Letchworth beat Romans in County Cup final at Allianz Park

Letchworth retained the County Cup at Saracens’ Allianz Park on Sunday in dramatic fashion against a strong Old Albanian Romans side who were in contention up to the last 10 minutes.

In front of a large crowd who had enjoyed two other cup finals before this game, both sides endeavoured to play attractive rugby with the end result being the Legends running out 33-19 victors.

The opening minutes were a bit like shadowboxing with both sides weighing each other up before OAs slotted a penalty for a 3-0 lead.

Legends struck back with two tries, Simon Hrbek converted one, to take a 12-3 lead.

The St Albans side kept in contention with another penalty before half-time, although Letchworth almost extended their lead. Ansell broke through only to be brought down by a last-ditch tackle from Matt Deane, and then flying winger Arun Johal was bundled into touch with the line beckoning.

OAs came out with a vengeance at the start of the second-half and their rolling maul helped them to close the gap to 12-11.

Jimmy Tirrell extended Letchworth’s lead but it was quickly cancelled out as, following a yellow card for Joe Shaw, OAs went over. And they nearly retook the lead but Charlie Parkhouse made a last-gasp clearance.

The youngster was then at the end of breakout move and Tirrell dotted down again to seal a 33-19 victory for Letchworth.