L’borough to take on Hartpury in final

BUCS RUGBY

By BEN JAYCOCK

LOUGHBOROUGH will take on Hartpury in the men’s BUCS Super Rugby Cup final at Rodney Parade.

Hartpury reached their first final since 2019 after they beat Cardiff Met 4334 after extra-time in a thrilling semi-final at the 4ED Hartpury Stadium.

Steff Crimp scored a wonderful solo try off a scrum in the first half as the visitors led 14-0, but 19 unanswered points before half time overturned the deficit.

Vikas Meijer put Cardiff Met back in front, and the seesaw contest continued as Jacob Perry went over.

Hartpury missed a lastgasp conversion to seal the win as the two teams couldn’t be split across 80 minutes.

However, Max Knight touched down for the winning try to send the home supporters into ecstasy.

Player of the match hooker Casey Williams said: “The culture we have as a group which we’ve been working on for three years, in terms of staying in the fight for your mates, has paid off. We’ve got to keep in games, and that’s what we did.”

Loughborough reached the final for the second successive year as they target an unprecedented double after beating familiar foes Exeter 31-24.

Noah Fenton’s mazy try aided the visitors in going ahead 17-12 at the interval, but the African Violet turned it around in the second half, with Seb Smith scoring their fourth try to put enough breathing space between the two sides.

Player of the match Smith said: “This season just keeps getting better and better. It’s a special year with it being my final year. When we were behind in the first half, we kept ourselves calm and said we’d find a way, and we did.

“We’ve got to go out there and give it our all next week against a solid Hartpury outfit.”

Loughborough women’s team will also be in the final on April 16 in Newport, Wales, as they beat Exeter in the semi-finals 39-31. They will meet Cardiff Met in the show-piece match after they triumphed over Hartpury 19-12.