Worcestershire & Herefordshire booked their place in the final of the Iskitz Three Counties Championship with a laboured 44-17 win over an under-powered Greater Birmingham at Ledbury’s Ross Road this evening.
Greater Birmingham were badly affected by a multi-car accident on the M42 motorway south of Birmingham which meant that a number of players were unable to complete their journeys to Herefordshire.
Although the kick-off was delayed for 45 minutes Greater Birmingham were forced to play with 14 men and a shortage of front row forwards meant that there were uncontested scrums from the start.
Despite their selection difficulties Greater Birmingham produced a spirited display and three tries in as many minutes at the end of the match produced a scoreline that slightly flattered the Two Counties.
Worcestershire & Herefordshire will now face Shropshire, the holders, in the final at Old Halesonians on May 17 (3pm).
For a time it looked like Worcestershire & Herefordshire would coast to victory as Woodrush scrum-half Richard Thomas crossed for the opening try after five minutes, fly-half Adam Dixon (Malvern) added a penalty and full-back Paul Burton (Worcester Wanderers) then went over for another try.
But Greater Birmingham were only a point adrift at the break after Mark Coulson of Edwardians crossed for two tries in four minutes and converted the first himself.
Even though lock Gus Field (Old Halesonians) and back row forward Max Macfarlane went over for tries early in the second half, Worcestershire & Herefordshire struggled to put the game to bed.
Greater Birmingham twice got over the line only but could not get the ball down but wing Will Theaker of Handsworth made no mistake with a try on his county debut which reduced the deficit to 10 points 15 minutes from time.
It required a try from a line-out by Dudley Kingswinford’s Danny Hawkins to seal the win which was embellished with further late scores from replacement scrum-half James Jefferson (Dudley Kingswinford) and Old Halesonians centre Andy Holloway.