Current and former Saints players to collide in Champ Rugby final
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Saints players Archie Benson and Toby Thame scored for Bedford Blues as they booked their place in this weekend’s Elior Champ Rugby play-off final.
And they will meet some former team-mates in the showpiece after ex-Saints back Jake Garside scored a last-gasp winner for Worcester Warriors against table-toppers Ealing Trailfinders.
Bedford will take on Worcester in the showpiece at Goldington Road on Sunday (kick-off 3pm). Both teams will be on a high after producing superb showings last weekend.
An incredible second-half display sent Bedford into the final as they beat 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.
Former Saints scrum-half 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, ex-Saint Alex Woolford charging down a clearance kick and gathering from the floor to set up current Saint Benson to cross, before Maisey dotted down to make it 44-19.
Maisey’s second and one from Saints centre Thame kept the home fans roaring, and though Coventry’s industry was rewarded with the final score of the match, Bedford advanced to the final.
They will take on a Worcester team who produced an almighty upset to down Ealing, earning a dramatic 34-29 victory.
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 former Saints back 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.
Naulago then rounded off a sumptuous flowing move to dot down beneath the posts.
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 10 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.
