Heartache as Withy fall at penultimate hurdle

A huge crowd roared Bromley to their second Twickenham appearance on Saturday as Withycombe's cup dream came to an end.

In a game worthy of its billing, the London regional champions came out on top of a pulsating encounter with a thrilling finish to match.

Both teams exploded out of the blocks, throwing their bodies at each other with defences coming out on top. After the hosts missed an early penalty chance, Withycombe worked their way up the field and Mike Richards sniped around the fringes of a ruck to open the scoring to a rapturous reaction from the vocal travelling support. Glenn Channing added the conversion to make it 7-0. Bromley hit back with a penalty shortly afterward and a poor kick chase left holes which were ruthlessly exploited as James Powell ran in a try in the corner, the conversion putting Bromley three points to the good. Withycombe's last ten minutes of the half had their disciples believing as it looked as though they had finally got a stranglehold on the game. Two more Channing penalties made it 13-10 and Withycombe would turn around with the advantage of the slope.

Withycombe's bolstered scrum gave them some good forward momentum in the scrums and lineout, and after a dominant firsst ten muntes of the second half the lead was stretched to 16-10, but the next 20 minutes was all Bromley as the hosts did a magnificent job of depriving their guests of the ball. Injuries to Dave Richards, Joe Parkin and Danny Sansom didn't help their cause but the Green & Black kept fighting only for Jon Axon to see yellow as the longest in a series of Withycombe offenders. Bromley tries either side of the sin binning left Withycombe trailing by six points and seemingly in need of a miracle as the teams packed down in the Withycombe 22 with Bromley to feed and eight minutes on the clock.

A backpedalling scrum left the ball bobbling out of the back which was snaffled by John Parkin, who jinked 70 metres downfield and in the process earned Withycombe the first of six penalties inside the Bromley 22 before the final whistle. Despite getting the ball over the line three times, and grounding it twice, no try was awarded, much to the disappointment of Mike Richards who had one given only for it to be taken away again. The decisive moment came when the ball squirted out of the back of the final scrum and was seized by Bromley, and the dream was over. A sad moment, but one could not have asked more of the Withycombe players and we can only hope we have the privilege of playing in this competition again next year.

Withycombe wind their season up with away games at Honiton (11th April) and Bodmin (18th April). The club's presentation evening is on the 23rd of May, tickets for which can be bought from Josh Bancroft.

Withycombe: Jack Pugsley, Danny Sansom, Joe Parkin, Tom Counsell, Andy Matchett, Glenn Channing (1C, 3P), John Parkin, Chris Gibbons, Dave Richards, Liam Cullen, Jon Axon (YC), Mark Wilkinson, Terry Mears, Eugene Badenhorst, Mike Richards (1T). Reps: Sam Manning, Phil Sluman, Ben Clark, Danny Parry, Andrei Toma, Tom Steer, Kevin Rodwell.