The final women's Pool B match of the Collegiate Rugby Championship on June 3 was a classic match up with Army facing long-time rivals Navy for 7s bragging rights. Army won their first two matches of the day and Navy beat North Carolina before suffering an upset at the hands of Princeton. But once the two teams came up against each other, nothing else mattered.

An Army player takes the ball up against Princeton. (Marvin Dangerfield)

Navy on the attack against North Carolina prior to the match against Army. (Marvin Dangerfield)

Navy kicked off and regained possession before throwing a forward pass. After the scrum, Navy soon won the ball back as they had all day through their tenacious counter rucking but possession switched hands again. Army did not have the ball for long before a Navy player ripped the ball away and scored in the left corner for an early lead at 5-0.

The match had a tense atmosphere and both teams were throwing everything they had at each other. Army mounted an attack on the Navy line before they barreled into the try zone to make the score 5-5 at halftime.

In the second half, Army was awarded a penalty after a Navy player was called for not entering through the gate at a ruck. The ball was taken quickly and worked out to the left touchline and around the defense for a converted score.

Navy made it close to Army’s end right off the kick off before a maul was brought down and the ref called the ball unavailable. Navy won the 5-meter scrum and their number five dove over to cut into Army’s lead, 12-10.

Army kept their discipline though. The kickoff was returned and the ball passed wide right for an Army player to extend the lead with an unconverted try.

Navy was not done yet and when Army’s ensuing kickoff went out the back of the try zone, Navy took the free kick at the 50-meter line and worked their way down to the try line. Navy made it over but their last-ditch effort was held up and when Army won a penalty in the following 5-meter scrum, the ball was kicked to touch to close out the latest installment of the Army/Navy rivalry. The final score was 17-10 to Army.

Army head coach Will Riddle said that when it’s Army against Navy, all the on paper stuff goes out the window and both teams give it their absolute all to get the win. With the victory, Army went undefeated in pool play and will take the number one seed for Pool B going into Sunday’s quarterfinals. “[Getting the number one seed] was the goal,” Riddle said. “We’re feeling good going into Sunday.”