Sussex Downs College 14 QEGS Penrith 13

Last updated 11:22, Wednesday, 09 April 2008

PENRITH’s Queen Elizabeth Grammar School came agonisingly close to snatching the Daily Mail Under-18 Schools Vase at Twickenham before going down 14-13 to Sussex Downs College.

Action from the final

The trophy had been won by northern schools for the previous five years but a penalty from their England Colleges centre Charlie Terry three minutes from time took it to Sussex for the first time.

Even after Terry kicked his penalty the drama was not over. QEGS were awarded a long range penalty in the sixth minute of stoppage time but winger William Addison’s attempt from close to the left touchline fell short of the target.

The scoreline reflected how close the game was with both sides trying to play open rugby in an end-to-end affair that entertained a sizeable crowd.

“We didn’t play as well as we wanted to but they gave us a great game,” said Jim Maskell, the Sussex Downs coach.

“I have just had an hour-and-a-half of panic watching them. We only have 40 players at the college, four balls, five tackle shields and a handful of cones, but we have still been able to go out and win a Daily Mail final at Twickenham.”

The final was fast and frenetic with plenty of handling errors but also lots of excitement and was played at a furious pace.

Sussex Downs, whose rugby programme has grown from an initial intake of 11 players to 45 in ten years, initially used their big forwards to attack QEGS directly but it was the Cumbrians who took the lead after 15 minutes when a lovely break from fly-half James Ellar created space for captain Philip Fell to gallop over. Ellar, who was short with an early penalty attempt, added the conversion.

Fell, whose twin Jonathan played in the centre, was one of three sets of brothers in the QEGS squad.

Sussex Downs immediately reduced the deficit when fly-half Luke Yaafe slotted a penalty and they almost went ahead when scrum-half Mark Lewis went over the line but was bundled into touch in-goal before he could get the ball down.

But a penetrative run by James Streeter, Sussex Downs’ industrious number eight, stretched the QEGS’s defence and right wing James Halpin found just enough room to squeeze in by the corner flag and dot down for an unconverted try.

The lead lasted for barely a minute as QEGS launched the last attack of the first half and Ellar landed a cool drop goal with the final play of the half.

He was off target with a penalty in the early stages of the second half but Sussex Downs immediately infringed again and this time Ellar was able to land a more straightforward penalty.

There was no let up in the pace and Yaafe kicked his second penalty ten minutes into the second half but both he and Ellar were off target with subsequent penalty attempts in the tense closing stages.

When Sussex Downs were awarded another penalty three minutes from time they handed the kicking duties to Charlie Terry and the centre responded by nervelessly landing his first kick at goal.

Addison also took over the kicking duties for QEGS when Ellar appeared to decide that the injury-time penalty was out of his range. It also proved to be too far for Addison though the kick was snaffled by the QEGS forwards but not for long enough to create another scoring opportunity.

Steve Jones, the QEGS coach, said: “A penalty in the middle of the field at the end would have been nice. But I am very proud of the lads, their discipline was great.

“We hoped to make it a more open game but their defence was probably just too good for us.”

QEGS Penrith: Philip Fell (captain); William Addison, Jonathan Fell, Aaron Sutton, Joseph Bancroft; James Ellar, Matthew Willliamson; Michael Clarke, Sam Putnam, Daniel Coleman, Philip Gardham, Jonty Ward, Ciaran McNeill, Matthew Sutton, Joe Ellis. Replacements: Mark Armstrong, Luke Braidwood, Hugo Addison, Ross Gardner, Antony Graham, Scott Davidson, Jonathon Pritchard.