Stevenage Town 41pts Barnet Elizabethans 5pts

Their cause was not helped by the various "senior" players who were unavailable on St Patrick's Day but the BE team tried their best and were not as outplayed as the final scoreline suggests: in fact, had they had the luck of the draw in some decisions including the referee ignoring his touch judge's call of "not straight" at the lineout before the first score and a blatant offside home player before the penultmate score, BE's rewards would have been much better. As it was, Stevenage Town showed their pace in turning defence into attack, often stretching BE's makeshift back line.

The 1st XV started well - GLYN BAYLEY narrowly missed a penalty goal and also went close to a try - but the full back's kicking confidence let him down as the game progressed. The home side struck twice inside the first quarter - the first from that crooked lineout throw - with two converted tries and they scored another right on half time. In between, BE had few chances.

BE were again the better side after the break - JAMES ORAM, who won the man of the match award closely followed by RICKY STEVENS, were winning lineout ball but against some dodgy tactics by the home jumpers. BE had a period of pressure but came away with nothing, including when GLYN BAYLEY had a hand on the ball behind the posts but was adjudged not to have grounded the ball. Stevenage soaked this pressure up and then scored a quick try but BE had further pressure and, from a series of forward drives, they eventually scored through JAMES ORAM's try. This prompted the home team into three very quickly taken tries, the last being converted, as they worked the ball quickly into attack and found gaping holes in BE's defence to progress through to the Tankard Final.

The 1st XV are back on League duty this coming Saturday when basement team, London Welsh Amateurs, are the visitors to Byng Road at 3pm.

PGY