The 10-3 victory means the Select XV completed the double over their visitors, ending their British and Irish Cup group in 3rd place with 14 points from 6 matches. Last weekend’s defeat to Jersey had ended hopes of the Select XV finishing in the top 2 and progressing to the knockout stages.
Scott Matthews was given a yellow card in the opening exchanges of the match for a tip tackle, with Shane O’Leary opening the scoring for the Eagles from the resulting penalty. Josh Prosser responded with a penalty for the Select XV to leave the scores level at 3-3 heading towards half time. In the dying seconds of the first half James Benjamin burst through a gap in the Eagles’ defence before drawing his man and offloading to Owen Davies who was able to run through and score underneath the posts. Josh Prosser’s conversion meant the half time score was 10-3.
The second half was scoreless as both sides struggled to break through the defensive lines. The Select XV held on for the victory, managing to keep the Eagles out in the closing stages.
We caught up with James Chapron, coach of the Select XV after the game to reflect on the match, and campaign as a whole. Click below to listen:
