SOUTH of England will wrap up a busy autumn by meeting Wales Dragonhearts at The Gnoll, Neath, on Saturday (October 31).
The side that beat Scotland Bravehearts eight days ago (the result following a defeat at the hands of Australia/New Zealand Exiles) was selected from the Southern Regional Carnival at Oxford RUFC in late September.
Midlands topped the final table ahead of holders East of England, London and the relaunched West of England team.
Two late Harry Kaufman tries helped the champions edge East 16-12 in the decider. East, who had never previously been behind, had led 8-0 on ten minutes through Eddie Atherton and David Bofenda, with Callum Dockerill then opening a 12-8 advantage after Midlands had levelled through touchdowns to Finlay Holt and Andy Prosser.
Midlands had drawn 8-8 with London in the first game of the afternoon, recovering an 8-0 deficit thanks to tries for Dylan Stone and Kaufman. Leighton Ball had bagged an early brace for London.
East launched the defence of their title with a 16-4 success over West. Bofenda dotted down twice in the first six minutes and Eddie Atherton nipped over – Leon Atherton replied for West – but Joe Allison closed the account.
Will Greenslide crossed for West in the second-round fixture with Midlands, who had already posted tries by Prosser and Jack Jonson before cruising home with unanswered efforts from Jake Rigby, Josh Rogerson, Ochema Okereke and Mike Holmes.
East, meanwhile, edged London 12-8 through tries by Alex Deery, Bofenda and Mike Goode before London threatened with a late Jon Armour touchdown.
London beat West 20-4 in the final round, going 16-0 up with tries by Ben McGuinness, Ben Telfer, Paddy Tennant and Ball – and though Turner replied for West – London sealed victory when Whittington powered over.
The players of the tournament were Kaufman (Midlands), Leon Atherton (West), Nissenen-Le (East) and Tennant (London). Bofenda (East) top-scored with four tries, Kaufman (Midlands) and Ball (London) had three tries each and Eddie Atherton (East), Prosser (Midlands) and Whittington (London) all crossed twice.
