St. Benedict's Make Twickenham Final

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One match away from being nation's best school team

St. Benedict's First XV booked their place in the final of the Daily Mail Cup with a convincing 19-6 victory over Barnard Castle on Saturday in Coventry.

The match looked to be a tough fixture for the Ealing boys as the north-easterners were beaten finalists last year and have had the best track record in the competition in recent times. Also with a list of rugby alumni that included 20 England internationals such as Rob Andrew, Matthew Tait and the Underwood brothers plus three current England U-18 internationals in the team it was clear that St. Benedict's would not get away with another faltering performance such as they delivered against Filton College in the quarter final.

Benedict's started strongly and immediately put their opposition under pressure. Within five minutes they had crossed the line but the ref failed to spot that the ball had been properly grounded. They continued to look for gaps in the Barnard Castle line but strong defensive tackles meant that no meaningful breaks were made. However, Barnard Castle on their rare incursions into Benny's half manage to pick up three kickable penalties, two of which they scored from. Despite being the dominant team Bennys were 0-6 down at half time. A repeat of the tense finale of the quarter final looked on the cards.

It did not take long for their superiority on the pitch to be reflected on the scoreboard. Despite Barnard Castle appearing to have a much heavier pack, Bennys were bossing them in the mauls and pushed their opponent's pack backwards by 10 yards or more for hooker Charlie Allum to score. Fly half Stuart Pearham scored with what looked like an unkickable conversion from outwide in very blustery conditions to put his team ahead. Not long later Charlie Allum, with the help of his pack, repeated his feat with another try in the corner. Stuart Pearham was unable to perform a second miracle but Benny's were now 12-6 up.

Barnard Castle worked hard to get the converted try they need but, perhaps unwisely, chose to attempt kicks when awarded penalties in promising positions. With a significant height advantage in the line out they could have hoped to secure the ball inside 22. However, Benedict's Michael Simpson at scrum half started to boss the game and when he made a break in midfield the ball was slipped to Ireland U-18 international James Stephenson to score under the posts and effectively end the game to the delight of the large band of travelling support.

Having been defeated in the semi-final last year it was a massive relief for the side which had been identified as a top school team ever since many of the boys started playing a U-9s. The team now will make the short trip to Twickenham on April 2nd aiming to be the first side in the history of the competition to win the title at both U-15 and U-18 level.

March 3, 2008