Winners at Twickenham in Community Cup finals
Teams from across the country experienced a game day like no other at the Papa Johns Community Cup Finals day at Twickenham.
Counties 3 & Below Championship
North Bristol claimed glory at Twickenham after a tightly contested 31-24 win over Gloucester Old Boys.
Tries from Jack Cotter, Anthony Jelf and a double from flanker Max Fox Holmes was enough for the Bristolian side to take the crown at HQ and remain unbeaten in a phenomenal season.
Gloucester pushed them all the way and took the lead in the second half, but despite tries from Spencer Miller, Aled Halford-Tuffley and 12 points from Taylor Unett, they could not quite come away with the goods.
North Bristol Came out of the blocks the faster of the two sides, with a fantastic opening 10 minutes, which saw them race into a 10-0 lead thanks to a try from captain Cotter and five points from the boot of Josh Lobley.
By half-time though, the scores were level as flanker Miller crashed over before Unett added a penalty on half-time to make the scores 10-apiece. The momentum continued for Gloucester and they took the lead five minutes in the second half through Unnet after a wonderful cross-kick.
Bristol bounced back almost immediately though through blindside flanker Fox Holmes from close range and he quickly bundled over for his second score shortly after to put Bristol back in the lead.
That lead was then extended when scrum-half Anthony Jelf finished off an excellent team score to put them into a 31-17 lead with just seven minutes to go. The game was left on a knife edge late on when Gloucester centre Halford-Tuffley went over, but Bristol held on to claim a memorable win.
Men's Counties 2 Final
An incredible second half saw Teddington crowned champions after a 53-19 win over Wensleydale.
The south west Londoners scored seven tries, two from Joe Stainer and Tom Williams and further scores from Max Aitkin, George Bradford and Matt Poole.
Wensleydale scored three tries of their own, with hooker Tom Larder scoring twice and Jack Nichols diving over, but they were unable to deal with a formidable second half display from Teddington.
It took Teddington just three minutes to take the lead, when centre Williams cut inside to finish off a score after the ball spilled out of a ruck. Wensleydale came back quickly and soon scored a try of their own when Larder bundled over from the back of a driving maul to make the score 7-5.
Teddington then responded, this time with Bradford diving spectacularly into the corner and the ding-dong battle continued when Larder went over for his second, cutting an excellent line to crash over and level the scores.
Williams soon followed and got his second score, powering away through the middle of the Wensleydale defence to regain the lead. The Londoners then added two further tries before half-time, first through full-back Stainer and then Aitkin, putting them 33-12 up at the break.
Two penalties from Bob Beevers took his tally to 15 points but a try from Nichols reduced the gap to 20 points with plenty of time on the clock.
Any chance of a comeback was swiftly shut down though with Teddington adding two more tries, as Stainer secured his double and quickly after Poole went over for their seventh try of the afternoon.
Men's Counties 1 Final
Old Alleynians beat Harlow 34-7 to claim silverware at HQ - tries from Tommy Williams, Rory Simpson, Will Lawrence, Rory Holford and Josh Hinduss saw the London side home.
Harlow scored a try of their own through Louis Castiglione but it was not enough to fluster an inspired Old Alleynians side.
The pressure came early from Old Alleynians and despite some dogged defending from Harlow, they could not stop a wonderful flowing move. After going through the phases, the ball went wide to Williams from a fantastic floating miss pass and he finished cooly in the corner.
That lead was extended later in the opening 40 minutes, when Old Alleynians spent time camped in the Harlow 22, resulting in multiple penalties.
Hooker Simpson bundled over to take the half-time score to 13-0, and a try from Lawrence at the resumption extended that lead further to 20-0, with Old Alleynians seemingly dominating all of the battles in front of their vocal supporters.
Harlow did get one of their own back through Castiglione to briefly threaten a comeback and give their own supporters something to cheer about.
Old Alleynians found a second wind just when it mattered though and two quick scores from winger Holford and Winduss, who also added two excellent conversions, put the game out of Harlow’s reach.
Men's Regional 2 Final
Old Northamptonians came from behind to lift the Regional 2 Championship trophy with a 40-35 win over Horsham.
Tries from Luke Bond, Jake Diggin, Rory Seymour and a sensational Joel Grayson hat-trick secured a fantastic comeback, having trailed by 14 points at half-time.
Horsham themselves scored five tries through Aaron Linfield, Rich Tredgett, Jordan Smith, Ed Mannhardt and Jonny Goward, but were edged out in a classic at Twickenham after an unforgettable second-half from their opponents.
Horsham came out the stronger of the teams with scrum-half Linfield crossing after just a few minutes. Old Northamptonians did hit back quickly with a score of their own from No.8 Bond, who powered over to level the scores after 10 minutes.
Horsham then found a purple patch in the second quarter of the match, dotting down twice, first through Tredgett and then flanker Smith as they pulled into a 21-7 half-time lead.
The Midlands side were not going to lie down and roll over for their opponents though and they had a quality 25 minutes to go from two scores down to take the lead. Diggin crept over the line to respond quickly in the second half, before two excellent Grayson finishes in the same left-hand corner suddenly put them into a 26-21 lead.
The next score was crucial and it was Old Northamptonians who got it once again, this time from full back Seymour, and they led by 12 points with just 10 minutes on the clock.
Horsham scored another try to give themselves a chance when Mannhardt went over, but Grayson scored his third to seal the tie, before Horsham racked up a consolation score from Jonny Gowar.
