Bromsgrove School retain national title

Bromsgrove School 18 QEGS Wakefield 10
A moment of opportunism helped Bromsgrove retain the NatWest Schools Under-18s Cup after an intense examination of the champions by QEGS Wakefield at Twickenham today.
Bromsgrove emerged winners of a high-level showdown thanks to a determined all-round display led by No 8 Beck Cutting who scored two of the three tries.
Cutting, who finished off one try in the first half, made his telling intervention 11 minutes into the second half by taking a quick tapped penalty to himself before beating two opponents near the line to score.
QEGS, now 18-10 down, mounted some terrific attacks in the last 20 minutes only to be defied by Bromsgrove’s defence and their failure to make pressure count.
Bromsgrove, unbeaten this season, had amassed a 38-0 lead in their semi-final win over Whitgift. However, this final was always going to be far tighter.
The champions scored first via a dropped goal from fly half James Taylor who realised every point would have to be earned the hard way.
A break by QEGS scrum-half Sam Tovey changed the momentum and led to the first try of the match in the 17th minute.
Tovey’s dash into the 22 was followed up by a break outwide which wing Joe Gatus finished off by running onto Tom Allott’s long pass.
Three minutes later QEGS grabbed a second, again attacking Bromsgrove down the right flank. The pressure forced a high tackle which brought a penalty kick into the corner.
And QEGS proved impossible to stop from the rolling maul, ending in prop Nathan Youngs forcing his way over.
The tries put QEGS 10-3 ahead but they were immediately hit by the loss of No 8 Harry Clarke who was hurt in trying to catch the kick off.
Bromsgrove grabbed the initiative as QEGS regrouped and struck twice in the run up to half-time, Cutting and wing Cooper Bent taking advantage of sweeping moves.
Taylor missed both the difficult conversions as Bromsgrove turned round 13-10 up. The second half turned out to be tense in which Cutting’s try proved crucial.
QEGS needed a little bit of luck but they missed their chances especially when Gatus failed to gather another long pass from Allott and in the final minutes when they could make a kick to the corner count.
Tony Windo, director  of rugby for Bromsgrove, said: “We did not play as well as the semi-final because we did not hold on to the ball as well. But that’s probably me being a grumpy coach.
“But we are delighted to retain the title. We were telling the lads in the build up to look at what the All Blacks had said at the World Cup that it’s always more difficult to retain a trophy than to win it. It was an all-round team effort but players like Henry Walker and Beck Cutting carried really well.”
Cutting, Bromsgrove’s  man of the match, said: “All the effort has been worthwhile. We’ve pushed ourselves really hard and have stepped up again by retaining the trophy. That was the goal. To score two tries at Twickenham is unreal – I feel like I’m on another planet.”