Ealing beat Bedford to reach B&I Final against Leinster A

LEINSTER ‘A’ produced a stunning comeback to send shockwaves across Jersey and dump the Reds out of the B&I Cup.

Seemingly dead at 27-8 down with barely five minutes to play, the Irish province scored three quickfire tries, all converted by Ciarán Frawley, whose final kick from the touchline sealed the deal.

“These boys might run out of time, but they’ll never be beaten,” said proud head coach Noel McNamara.

The opening period was scoreless for 35 minutes, but featured a gradual ascendancy for the Reds, mainly through their forwards.

Eventually the visitors wilted and lost two players to the sin-bin in quick succession: Ed Byrne for preventing quick ball at a ruck and Vakh Abdaladze for another scrum infringement. The next scrum was uncontested, but with a 7:5 numerical advantage in the backs Kieran Hardy was able to find Tom Pincus for the opening try.

Although Leinster replied with a Frawley penalty, the restart was won by the Reds and Apakuki Ma’afu put in Hardy for a try.

Ma’afu was carried off with a neck injury in the second half before the Reds stretched their lead with two Brendan Cope penalties. Peadar Timmins got a try back for the visitors, but when silky interplay between Jersey’s back three created a try for Jason Worrall, the result seemed foregone.

A physical contest on a hot day took its toll and Leinster had the energy and nerve to battle back against a Reds’ side reduced to 14 men through injury. Frawley’s charge-down try sparked the comeback, then replacement scrum-half Will O’Sullivan darted over, and finally, with no time left, a penalty to the corner led to a mauled try for Will Connors and Frawley’s dramatic lastgasp winner.

Head coach Harvey Biljon said the Reds were ‘jinxed’ in the B&I after losing by a single point in last year’s final and by the same margin at the semi-final stage in 2016.

“We’ve put a huge amount of effort in, but it’s not meant to be,” he said. “We didn’t get the reward we deserved for our set-piece dominance, but Leinster had to score the points to win it.”