Bradley Voigt and Giles Raymond shared the tries between them as Alcuin became the first of the colleges to book their place in the finals of college rugby 10’s.
Having destroyed those around them in the group stages, it was time for Alcuin to prove their case in the more testing stages of the tournament. And despite an unconvincing start to their semi-final match against Halifax, they soon continued where they had left off in their three previous matches.
The affective Simon Reed, assisted by a windy 22 acres in his teams’ direction, had given Halifax the advantage in the opening stages following a ball retention, giving his team a lead of 5 points to nil.
Accompanied by the prospect of a potential James – Alcuin final, the reds needed little motivation in their quest to find a way back in the game. Voigt was to provide the first of the tries, and followed up with the subsequent conversion.
Raymond soon added to Alcuin’s lead, making a try of his own, but unlike Voigt, he was to miss the conversion. The score now recorded 12-5 to Alcuin, with both tries providing very much the spring in step that the reds needed, and what Halifax didnt exactly crave.
Where Raymond and Voigt had differed earlier, they were soon alike in their play as both managed to score their respective tries but miss their kicks, to consolidate Alcuin’s lead to 22 -5. Whilst Reed offered as much fight-back as he could for Halifax with his second try of the game, theoretically, it was too late, and Alcuin’s passage to the final was confirmed. The score finished 22-10 in Alcuin’s favour.
Photos by Siobhan Crittenden.