Fijian Missile Sinks USS Carl Vinson

On May 17th a Nomads team lead by acting captain Steve Mommaerts played host to sailors from the American aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, of recent fame for reportedly performing Osama Bin Laden’s burial at sea.

The game started slow with a pack of errors with neither team dominating the early exchanges. However after settling down, and Saki Tuisolia finding his contact lenses, the Nomads pack appeared to find some rhythm. The tireless work of Phil Sinclair and Alex Patrick ensured that the Nomads backs had some quality ball to work with. A ‘mobile’ backline that included Sam Chittick and Sean Georget stretched the opposition and, with the game opening up, Nomads started to assert their authority on the proceedings.

Two tries in quick succession from Kevin Ogley and Nigel Barrett ensured that Nomads went into the break with a decent platform to work off of. Ogley, playing against his fellow countrymen, looked to continue his impressive recent form and added another try soon after the break, meaning he has now scored six tries in his last two games. However, his second score of the game did not come without sacrifice and he was stretchered off after pulling a hamstring on the home stretch.  

Further scores were made by Eric Savina and Mommearts and there was no let up for the Navy as Nomads rang the changes with a new backline that included three fast Alabang backs moonlighting for the Nomads side. Despite this being the first game for many of the American sailors, they continued to plug away and started to grow in confidence after their number 7 clattered Dave Feeney. However, with the new injection of pace in the Nomads back line it wasn’t long before Nomads ran in a few more scores with Billy and Tim grabbing a brace apiece.

The match was capped by an outstanding performance by Saki, the Fijian second-row who was in demonic form. Moments from the end, Saki showed the USS Carl Vinson that they weren’t the only ship to carry some high profile cargo last week as the big Fijian cruise liner stormed up the field with three officers hanging off his back. The game, which was marshaled excellently and evenly by referee Phil Gittus, finally came to an end with the Navy team being justifiably happy after giving a very decent account of themselves against a much more experienced side despite the lopsided scoreline of 54 - 0. Jon Morales & Daniel Williams