This Saturday (30/04) saw Grange Road play host to both Cuppers semi-finals. St John’s faced Churchill in the earlier kick-off, while the All Greys, a team made up of students from mature colleges, played FitzSidney later on.

St. John’s 49-5 Churchill

The first semi-final began in a scrappy fashion, neither team really able to control the pace of the game. St John’s soon began to find openings, however, and opened the scoring in the tenth minute after fly-half Ramsay Hodgson showed great feet to dart through the line and score, adding the extras himself. Buoyed by their opening try, John’s scored again soon after, piling over from close range to extend their lead to 14-0 after the conversion. Only a brilliant try-saving tackle prevented John’s adding to their lead, although the subsequent lineout was scooped up by the Dougal Russell who dotted down to extend their lead to 21 points. Much praise must be given to Hodgson, whose kicking game was impeccable throughout both from the tee and out of hand. Churchill showed resilience, spending much of the first half encamped within their own half, but were sloppy at set pieces and struggled to penetrate John’s defensive line. Another fantastic try-saving tackle from Demi Obembe prevented any further scoring before the half-time whistle, the teams going in at 21-0 at the break.

After half-time, John’s didn’t take long to extend their lead, scoring two tries in quick succession, both excellently converted to make it 35-0. Churchill after the break did manage to mount some promising attacks, but handling errors and loose discipline at the breakdown stifled any hope of a comeback. Another driving maul added to their woes, before Ikechi Mere finished off a lovely sweeping move to make it 49-0. To their credit, Churchill played with ferocious intensity in defence until the end, and got what they perhaps deserved towards the end, scoring in the corner as the final whistle blew to make the final score 49-5 to a very dangerous John’s outfit.

Varsity Player of the Match: Ramsay Hodgson (John’s)

FitzSidney 46-26 All Greys

The Fitzwilliam cohort within the combined team are looking to emulate their footballing colleague's exploits in Cuppers, and they got off to a dream start when Cavan Farrow finished superbly after a kick over the top. After a fast-paced opening five minutes, the game seemed to settle, with no real chances due to robust defence from both sides. In the 25th minute, the All Greys struck back after several phases of pressure on the FitzSidney goalline. While the All Greys tended to concentrate play in and amongst the forwards, FitzSidney’s backs proved to be their key weapon, scoring two tries, one after another, to regain the lead. The second try was perhaps the pick of the afternoon, with Josh Douglas sprinting in from half-way to touch down under the posts. Eddie Milton-Sealle was next on the scoresheet, beating two All Greys to make the score 24-5 to FitzSidney at half-time.

FitzSidney continued where they left off in the second forty, with Billy Thomas-Connolly finishing off a fine move to extend their lead to 31-5. However, their dominance would falter when they went down to 14 men after Tom Ryan was shown a yellow card for holding on in the tackle and preventing a try-scoring opportunity. The All Greys capitalised, with mammoth flanker Angus Peters scoring two tries to pull the score back to 31-19. Both tries came by virtue of FitzSidney players shying away from trying to tackle admittedly the largest rugby player I have ever seen. However, once they began to tackle him low, he was far less effective, and despite an onslaught of All Greys attacks, they tackled well. The All Greys did add one more by virtue of a scrappy try driven over from the base of the breakdown. Some nervous FitzSidney fans in the crowd were assuaged by another try by the full-back — his second of the affair. A tale of two halves, perhaps, as the All Greys admirably took the game to FitzSidney after an uninspiring first half, but not quite doing enough to prevent FitzSidney from reaching the final.

Varsity Player of the Match: Paul Storrs (FitzSidney)