Coney Hill 6
Old Centralians 5
Coney Hill showed dog, drive and outstanding defence to prevent Old Centralians taking a hat-trick of titles at Kingsholm, writes Emma Smith.
In an exceptionally high quality North Gloucester Senior Cup final, the men from Metz Way used all of their nous and cup final experience to edge a physical battle against opposition who showed glimpses of their class but did not live up to their own high standards on the day.
No team had come close to matching Centralians in the run-up to the final but when it came to the crunch, they failed to take their chances, while Hill were singularly ruthless.
The defence from both teams was outstanding and the result was in the balance to the last but underdogs Hill undoubtedly deserved their victory.
Coney Hill coach, Chris Hall, said: "To be honest, in the press and all over Facebook, we were beaten before we even turned up but that's the best we've defended all season.
"We came out with nothing to lose, gave it our all and we got the result.
"I'm exhausted now so I can't imagine how the players feel. I'm hugely proud of them all."
Before the eagerly anticipated final got underway, the crowd stood and applauded Matson's Dominic Cullen ahead of a minute's silence for the popular young back row, who died after playing in the finals last year.
Hill had the better of the opening exchanges, winning hard yards with some abrasive attacking and some smart work at the breakdown.
Fly-half Rory Baker went close and they were held up over the line soon after but they could not capitalise, full-back Patrick Knight's penalty missing its target.
That was Centralians' cue to pick up the pace with the centres and fly-half combining with slick interpassing to create space in midfield.
It was a cracking drive from a penalty line-out that won them their first real opportunity though as they rumbled deep into the 22. With Hill needing to commit so many numbers to halting the juggernaut, Cents then quickly fired the ball out along the backs and centre Liam Hemming almost danced through.
Hill had to infringe to stop a score and with their winger Luke Morgan in the sinbin, they were forced on to the back foot for a spell but the defence was immense and after battling their way out of trouble, they wrested back the initiative.
A barnstorming drive of their own took them to the fringes of Cents' 22 and numbers were evened up as the Painswick Road side saw their lock Josh Phillips yellow-carded.
Hill took the lead with a Knight penalty on 26 minutes after an excellent Hill scrum provided quick ball to unleash number eight Andy Macrae on a powerful charge.
Although Cents then battled back into Hill's 22 and continued to impress with some expertly marshalled rolling mauls, they were twice stripped of the ball by Hill at the breakdown and wasted opportunities by taking the wrong option in the backs, running into trouble to leave overlaps going begging.
They continued to batter the Hill 22 though with flanker Ben Slatter and second row Pete Willetts to the fore and it was fitting that skipper Willetts was at the bottom of the pile as Cents' pack finally profited from another powerful drive. Fly-half Conner Gwilliam missed the conversion but Cents were 5-3 ahead going into half-time.
They had the upper hand after the interval too, winning a series of penalties, but Hill's rearguard effort was sound and a couple of hard-won scrums got them out of danger.
The game was then played out between the two 22s for a spell and as frustration mounted, tempers briefly flared with a minor scuffle breaking out.
As a result, a penalty in Hill's favour was reversed and Cents went agonisingly close to taking advantage thanks to an impressive break by full-back Lewis May.
Although the ball was eventually lost forward, Cents were quickly back on the rampage with centre Rob Jones and hooker Nathan Stroud both going close but Hill held them up as they drove over the line.
Hill then put up determined resistance to ensure Cents' attempts to get the drive on at the line-out ran aground before pushing them back at a rate of knots to take a scrum against the head.
Buoyed by this, it was then Hill who began to get on top and although fly-half Rory Baker failed with a drop-goal attempt, a mistake by the Gwilliam metres from his own line quickly gave Hill another attacking opportunity.
The line-out was safely claimed by lock Steve King and their drive was illegally halted with Willetts sinbinned as a result.
Cents defended the drive from the penalty line-out superbly though as it twice splintered and then Hill turned up the heat at a series of rucks.
The Metz Way men were finally able to convert the pressure into points with a sweetly struck penalty from Knight to edge 6-5 ahead but were soon reminded about the danger posed by their opponents backs as they broke out of their own 22 to Hill's 22, stretching the defence with some inch-perfect passing and lovely lines of running.
Gwilliam could not convert a tricky penalty though and although there was drama to the last, May looking like he could break Hill hearts in the dying minutes as he broke up field.
Hill got a foot to the ball though as he kicked ahead and as it trickled into touch, the referee reached for his whistle to spark Hill jubilation, having regained the Combination trophy they last won two seasons ago.
OLD CENTRALIANS: L. May, R. Jones, L. Hemming, R. Townsend, J. Preece, C. Gwilliam, R. Preece: S. Preece, N. Stroud, S. Fritchley, J. Phillips, P. Willetts (capt), B. Slatter, D. Knapman, R. Pinkney. Reps: J. Elliott, A. Bailey, D. Knight, J. Huxtable, A. Maton.
CONEY HILL: P. Knight, L. Morgan, D. Spencer-Tonks, M. Whelan (capt), G. Mabanna, R. Baker, S. Lynn: S. Price, R. Nichols, A. Pettigrew, S. King, B. Webb, J. Griffin, N. Rooney, A. Macrae. Reps: J. Hamlin, P. Knight, J. Fowke, S. Attwooll, M. James.
REFEREE: Chris Thomas (RFU)
STAR MAN: Andy Macrae (Coney Hill)
