Leinster ‘A’ in amazing comeback
Jersey Reds 27 Leinster ‘A’ 29
Leinster ‘A’ produced a stunning fightback at St Peter’s on Saturday to book their place in the British & Irish Cup final alongside Ealing Trailfinders.
Trailing by 19 points (27-8) to Jersey Reds with just five minutes of normal time remaining, converted tries from Ciaran Frawley, Hugh O’Sullivan and Will Connors helped the Blues to advance to the upcoming decider.
Courtesy of five-pointers by Tom Pincus and Kieran Hardy – either side of a Frawley penalty – Jersey brought a 14-3 cushion into the interval. A Peadar Timmins touchdown provided Leinster with fresh impetus after the break, but Jason Worrall’s try for the hosts appeared to place the outcome beyond doubt.
However, after Frawley and O’Sullivan both crossed over, Connors finished off a stoppage-time maul move to dramatically wipe out the Jersey lead.
Leinster now had an opportunity to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat and Frawley made no mistake with his third conversion of a compelling encounter.
JERSEY REDS – S Van Breda; T Pincus, A Ma’afu, M Best, J Worrall; B Cope, K Hardy; J Woolmore, N Selway, J Armstrong; J Sexton, R Bartle; M Argyle, C Joyce, M Rogerson. Reps: J Saunders, R Godfrey, L Atalifo, U Kolo’ofa’i, J Upfield; J Dudley, G Eastwell.
LEINSTER ‘A’ – C Frawley; A Byrne, G Mullin, C O’Brien, T O’Brien; C Marsh, C Rock; E Byrne, B Byrne, V Abdaladze; M Kearney, I Nagle; J Murphy, P Timmins, C Doris. Reps: S McNulty, P Dooley, O Dowling, W Connors, H O’Sullivan, T Daly, J Kelly.
REF – I Davies (WRU).