Powergen Junior Vase semi-final North Bristol 13 Solihull 18

IN a fiercely contested game, North Bristol came up just short as Solihull progressed to the final and a dream trip to Twickenham.

On balance the Midlands side deserved to move on as they took their chances and defended very well.

North's Oaklands Ground was packed with over 600 fans lining the pitch. North were immediately into the action as second row Paul Howell made the opening hit and Solihull were on the back foot. The opening exchanges were frantic and brutal in some areas and after five minutes Martin Lambourne had a tricky penalty attempt from halfway fall just short.

Solihull defended sternly to repel North's forays and a well-taken Lambourne drop goal after 15 minutes gave the home side a deserved 3-0 lead.

Solihull soon hit back when their fullback converted a penalty attempt and the game drew level at 3-3. On 25 minutes Lambourne was given another penalty shot as the visitors' flanker was too keen at a breakdown. The 50th penalty success of his season took North to a 6-3 lead and also set a new North Bristol club record for penalties in a season.

As the half neared its conclusion Solihull pressed and after some nifty back play their winger touched down to give them an 8-6 interval advantage.

As the second half wore on North began to take heart that Solihull had not scored any further trys and began to string a few more phases together.

However, the turning point in the game came at a ruck when scrum half Ben Caddick was caught and fullback Nick Tatum came in to play the link man. With a Solihull player not letting the ball out Tatum used his boot and was sin-binned on advice from the touch judge.

North, at a man down, had it all to do and Solihull soon took advantage when their No 8 finished off some quick hands to touch down in the corner despite a brave tackle from winger Mike Lewis. The conversion was missed and North were a score down.

Just before the ten minute fine was up a blocked Lambourne drop goal found its way into the hands of the Solihull No 8 again, who broke down the touchline and sprinted a full 70 metres past a scrambling Ben Walters and into the space vacated by the sin-binned Tatum. At 18-6 up with ten minutes to go Solihull looked like they had done enough to win their place in the final.

However, Lambourne's good penalty kick to touch enabled a Bold-Howell lineout conection to be well driven to the line for replacement prop Wes Reed to score.

Lambourne converted and North were back in the game at 18-13, although it was too late for any heroics as the referee called time on a pulsating afternoon's rugby, but ultimately a disappointing one for North Bristol.