Tries: Logan, Williams, Nightingale

Conversions: Neville (3)

Pens:

Drop Goals:

Tries from James Logan, Huw Williams and Craig Nightingale helped the 1st XV secure their seventh successive UH Cup final victory. Leading 21-0 the Medicals were forced to work hard by a spirited Kings Medical (formerly GKT) side who came back strongly in the second half with tries from Matt Morgan and Lucas Rehnberg taking the final score to 21-12.

Sunshine and showers greeted the sides at London Welsh’s Old Deer Park ground for the United Hospitals Challenge Cup final, the oldest rugby competition still in existence which was first contested 134 years ago in 1875. Injured skipper Austin Dekker selected a squad with a pleasing mixture of youth and experience with centre James Logan, who led the Medicals to victory in 2006, being handed the captain’s armband. Special mention must be reserved for freshers Ed Pickles, Craig Nightingale and James Sharples whose excellent performances this season meant they were selected in the starting XV ahead of many Medicals’ stalwarts.

Playing with the breeze in the first half the Medicals started brightly with half-backs Tom Maynard and Dan Neville keeping the Medicals in GKT territory for much of the opening stanza. Strong ball carrying by Ben Davies and James Logan gave dangerous wings James Sharples and Harry Thompson space out wide, however, the fervid Guy’s defence led by the back row of Rob Hone, Mark Halls and Matt Morgan prevented the Medicals from crossing the line early on. The set-piece was also keenly contested with Ed Pickles, Ruairidh Crawford and Xander Ancock being well matched by their GKT counterparts in the scrum and Rhys Davies partnered by Ross Ferry had a ding-dong battle with Medicals lineout duo Peter O’Neill and Rob Anderson.

It wasn’t until almost halfway through the opening period that the deadlock was broken. A mix-up by GKT centres Pete Robinson and Adam Staten gave the Medicals possession in broken play. Making the most of the splintered defence James Logan gathered the ball and showed tremendous pace to beat GKT left wing James Cuthbertson on the outside. Keeping a cool head Logan ran round to touch down under the posts making the conversion a formality for fly-half Dan Neville. On 35 minutes Peter Russell replaced Ruairidh Crawford, who had played 80 minutes against Stevenage the previous day, at hooker.

After Guy’s had passed up a try-scoring opportunity of their own through a straightforward handling error the Medicals were to extend their lead just prior to the interval. From a well executed lineout the backline put the hard work on the training ground into practice by running a devastating set move. With dummy runners disorientating the GKT defence Huw Williams was able to cut a line from full-back, receive Neville’s perfectly weighted pass and run in under the posts untouched. Neville duly added the extras.

Leading 14-0 at half time the Medicals set a game plan to kill off the game in the second half by playing for territory and keeping Guy’s on the back foot. And the opening minutes of the second period certainly went to plan. Guy’s fly-half John Kendel launched a high ball for Lucas Rehnberg to chase, however, Medicals wing Harry Thompson stayed calm under pressure to take the ball cleanly, break a tackle and offload to put openside flanker Craig Nightingale into space on the left wing. The fleet-footed fresher managed to out pace the covering Mark Halls and full-back Mike Forsythe to dive over ten metres from the left touchline. Neville made no mistake with the tricky conversion. Shortly after James Saffin and Xander Ancock were replaced by the livewire Graham Corin and weighty Jeremy Bartosiak-Jentys respectively.

Guy’s driven by the dread of walking away with another runners-up medal fought back valiantly putting the Medicals under sustained pressure mid-way through the second half. The pressure finally told as a clean Guy’s lineout was mauled towards the Medicals line. Despite desperate attempts to stop the drive GKT were able to cross the whitewash with No.8 Matt Morgan able to touch down despite the close attention of Peter Russell. Pete Gretton was successful with the conversion to narrow the Medicals lead to 14 points. Looking to add an experienced head to the fold Francois Tudor was brought on to replace Anakan Navaratnam in the Medicals’ back row.

The change did little for the Medicals fortunes as Guy’s piled on the pressure with the Medicals, playing into the wind in the second period, finding it difficult to clear their lines effectively. It was, therefore, of little surprise when from an attacking scrum on the Medicals’ five metre line Guy’s exploited space on the blind side to put wing Lucas Rehnberg in by the right-hand corner flag. Gretton was unable to add the extras from the right touchline.

The Medicals, desperate to regain some control, tightened up the game by using their big forwards to pick and go around the fringes of the ruck, thereby retaining possession and running down the clock. Much credit must go to courageous Medicals scrum half Tom Maynard who continued to bellow instructions at his forwards despite playing much of the game with a broken jaw. Everyone at the club would like to wish Tom a speedy recovery. As the final seconds ticked away and the referee brought the contest to an end the Medicals’ could bask in the glory of winning the coveted cup for the seventh consecutive year.

Jez

Many thanks to Sophie for providing physio cover for the second time this weekend.

1. Ed Pickles

2. Ruairidh Crawford

3. Xander Ancock

4. Rob Anderson

5. Peter O'Neill

6. Anakan Navaratnam

7. Craig Nightingale

8. James Saffin

9. Tom Maynard

10. Dan Neville

11. Harry Thompson

12. Ben Davies

13. James Logan (C)

14. James Sharples

15. Huw Williams

    Replacements:

16. Peter Russell (for No.2 after 35mins)

17. Jeremy Bartosiak-Jentys (for No.3 after 50mins)

18. Graham Corin (for No.8 after after 50mins)

19. Francois Tudor (for No.6 after 60mins)

20. Nick Thomas

21. Guy Martin

22. Kevin Ilo