Telford Raiders through to Midlands final
Telford Raiders coach Alex Smith is warning his side that clinical finishing will be must when his side head into the a Midlands Premier final clash for an unprecedented fifth time.
Raiders triumphed 26-20 at Leamington Royals in a thrilling semi-final last Saturday.
Between them and glory stands Northampton Demons, who are unbeaten this season. The final is at Nottingham University on August 30.
Smith said: "The lads played good play-off rugby at Leamington. They showed a lot of courage to stay in the arm wrestle when we were getting pummelled by some very keen defence.
"They kept their nerve though and took their chances when they came.
"That said, the lads no they will have to be a lot more clinical in the final.
"There's a reason Northampton have gone unbeaten this season – they don't let you have many chances.
"So when we get a sniff in the final, we have to make the most of our chances."
Raiders put themselves in a winning position at Leamington thanks to two tries from veteran Paul Szehofner and efforts from Ollie Vickers, Joe Furlong and Jack McCarthy. But they spent the last three sets of the game defending on their own goal line and had to dig deep, with several players carrying injuries, to hold on as a resurgent Leamington moved to within a match-levelling score.
After a darting run from hooker Olly Vickers sparked confusion, Szehfoner reacted the quickest to grab the ball and power over to give Raiders first blood in the semi-final.
Leamington levelled by grounding a clever grubber kick into the corner and then crossed twice more to establish a 14-6 lead.
Raiders captain Jamie Derry was the catalyst for Telford to keep their final hopes alive. A strong hand-off to a Leamington player ensured a quick play the ball which gave Furlong the space he needed to chop through and offload for McCarthy to score. Ben Lewis kicked to reduce the deficit to 14-12 at the break.
Raiders took the lead through Furlong before Royals saw a try disallowed for a forward pass. Vickers then darted over with 15 minutes to go as Telford opened up a 22-14 lead.
But the Royals stormed back to make it 22-20 with seven minutes left.
Furlong produced a game-changing moment of class to seal victory for the Raiders when he chased his own high kick and evaded two tackles before unleashing a 50-yard kick. As Leamington rallied ex-German international Szehofner darted through to score.
