Carney leaves it late to see off Essex

WARWICKSHIRE flanker Beau Carney popped up at the death to help his team to a 25-20 win as they mounted a stirring comeback against Essex in the County Championship Shield Pool 2 clash.

Trailing by nine points with just five minutes remaining, the home side finally turned on the style late on with two tries.

Rob Watts’ first-half try looked like giving Warwickshire a half-time lead, only for Essex to reply through Tony Sherwood as they held a slender 13-8 advantage at the break.

Earl Gorman’s try, converted by Frankie Neale, stretched Essex’s advantage to 20-11 but Warwickshire responded, firstly through No.8 Chris Wood, and then through Carney, with Danny Richards converting both to make it two wins from two so far.

In Pool 1 Notts, Lincs & Derby were on the end of another thrashing as they slumped to a 77-0 defeat away to Cumbria.

The home side ran in 12 tries in total, racking up 42 points in the first half, before piling on the misery in the second. Winger Andrew Miller and full-back Greg Smith were the main beneficiaries for Cumbria, helping themselves to hat-tricks ahead of next week’s clash with Leicestershire.

In Pool 4 Sussex needed a late penalty from Danny Kirkpatrick as they emerged 26-23 winners over Hampshire in a thrilling encounter.

Billy Toone, Blair McIllroy, John Lindsey and Niall Goldie went over for Sussex’s tries, with a Matt Burke score and a penalty try, along with 13 points from Lawrence Wadham, Hampshire’s response.

Finally in Pool 3 Dorset & Wilts secured a comprehensive 58-14 win over Oxfordshire with winger Charlie Rowberry running in four tries, while Surrey impressed in a 49-36 win over Berkshire.

Former Ealing fly-half Neil Hallett ran the show for the visitors, racking up 22 points including a try and four conversions.