Brilliant Bingham off to Twickenham

IT WAS Lancashire’s day as a bonus-point victory over a young Cheshire side secured their place at Twickenham for the County Championship final next Sunday.

A frustrating afternoon for Cheshire started with a fourth-minute try from Robert Birtwell and a score from the impressive Anthony Bingham, who danced around his opposite man, put Lancs firmly in the driving seat

A penalty from fly-half Chris Johnson left the hosts 17-0 down at the break and Bingham quickly scored his second after half-time, leaving Lancashire needing one more try to seal another Twickenham final after a one-year absence.

A reply from Cheshire’s Lewis Barker was not enough to halt the visitors’ momentum and with only three minutes left, Scott Rawlings charged his way over.

The experienced Lancashire backs were majestic throughout with both of Bingham’s tries being the product of sublime hands and hole-punching line speed.

The first came from Chris Briers breaking through the defence and producing the pass of the match, finding Bingham who had come in from the opposite wing.

And his second was the result of hard running from Rawlings, who repeated the feat to score his own try at the death.