H&B emerge with great credit from semi-final

Fears in some quarters that their decimated line-up - four front five players were unavailable and they were able to field only two of permitted six subs - would be humiliated by the talented and well-coached Bognor outfit, who had destroyed Hove 18-71 in the previous round and who were fielding four current Sussex players, proved groundless.

H&B matched the side from two divisions above from the start, not only for courage and commitment upfront, but - more surprisingly to the hosts - also for skill and ambition in attack. It was only in a 20 minute spell in the second half, when Bognor stepped up a gear, that the outcome was decided.

From the off H&B's pack gutsed it out against their talented opponents. Despite being pushed about in the scrum and the maul, they competed aggressively at every breakdown, kept turnovers to a minimum, and worked intelligently to nullify Bognor's forward advantage. Roger Roberts, returned from long-term injury in a lock position he had never played before, was impressive, especially in the lineout; the front row toughed it out at the coalface, while man-of-the-match Steve McManus did well to try to contain Bognor's impressive number 8 Karl Flinn.

A fairly closely fought first 20 minutes culminated in a well-worked blindside try by Bognor. Five minutes later, a driving maul from a line out near the line put the hosts 10-0 ahead, and a big score looked possible.

But H&B showed just how much they are beginning to develop as a big-match team, when quick hands down the line to Danny Ralph saw the veteran wing cut in and beat two defenders, set up a ruck, from which quick recycling saw Dave Northen loop Kris Dempster, draw the full back, and pass to Kit Claughton who beat the cover to touch down.

From the restart, Claughton gathered a loose ball and broke from his 22 deep into Bognor territory, H&B recycled the ball quickly and George Cullingford chipped it neatly over the defence, good pace by Ben Campbell pressured the defence, and Cullingford followed up to claim the try.

A well-taken Bognor penalty for offside took the hosts into half-time with a 13-10 lead.

The second half followed the pattern of the first, both sides attacking with flair and ambition despite the difficult biting wind, both forcing the odd turnover by aggressive defence.

But it was Bognor whose strength and finishing turned the game, as they wrapped up the result early in the half with a hat-trick of well-worked tries, all down the blind side, to open up a 32-10 lead.

H&B, shaken but not broken, came back with 10 minutes left, with a good break from full back by Jimmy Adams, and neat hands to Campbell who came in at pace and broke the defence to pop to Ralph who charged in at the corner.

Bognor countered with a score that for once outwitted the defence, but it was H&B who kept going to the end with Dempster charging down an attempted kick to touch down. Sandeman added the conversion, and a huge - and patently relieved - Bognor crowd celebrated reaching their first Sussex Trophy final.

"In our league, everyone ups their game to challenge us," said a proud captain Kit Claughton, "Today it was our turn to raise our game against a classy outfit, and we did it. We weren't good enough to win it, but we moved the ball quickly and decisively and put runners into space. We all put our bodies on the line, kept possession when we got it, and ran hard at them. We always looked dangerous with ball in hand."