North Midlands won the Midlands Under-18 Championship for the first time by beating East Midlands 39-26 in today's final at Broadstreet RFC near Coventry.
North Midlands survived a brave fightback, when East Midlands rallied from being 15 points adrift at the break to trail 29-26, to become only the third winners of the Bob Coward Cup after East Midlands and Warwickshire.
It was a richly entertaining final which featured some superb attacking rugby from both sides even if the tackling often left much to be desired.
East Midlands had plenty of possession and territory, but their handling betrayed them at critical stages of the game. The North Midlands back-row of Tom McGuire (Bromsgrove School, Moseley and Worcestershire), Bobbie Lawrenson (Bromsgrove School, Worcester and Worcestershire) and James King (Ellesmere College, Mold and Shropshire) also disrupted East Midlands effectively in the loose.
North Midlands, whose campaign began disastrously when they conceded two early interception tries against Warwickshire in their opening group match at Broadstreet last month, did not makes the same mistakes again.
They were 12-0 up inside 20 minutes after left wing James Riley (Bromsgrove School, Worcester and Worcestershire) scythed through then full-back Jack Pons (Bromsgrove School and Worcestershire) skipped through and fly-half Rhys Hayes (Ellesmere College, Mold and Shropshire) added the conversion.
East Midlands rallied with an excellent individual effort from scrum-half Darryl Veenendaal (Oakham School and Bedford Blues) which started a tit-for-tate sequence of five tries in nine minutes.
Scrum-half Jordan Brookes (Dudley Kingswinford, Old Swinford Hospital School and Worcestershire) went over for North Midlands, followed by East Midlands's full-back Adam Martin (Wrenn School and Bedford Blues) after more slack tackling by North Midlands.
But further well-crafted tries from Pons, which Hayes inproved, and skipper and centre Andy Short (Worcester Sixth Form College, Worcester and Worcestershire) after good approach work by Riley, appeared to have given North Midlands a significant advantage at the break.
East Midlands hit North Midlands hard immediately after the re-start with replacement flanker Sam Coogan (Queensbury School and Olney) driving over from close range for a try that Martin improved. When openside flanker Sam Hodgson (Bedford School and Olney) was driven over, the lead was reduced to three points and North Midlands had plenty to do to nail down victory.
Riley's second try, after a good sustained attack, gave them breathing space but it was not until Short squeezed over for his second late on that the game was made safe.
Notts, Lincs & Derbyshire finished third after they defeated Staffordshire 28-15 in the middle game of Super Sunday play-offs.
Centre Guy Michels (Stamford School) scored a hat-trick of tries for NL&D with wing Russell Westcott getting their other try. Dave Marshall of Paviors added two conversions.
NL&D had not conceded a try in their two group matches, but Staffordshire breached their defences twice through winger Tom Smith of Newport and flanker Mike Ridley (St Joseph's College, Stoke and Newcastle-under-Lyme). Fly-half Luke Massey of King Edward VI School, Lichfield and Lichfield added a conversion and a penalty.
