Warriors and Blues into Champ final while Blackheath seal promotion
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Worcester Warriors will meet Bedford Blues in the Elior Champ Rugby final
Worcester Warriors will take on Bedford Blues in the Elior Champ Rugby final next weekend after both came through thrilling semi-finals.
Warriors downed regular season table-toppers 34-29 in the capital while Bedford produced a dazzling second half performance to beat Coventry 58-24.
In the Accession Final, Blackheath confirmed their place in next season's Elior Champ by beating London Scottish 27-7 at the Richmond Athletic Ground.
Warriors win it at the death
Worcester Warriors produced an almighty upset to down Ealing Trailfinders in Elior Champ Rugby semi-finals with a dramatic 34-29 victory, writes Joseph Saunders at Trailfinders Sports Ground.
Three early tries put the visitors 19 points ahead but Ealing came storming back with the vengeance of a side not wanting 26 consecutive league wins to prove futile.
And in a ding-dong finale, Dan Jones thought he had won it for Ealing at the death, only for Jake Garside to break through with the clock in the red to spark delirium among the travelling fans.
Warriors exerted relentless early pressure, and just five minutes in, Hugh Bokenham smashed through Trailfinders’ dogged defence to give them a shock lead.
The Midlanders soon repeated the trick and this time, Siva Naulago was the one to crash over, but former England international Billy Twelvetrees, once of Ealing, was unable to convert from beneath the posts.
Between the home fans’ frustration, an intermittent fire alarm, and sudden bursts of hype music during dead balls, the game became increasingly chaotic under the scorching mid-afternoon sun.
Worcester ignored any distractions and kept their minds firmly on the task at hand, with Naulago rounding off a sumptuous flowing move to dot down beneath the posts, prompting euphoric celebrations among subs and starters alike.
Within two minutes, however, Trailfinders found their mojo. The ball was sprayed out to Michael Dykes for a free run in and Jones kicked the conversion to make it 19-7.
And when Conor Oliver carried the ball through three defenders, they had their second score of the day.
After the break, Dykes flew over from Francis Moore’s pass after Trailfinders capitalised on poor handling from the visitors. When Jones converted, the 19-point deficit had been completely eradicated and Ealing smelled blood.
After 59 minutes, they finally hit the front as a rolling maul rumbled over the tryline, Scott Buckley the one to claim the spoils.
But when the underdogs were backed into the corner, they came out scrapping. Will Reed hared onto his own grubber to break the Ealing defence and gleefully dived over, but the failed conversion left the game at 24-24 heading into the final ten minutes.
Reed’s nerveless penalty from just beyond the halfway line looked to be decisive until Jones crept in at the corner as Ealing celebrated what appeared to be a winning score in the 79th minute.
Except it wasn’t. Straight from kick-off, Garside found a hole in the defence and wrestled through desperate challenges to complete an utterly remarkable finish.
Brilliant Blues into final
An incredible second-half display sent Bedford Blues into the Elior Champ Rugby final as they defeated Coventry 58-24 at a jubilant Goldington Road.
The visitors led 12-10 at the break but Blues were at their free-flowing best after the restart to book their place in the showpiece.
Cov were first to strike through scrum-half Sam Maunder but Blues hit back through a Will Maisey penalty and an interception try from Ryan Hutler, which was converted.
Jack Reeves responded in kind to put Coventry in front at half time, after which Blues were a team transformed.
Maisey nudged them in front from the tee and they stretched their lead thanks to a brilliant break from Dean Adamson, who claimed his own chip down the wing and offloaded to fellow winger Hutler to finish the job.
Alex Day followed up with another soon afterwards but Coventry stayed in the hunt when Maunder’s grubber set up Reeve for his second, reducing the deficit to 30-19.
Bedford responded by taking the game out of sight. The two locks combined for their next try, Alex Woolford charging down a clearance kick and gathering from the floor to set up Archie Benson to cross, before Maisey dotted down to make it 44-19.
Maisey’s second and one from replacement Toby Thame kept the home fans roaring and though Coventry’s industry was rewarded with the final score of the match, Bedford advanced to next Sunday’s final.
Blackheath going up
Blackheath enjoyed one of the greatest days in their history after they stormed past London Scottish 27-7 to return to the Elior Champ for the first time in 27 years, writes Phil Campbell at Richmond Athletic Ground.
In front of a 2,115-strong crowd at Richmond Athletic Ground, Tom Stradwick’s outfit defied expectations and the heat to run in three tries, courtesy of Oskar Hirskyj-Douglas, Billy Harding and Tom Hughes, to secure a spot in the second tier of English rugby next term.
It proved to be a disappointing end to outgoing director of rugby Bryan Redpath’s four-year tenure at Scottish, who found themselves in the Accession Final after losing the relegation play-off 34-11 to rivals Richmond last week.
Scottish, who lost Matt Wilkinson early on through injury, were dogged by a series of handling errors under the high ball that ultimately proved costly.
After winning a penalty from a breakdown infringement brought about by a drop close to the 22-metre line, Blackheath produced a series of powerful mauls before the ball was worked infield to Hirskyj-Douglas, who had the easiest of tasks to score next to the posts.
Sam Morley, perfect from the tee throughout the afternoon, added the extras to make the score 7-0, before Harding, fresh from setting a new National League 1 try-scoring record with 48 in 26 games during the regular season, crashed over in the 13th minute to stretch the visitor’s advantage after Oli Duncan was sin-binned in the build-up.
Luke Pollock’s superb take under pressure set-up Blackheath’s third try, scored in the right corner by Hughes, to ensure they took a 21-0 lead into the break following a half that saw Scottish ship ten penalties.
Morley’s early second-half penalty continued the momentum Blackheath had built during the opening salvo as Scottish saw promising moves prematurely ended by handling errors.
Hughes almost put the result of the game beyond doubt just before the hour mark, but he was crucially brought down after his chip-and-chase created space down the right wing.
Blackheath saw the game despite playing with 14 men twice during the half due to Josh Smart and James Cornish’s yellow cards.
Scottish eventually made it onto the scoreboard through Jonny Law's 77th-minute consolation but Morley's second penalty of the game was the final scoring action of the contest, with the full-time whistle met with raucous cheers from the Blackheath's faithful in attendance.
The hosts, meanwhile, will play third-tier rugby next season for the first time in 15 years.
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