COLTS GET SET FOR NATIONAL CUP SEMI-FINAL
The five steps to an Easter Sunday showdown at Dorking!
WITH Rams Colts heading to Dorking on Sunday (2pm) for a first National Cup semi-final since 2011, here is a reminder of how they got there:
Round One – Marlow 19-40 Rams
After conceding an early try, the visitors struck back with Matt Cox converting an Obi Nwachuku before a penalty try made it 14-5.
Marlow grabbed a converted score to cut the gap to two, only for Theo Pett-Ridge to touch down near the end of the first half.
Cox added to his own try for 26-12 after the break, and despite the hosts getting back within a score, the fly-half made the game safe with two more conversions after he crossed again along with Jack Mander.
Round Two – Beaconsfield 5-36 Rams
Tries from Ollie Ireland and Paddy Brown, both converted by Cox, gave the visitors a 14-0 half-time lead before they pulled further clear in the second period.
Jayden Benham, Luke Thorpe, Jack Taylor and Nicholas Dumi all went over, Cox with another kick, and despite the hosts getting a consolation, they never threatened a comeback.
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Round Three – Marlborough 5-45 Rams
The away side produced a blistering opening half in which Benham, Aaron Preston, Taylor, Pett-Ridge and Callum du Preez all crossed the whitewash, Cox slotting four kicks for 33-0.
Playing down the hill and with the wind at their backs Marlborough grabbed the first try of the second period, but Rams doubled down and completed a terrific win with further tries from Jake Scott and Thorpe, plus another conversion.
Round Four – Rams 13-5 Old Patesians
Rams finally had a home tie in the last 16, but they started badly as the visitors grabbed an early try in clubhouse corner.
However, the home side stuck to their guns and du Preez drew them level shortly before half-time.
A brilliant Brown try nudged Rams in front, and after Cox made it a two-score game with a penalty, some tremendous defence secured a spot in the last eight.
Quarter-finals – Rams 18-17 Ivybridge
The hosts could not have left things later as Cox’s last-gasp penalty, knocked over some 10 minutes into injury-time, sent a bumper Old Bath Road crowd wild.
Another poor start saw Rams 10-0 down inside five minutes to a penalty and converted try, but a fine Thorpe finish and Cox conversion cut the gap to three before half-time.
Rams continued to come on strong and hit the front through a Cian Tappan try, Cox then landing a penalty before it looked like late heartbreak as Ivybridge were awarded a penalty try in the final minute of normal time.
However, in one of the most dramatic finishes imaginable, the Devonians missed the chance to kick the ball out to end the game and eventually conceded a penalty, Cox making no mistake to turn silence into delirium.
*Dorking, meanwhile, have produced some eye-catching results on their way to the last four, starting with an 86-7 hammering of visitors Horsham.
They next triumphed 31-14 at Sevenoaks before another win on the road, 12-5 at Tonbridge Juddians, saw them into the Group Six final.
A battle royale saw them edge out Winchester 24-21, before a 21-17 quarter-final triumph at Rosslyn Park set up their Easter Sunday showdown with Rams.