Patesians colts through to last 16 of National Cup

» OLD Patesians Colts are through to the last 16 of the RFU National Under-18 Cup.

The Everest Road side beat Longlevens 39-24, and now face Olney Under-18s on January 15.

They had previously beaten Ledbury 39-22 and Royal Wootton Bassett 52-31 in Group Four of the competition.

Pats were expecting a tough test, and they infringed at the first breakdown allowing a kick at goal, which saw Longlevens go 3-0 up in the first minute.

But from there they played some good rugby with defensive pressure causing frequent turnovers and inter-play carving Longlevens open.

A charged down kick and a scramble lead to Ollie Armstrong driving over for the first try with Ollie French making a tricky conversion look easy.

Ethan Jones was then on the end of an offloaded pass and he drove through to score in the corner.

Freddy Parry was pulling the strings behind the scrum with quick breaks and clever kicks and a neat backs move put Archie Mcclean one-on-one with his opposite wing and a swerve saw him cross in the corner.

The Longlevens full-back was yellow-carded and the extra space allowed Gabe Jordan and Wyatt Dundas in the centre to put Harry Griffin into space to score.

Returning the compliment, Griffin gave Dundas the scoring pass for the next try.

With half time approaching, an interception allowed Levens’ pacy fullback to race away to score, making it 29-10 at half-time.

The rules stipulate that all named players must play a half and Pats rearranged, while Longlevens were more aggressive playing up the hill, scoring two tries.

The crucial moment came from a lineout turnover as Sam Handley stole the ball and a quick offload put Lewis Limbrick away.

A desperate tackle pulled him up short but the pack were on hand to drive over for an important try.

As time ran short, Longlevens repeatedly infringed and, after a deliberate knock on and failure to retreat at the subsequent penalty, the referee went for his cards again.

A kick to the corner and a rolling maul saw Pats cross the line again and complete the victory.