THE British Army clinched a place in the third round of the Ladbrokes Challenge Cup – rugby league’s equivalent of the FA Cup – with a rousing 26-14 victory over London Chargers at Aldershot on Saturday.

Both teams were in confident mood after convincing first-round wins and the Army got off to a dream start as the ball went through four pairs of hands to reach Scott Bradley who went over in the corner.

The conversion was missed in the awful conditions, but Micky Hoyle slotted a penalty over and, soon after, crossed for a try that made it 10-0.

Chargers stormed back, though, and tries from hooker Eric Sims and Sam Swire, the first converted by Todd Peut, levelled it up at 10-10.

Hard, fast and aggressive was the name of the game, with the forwards on fire. The Army hooker, Matty Scott, buried himself under the sticks to restore the lead and Hoyle added the extras; 16-10 at half-time.

As the whistle blew for the second half, the heavens opened, but Chargers pushed out a fantastic grubber and Chris Martin pounced to put them back in the game.

The skills on display made a mockery of the weather. It was end-to-end and gripping.

Loz Hamzat burst through the London defence and dived over to stretch the lead to 20-10. And the Army established a two-score lead when loose forward George Clarke dropped his shoulder and bashed through a desperate defence to score under the posts. Hoyle converted and it was 26-14.

Chargers fought all the way in the closing 10 minutes and it was the Army’s turn to defend desperately until the final whistle ended a thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable contest in Hampshire.