THE Britannia Royal Naval College will be the venue for a rather bizarre sporting match-up at noon on Boxing Day.

Dartmouth's all-female hockey club will be taking on the town's men's rugby side in a game of hockey. The novel encounter has become a yearly affair at Christmas, explained Dartmouth Hockey Club coach Kevin Edwards. He said: 'This annual match has been happening for years, going back to the early 80s. I know this as I used to play for the rugby side when it all happened on grass.

'We now play for the Rex Boulton Cup. Rex was our president who passed away in 2010 and his family donated a cup for this annual event which Rex always supported. Victory is not assured as the rugby boys are usually fitter, faster and cheat a lot ! We will see on the day who had too much turkey.'

The rugby boys will be going into the game on a high after pulverising Plymouth Argaum 43-0, a victory which takes them second in the league. The hockey girls are also in top form, though, and they're also second in their league, Petroc Division 2. Captain Siobhan Edwards is therefore confident of success, quipping: 'We WILL win this year; the boys have been out of practice this year and, as you have seen from our hockey reports, we have been doing well.'