British Colleges North West/Wales Cup Final

Blackpool 6th Form College   v   Bury College

Blackpool Won 20-14


Blackpool 6th Form College played Bury College in their first British Colleges final since forming, however with certain key players missing due to injury the task at hand seemed more difficult against the much larger Bury team.  Blackpool chose to start the game and play into a strong wind, hoping to wear their opponents down and dominate the second half playing with the wind.  The Blackpool boys fired themselves up in the changing rooms before the game and exploded onto the field to take control of the early pressure.  Excellent runs from back rowers Jake Quinn and Jordan Farlie set the Blackpool forwards up with good support from Josh Wilks, Jack Foden and Josh Stone.  Bury were struggling to find their feet and failed to use the wind to their advantage.  Whenever the ball found touch, lineout’s were always going to be difficult due to the gale force winds, but second rower Steve Preston dominated his own and the opposition ball on most occasions.  

It was however from a rare Bury attack that the first try was scored.  Blackpool’s defence was broken from a strong running number 8 who bludgeoned his way over from 5 metres, with the conversion being kicked successfully the visitors took a 7-0 lead with the first half whistle looming.  Blackpool 6th Form responded in typical fashion with excellent work coming from half backs James Evans and Captain Ross Mellor Clark who despite the conditions dominated loose play throughout the afternoon.  A break from both wingers Joe Morgan whose slinky side steps kept Bury at bay and Adam Davis who smashed his way through the defenders in his path enabled Blackpool to threaten the Bury line.  The Ball then found its way to Liam Nickson playing in the unusual role of outside centre to burst through the gap and dive for the line.  That try made the half time score 7-5 to Bury College.

Blackpool new that the second half was there for the taking if we played sensible rugby, but Bury College had other ideas and defended like Trojans at times.  Blackpool did however take the lead through outstanding back rower Jordan Farlie.  Excellent work from the fingerless Jake Quinn enabled Farlie to support his team mate and crash over and give Blackpool a 10-7 lead.  Bury responded in typical fashion though and put pressure on Blackpool straight from the kick off.  Excellent defensive work forced a turn over deep in Blackpool territory enabling the outstanding fly half to power his way over to score and convert his own try to give Bury the lead of 14-10 with time running out.  A tough team talk from Coach Paul Moran seemed to liven the Blackpool players up as they dominated the last 10 minutes of the game.  Centre Tom Cleary using his power to good affect and James Evans distribution of the ball enabled Mellor Clark to find Adam Davis on the wing who ran all of 40 metres down the touch line, fending off would be defenders to touch down in the corner to score the try of the game and give Blackpool a 15-14 lead with minutes to go.  Blackpool then sealed victory with an outstanding try from full back Joe Morgan whose change of angle cut the Bury defence in two and score under the posts to give Blackpool 6th Form a 20-14 victory.

Academy coach Paul Moran praised all the players on his team, including the players who couldn’t be there due to injury but played their part in helping the college reach this far.  The players were fantastic today from 1-18 and deserved the victory.

Blackpool now progress to the National Finals after the Easter holidays at Bristol RFC’s Memorial Ground where they will play all the other regional champions.