby League rather than their traditional Union version of rugby.
The Spartans team, once again made up of serving members of from Royal Australian Signals units and the Queensland Police Force were brought together to take on a strong Brisbane Veterans team who were purely league based in an encounter that not only commemorated ANZAC day, but was trying to raise awareness once again of mental health conditions that both serving, and former members of the Australian Defence Force and Queensland Police officers often suffer from. Their main effort was to raise money for the Animal Therapy LTD charity who support veterans with the use of assistance animals.
With only a two-hour captains run prior to the event for all the team members to come together, and the vast majority of the players with little to no experience of the rugby league format of the game, the odds were always going to be stacked against the team. However, the players that had travelled the length and breadth of the country were keen to give an excellent account of themselves, and show the world that they were here to mean business.
Many of the Spartans players had arrived form Darwin’s 1 Combat Signal Regiment, Sydney based 145 Signal Squadron, Queensland based units such as 7 Combat Signal Regiment, 1 Signal Regiment, and Toowoomba’s 7 Signal Regiment. Coming together with a number of Queensland Police from Brisbane and Toowoomba the team set about its task, to try to shock the Jackals and show them that they were not just here to make up the numbers! With the thumping tune of AC’DC’s Dogs of War playing in the background, the Jackals kicked off to the Spartans. Right from the onset, the Jackels were pushing hard to prove they were a team to beat. The Jackals did not take long to show what the Spartans were up against crossing over twice in the opening 10 minutes of the game. Some well worked try’s, with both conversions successful they now led 12 – 0.
The Spartans needed some hands on the ball, and finally managed a sustained attack in the Jackals half. Picking up two resets of tackles they applied pressure to the Jackals line, only to be denied by a last gasp tackle on the line. From the restart the Spartans continued pressuring the Jackals, and when they managed to regain possession 20 metres out, they drove toward the corner for there first try. A successful conversion saw the deficit halved to 12 – 6 just before halftime. From the restart the Jackals came straight back the Spartans and on the stroke of halftime scored and converted to take the lead 18 – 6 into the break.
The second half got underway, and the Spartans came out with renewed vigour and a point to prove. Knowing they had more to give, they put the Jackals under some excellent pressure early on, and within five minutes of the restart, found themselves under the posts. Converted quickly, they were now 18 – 12 down, and continued to push the Jackals for an equalising score. With the game in the balance, the Jackals made a raft of changes. With fresh legs on the park, they started to open up the Spartans, and as gaps appeared defensively, so did the try scoring chances. Within a short period, the Jackals better knowledge of the game, plus their match fitness started to take hold over the Spartans. Very quickly they scored a brace of try’s to put any thoughts of a miracle turn around and shock result to bed. The Spartans never had an answer to the Jackals in the last ten minutes, and a limitation to the final score was all they could muster.
As the final whistle sounded, the 40 – 12 score seemed irrelevant to the Spartans. To them, they had taken on a well prepared and strong Rugby League coded team, as Union players. With the game long gone in the evening, the team auctioned their playing jerseys of to raise funds for the charity, with over $5500 being raised. Another great effort by the team, and once again the Corps Rugby team demonstrated why they lead the way in Army Rugby.
