Close shave for Queen Elizabeth

The Queen Elizabeth GS machine rolled into the Twickenham final but not before overcoming the stiffest resistance so far in the Daily Mail U15 Cup.

QEGS hadn't conceded a point in their eight ties until a penalty from Wellington College's Christian Lewis-Pratt and Jon McGovern's second half try set up an uncomfortable last ten minutes for the Wakefield boys.

But the tournament favourites had scored converted tries of their own through James Wood and Chris Pashley and Joe Barker's conversions proved decisive in their 14-10 victory.

The try from replacement flanker McGovern was reward for a gutsy display from Wellington, who fought tooth and nail to preserve their proud

unbeaten record.

QEGS admitted they sat back on their lead but had recovered their command by the end and just about deserved their victory.

"If Wellington had got their hands on the ball more in the last ten minutes, we might have been in trouble," admitted QEGS coach Gary Pickersgill, "but we managed to defend well and retain the ball."

It is Bedford who will have to cope in the April 5 final with a superb QEGS pack led by No 8 Barker, the best prospect to come out of QEGS since England centre Mike Tindall.

Their game mirrored the first semi-final with unbeaten Bedford building the platform of a 10-0 lead at half time with some attractive, expansive rugby but then spending almost the whole of the second half defending their line.

Epsom, 22 games unbeaten themselves, eventually drove winger Nat Burns over with a couple of minutes left to make it 10-5 but it was too little, too late.

"We hammered away at them but they were just that little bit bigger, stronger and better than us," admitted Epsom coach Edwin Doran.

In the Vase semi-finals, there was victory for both David and Goliath. John Cleveland overpowered Royal Latin 24-12 with Nyle Dell scoring two late consolation tries for big-hearted.

Langley Park inched their way to domination against a big Hutton side who scored through skipper Dan McHale during an impressive start.

But their Beckenham opponents negated the weight advantage with some clever rugby and were rewarded with two second half tries for leading scorer Matt Grannell and a 12-5 victory.