Southampton Spitfires found themselves up against Medway Dragons in the final of the South East Challenge Cup last week after despatching previous holders Portsmouth Seahawks 42-26 in their own back yard, whilst Medway took until overtime to see off Weald Warriors 48-50 away from home.

The final, held at Twickenham rugby club the home of Richmond Warriors rugby league club, kicked off at 1.45pm in very humid conditions and both teams knew that keeping hold of possession was going to be vital to win this Cup Final.

The teams take the field.

Despite knowing this the Spitfires failed to follow the defensive game plan early on and quick play the balls coupled with two penalties saw the Medway Dragons have the first attacking chance. From the following set of six the ball was shipped wide to the left allowing Medway winger Toby Pumfrey to squeeze in at the corner and give the Dragons an early 4-0 lead. The conversion attempt was missed from out wide.

The Dragons missed a chance to extend their lead when a break was pulled back for a forward pass and excellent Southampton forward play saw them making good yardage before benefitting from a cheap penalty awarded for interference at the play-the-ball.

Medway on the charge

With the Spitfires on the front foot they were awarded a second penatly, this time for holding down. Piggy backed up the field on two penalties the ball was spun wide allowing centre Sean Hayes to produce a lovely pass for flying winger Paddy Comerford who beat the Medway winger and would have scored under the posts if not for some excellent cover defence.

However that simply delayed the immediate score as the ball was moved left on the next play and Thomas Barnes crashed over to tie the match at four all. Tyler Harris added the extras from a wide angle to give Southampton a 6-4 lead after 15 minutes.

The Spitfires were again on the score sheet five minutes later after the forwards, led by Mark Amey, punched holes in the Dragons defence. Once again the ball was put wide by stand off Ross Nihill who found centre Sean Hayes in space from a set piece allowing Hayes to squeeze in and score. Harris this time pulled the extras wide leaving Southampton with a six point lead (10-4).

The Dragons got back in the game after Spitfires Kevin Cant took a knock in the tackle. With Cant down and unable to get to the marker the Dragons hooker Ben Shears took full advantage to break away and score under the posts. Richard Harris converted for the Dragons making it 10-10 on 30 minutes.

With the heat rising Southampton hit a hot streak of their own crossing for three tries in 10 minutes. First hooker Tyler Harris took advantage of some poor marker play close to the try line to score under the posts. His extras extended the lead to 16-10.

Next came skipper Ross Nihill who crossed after faking a pass to the strong running Kris Ford. The Dragons defence bought into the dummy run allowing Nihill to crash over. Once again Harris added the conversion making it 22-10 to the Spitfires.

Finally Richard O'Donnell extended an arm to plant the ball down under pressure after a great run by Hayes who put the loose forward into enough space to score. Harris missed the conversion but the Spitfires were seemingly well in control at 26-10 at the half time break.

HALF TIME: Southampton Spitfires 26 - 10 Medway Dragons

At half time Spitfires head coach Glenn Tyreman laid down three simple instructions to try and win the game. However within three minutes of the restart disaster struck Tyreman's plans when an all-in brawl broke out, sparked by an incident at the ruck which resulted in two Spitfires being shown red cards and one Dragon also sent off. With skipper Ross Nihill and half back partner Morgan Burnett both off for the remaining 37 minutes and the Spitfires down to 11 men the club's first chance of silverware looked in desperate risk of passing them by.

Tempers flair after half time as three players are sent off.

What happened next was to be the Spitfires greatest half of Rugby League since the club's formation in 2007. Don't read that incorrectly, it wasn't the team's prettiest or most skilful performance but it was by far their most determined and easily the bravest of the club's seven year history. They truly put their bodies on the line for each other.

The outnumbered Spitfires held their line time and time again with brilliant defence holding the Dragons out for repeated back-to-back sets. In fact Southampton should have extended their lead when Sean Hayes crossed the line but failed to ground the ball following some last ditch Dragons defending. It was one of just three second half attacks in the Medway half and looked for all the world like a gift spurned.

Medway again brought the game to the Spitfires line and and despite keeping the Dragons scoreless for 20 minutes the pressure finally told in the 63rd minute. Ben Shears scored his second next to the posts cutting the Spitfires lead to just 12 points at 26-14. Luckily for Southampton the conversion attempt was off target and so the damage was minimal.
As Medway continued to press they broke left but tired hands produced a low pass that was knocked on with a Medway overlap suggesting that they would otherwise have scored.

Southampton's second raid of the half took them to the 30 meter line where a penalty gave Harris the opportunity of extending Southampton's lead to 14 points, which would have meant Medway having to score three times to win the game. It wasn't to be as Harris's attempt drifted wide to the left of the uprights.

With 13 minutes left to play and the Spitfires still defending brilliantly the pressure again told. This time Tom Beaumont giving the Dragons hope when he scored a superb try close to the posts and this time Richard Harris made the conversion to put Medway just once score behind at 26-20.

Pressure does strange things to players. Southampton's players felt the pressure or fear of losing something that was, at half time it seemed, theirs to lose. That clearly drove their players to dig deep for each other. Medway on the other hand had a one man advantage and must have felt the pressure of the game clock ticking down as they tried everything to find a way through.

From the restart following Beaumont's try Medway, receiving, made mess of and duly gave the ball back to Southampton, giving the Spitfires only their third attacking position of the half and with it a second chance to seal the win.

From the turnover Kris Ford received the ball and his strong running caused the Medway defenders a problem allowing him to offload the ball which bounced into Tyler Harris's hands. From there Tyler Harris took full advantage to break free from dummy half. His smart play saw him find full back Mike Mcgrath who hit the ball at pace to go clean through the Dragons defence and over for the game's winning try on 77 minutes. Harris once again added the extras, this time from directly in front, making it 32-20.

There was time for one more set from the Dragons but again they couldn't capitalise and from the turn-over Southampton worked their way through an ugly but highly profitable 'up-the-jumper' set before kicking the ball into touch on the last tackle. That was the signal for the final whistle which brought great celebrations from the Spitfires players, staff and supporters and leaving a valiant Medway Dragons side in despair.

No pain no gain. Southampton lift the South East Challenge Cup.

Summary:

Southampton weathered an early onslaught from the Dragons before hitting their stride to take a 26-10 lead at the break but indiscipline would have cost them the game had it not been for an unprecedented second half defensive performance, in which their 11 men were everywhere to smother countless Medway scoring opportunities. Medway's 12 men clawed their way back into the tie and should have made better use of several scoring chances but they just couldn't execute a killer blow, leaving Southampton to deliver the classic counter attack and record a win that they can long be proud of. Medway will rue their missed chances but should take a great deal of pride in their performance. Both sides really did give everything and in sweltering conditions it was impressive to see such dedication. It wasn't a classy game, but it was a hell of a cup final and both side take full credit for that.

FULL TIME: SOUTHAMPTON SPITFIRES 32-20 MEDWAY DRAGONS

SPITFIRES GAME STAR: Sean Hayes was massive in attack scoring once and solid in defence.

DRAGONS GAME STAR (in our opinion): Tom Beaumont was at the heart of everything the Dragons produced and scored a superb solo try.

GAMEBREAKER: Mike McGrarth's excellent support play inside of Tyler Harris to score the winning try was superb and sparked memorable scenes.
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