Twickenham glory for Oundle Rugby Club, but Stamford beaten by slick students

But it wasn’t such good news for Stamford at England rugby union headquarters as they went down 45-15 to London-based Brunel University in the final of the Papa John Community Cup.

Oundle director of rugby Aly Kachra hailed his club’s progress over the past decade after they romped to victory.

Kachra’s outfit ran in seven tries with fly-half Ben Young – one of the men to cross the whitewash – finishing the match with a 100% record from the tee.

And Kachra, who was a previous Oundle captain, was nearly lost for words when he compared where the club was now with his own playing days.

“We were at the bottom level of English rugby 11 years ago, and I was captain embarrassingly,” Kachra said with a smile. “Did I ever dream back then that we would, in one season, win the league at Level 5, get promoted to Level 4, and win the cup? Never! But here we are, and what a place to do it.

“I am so proud of the guys. Some of them have been here all their careers and it is an amazing experience for both those guys and everyone else. I have to say, I am a little bit speechless.”

Oundle took control of proceedings through Will Cardall’s try and never ceded momentum from that point onwards. Converted scores from Siosifa Ma’asi and Kieran Frost gave the Northamptonshire-based side a commanding 21-0 lead at the break.

The second half saw Oundle stretch their lead further after Grant Snelling reaped the rewards of a devastating rolling maul, but Huddersfield did not roll over, hitting back through Matty Briggs, who made the most of a defensive error to cross over.

Young then notched up his team’s fifth try thanks to a lovely one-two in the build-up. Huddersfield responded with their best spell of the match as they scored two tries in quick succession, Max Horsfall among the scorers.

Tom Aviss was the final man to cross the tryline for Oundle before Young completed the scoring, his late penalty taking his team’s points total past the half-century.

And with the club’s half-centenary next year, Kachra wants to keep pushing the club forward as much as possible, adding: “Where the club is now, I think is exceptional, but we just want to keep building, and once the boys have had some time off, we will be ready to come back stronger than ever.”

Oundle won every competitive fixture they played in the season as they also strolled to the Regional One South title.

Stamford were 28-0 down in the first-half before George Cox crashed over for a try, but it was 33-5 to the slick visitors at the break and they stayed in control throughout a much more even second half.

Freddie Chapman and Ed Cox scored the second-half tries for Stamford who won the Counties 1 Midlands East title this season.

For a round up of all the Papa Johns Community Cup Final action and to watch the games back follow @RFU on X or search for #PapaJohnsCommunityCup.