On an eventful wind swept afternoon Old Coventians, home of the Coventry Bears, was the venue for the Porthcawl v St Benedicts  Champions School's play off game.  The day started badly with the Cumbrian school being stuck in traffic on the M6 for over two hours, as a result the kick off was put back and delayed until quarter past three.

Nevertheless the Cumbraian School started the stronger scoring three tries in the opening minutes.  Big strong runs in conjunction with unforced handling errors

enabled the Cumbrian side to take a  sixteen-point lead.  Late into the first half Porthcawl fought back.  Scoring two quick tries by their loose forward and man of the match Jonathan Lodwig  Both tries were converted with Porthcawl going in half time with a deficit of four points.

Playing against the gale forced wind seemed to favour both sides.  Porthcawl began the second half strongly Jonathan Lodwig completed his hatrick.  The conversion went a miss.  Confidence continued to grow with Porthcawl playing the conditions superbly another strong brake and deft handling allowed Porthcawl to score another try.  The deficit was conceded and Porthcawl drew level.  Like any true rugby side the Cumbrians fought back putting Porthcawl's line under immense pressure.  Porthcawl determination denied the opposition any chance of scoring.  A further two tries by Porthcawl put the game out of reach for the Cumbrian with a Final score of 24-16.

12 March 2008