A stirring comeback saw Alcuin secure a place in the College Rugby Final as they came from 12-0 down to beat James 13-12.
With the stakes so high, everyone was putting their bodies on the line for the honour of representing their college in Wednesday’s final. The game was halted multiple times for injuries ranging from bleeding noses to the fractured leg sustained by Alcuin President Liam Haeburn-Little, but for Alcuin, all the pain was worth it as the whistle blew and sent them through to meet Derwent next week.
The sides were as evenly matched as the score-line suggests, and they put on a display widely considered as one of the best games of this season’s tournament. Alcuin started stronger, but it was James who broke the deadlock with the first try of the game.
Some good James phase play had the Alcuin defence rattled, and their backs took advantage of the space created wide, spreading the ball to Charlie Burton who ran in to make it 5-0. Benji Brummitt added the extras, giving his side a 7-0 advantage with around 20 minutes played.
Alcuin looked to battle back straight away, and were beginning to take control of the scrums, which James had dominated early on, but the black swans really seized the momentum when Chris Poynton added a second try for his side.
James were again aided by some lax Alcuin defending, as scrum-half Jack Robirosa took the ball blind from a scrum and fed number 8 Poynton, who took advantage of the space to go over in the corner and make it 12-0 going into half-time.
Despite the score-line, the nature of the game meant that it was still anyone’s going into the second-half, and fly-half Marinus Maris used his boot to narrow the points gap, converting a simple penalty to make it 12-3.
Before long, Alcuin were just two points behind, after Alex Cormack, whose dynamic running has further strengthened the Alcuin back-line since his return from injury, touched down.
A superb break from flanker Alex Wilson put him in the clear. He was caught, but Cormack was there in support, and the centre received the offload and finished well. An impressive Maris conversion from wide made it 12-10, and now the momentum was with the men in red.
It was through the boot of Maris that Alcuin completed their comeback and edged into the narrowest of leads. The Scotsman slotted another penalty between the posts to take the scores to 13-12, much to the delight of the Alcuin support on the side line.
James pushed hard to regain their lead, but Alcuin’s defence had learnt from their first half mistakes and were stout enough to withhold the pressure, not allowing James to penetrate within 10 metres of the try-line.
With time up, Maris booted the ball into touch to the rousing cheers from the Alcuin camp, whose celebrations reflected the efforts it took to beat this strong James side, who will now face Halifax to see who claims third place in the tournament.
Alcuin Captain Muzzy Foley told Vision after the whistle: “It was the sort of match that you got injured by just watching, I would say a bruising encounter but judging by the aftermath, bone-breaking and head-crunching would be more apt. Both sides gave blood, sweat and tears (literally) and it was a great day for college rugby. One day they will make a film about this game, it would be like invictus meets 300.”