Army skipper wants to sign off on a high
Capt Jamie Miller hopes to sign off his playing career as Senior Men's Army skipper with win over Navy.
Signing off from a playing career on a tremendous high is the rarest of sporting milestones. But Capt Jamie Miller (AAC) hopes to be doing that at the Army Navy Match as the Army Senior Men’s skipper signs off from his time in the red shirt and from his playing career.
The 35-year-old back row leaves regular service in November, and with half a dozen caps and one more to come against the Navy at Twickenham on Saturday, he says that the time is right to be putting the boots to one side.
“The timings have aligned because my eldest son desperately wants to start playing rugby at the same time as I’m finishing playing, so it means that I can put all that weekend time into his rugby,” he says. “He’s very excited about the game and it’s good timing from a family perspective.”
Should he be selected to start on Saturday this will be the second time that Capt Miller will have led the Army out at the Home of England Rugby, and the third time overall he has experienced the unique Twickenham atmosphere of one of the biggest non-international occasions in the calendar.
Highlight of many rugby careers
“It is a special week and while it’s true that this is just another game, at the same time it’s not just another game, it’s a huge event and at the start of the week we’ll want to let that sink in,” he adds. “This will be for some people the absolute highlight of their career. You’ve got to enjoy it and enjoy the build-up.
“Then when we’re sitting in the changing room waiting to go out you switch in focus, lean on the leadership group and the experienced players. I’ll be asking the players who have been there and done that to step up and lead.
“You have to enjoy the week and we’ll have a team run and photos at Twickenham on the Friday, if you don’t soak that up then you’ll be missing a trick. In all reality, when you’ve had that first kick off and heard the roar of the crowd, from my experience from my first Army Navy you just get on with it.”
With the RAF game having been at Kingsholm and the Navy v RAF games also attracting good crowds, Capt Miller says this can only be good for Inter-Services rugby.
“It’s definitely the right direction,” he says. “It’s right for the RAF that they get to play in a quality stadium in front of a quality crowd, and long may it continue.”
Huge respect for Navy opposition
Capt Miller’s representative experience also includes selection for the UKAF squad which headed to the 2019 Armed Forces World Cup, and this increased his respect for Navy rugby.
“With UKAF in Japan a lot of the Navy players made up that squad,” he says. “It was interesting to get to know them as people rather than just as opposition. Now that I know them all to be very good blokes and consider them friends it’s going to make for a different dynamic.
“I’ve got a huge respect for the Navy. If you don’t, you do that at your peril. They’ve always had a good set-up and are well drilled. It’s always a good fixture, whatever the result. We
look at their results, they’ll be looking at ours, but it’s irrelevant how the teams are getting on against anyone else because the game is a game unto itself.
“The emotion, the significance of the event takes players to a different level, and it’s going to be about who reacts best, which players can rise to the occasion, which can compose themselves the best, who’s going to be the best under pressure. There are so many variables which will have an impact, not just the quality of the players.
“Who does that will be the most successful team.”
The Army Masters host the Royal Navy Ancient Mariners at Aldershot on Friday, April 29th. KO is 1400hrs and all are welcome.
Tickets for the Army Navy match are also still available. CLICK HERE for more information.
