WIRRAL RFC were unable to win the Regional 1 Plate at the 2024 Papa Johns Community Cup Finals after going down 24-12 to Nothamptonshire side Oundle.

 It was Wirral who took an early seventh minute lead at Worcester's Sixways Stadium with a try from a five metre line out by Matt Ringer, duly converted by Jimmy Annetts from the touchline.

In the remaining minutes of the first half much pressure came from Oundle but the Wirral defence managed to hold out until the 17th minute when forward pressure enabled Oundle to finally score through their forwards to leave the score 7-5.

In the period up to half time Wirral were able to apply more pressure on Oundle but were not able to break through their stern defence.

At the start of the second half, Oundle looked to pay more attacking rugby, however a superb break by Wirral captain, Chris Crowley, enabled him to draw the full back and put in leading try scorer, Tom Akehurst to score close to the posts with the conversion missed.

On 60 minutes, Oundle equalised with a well worked try close to the posts duly converted and two minutes later a further well taken try by the Oundle winger gave them the lead to lead 12-19.

Wirral continued to attack but the Oundle defence was sound and an Oundle try in the 70th minute put the game beyond Wirral’s grasp.

Wirral continued to attack but the pressure could not break through the Oundle defence, even though their second row was red carded for a number of offences during the game.

Ultimately the best team won on the day but Wirral played with a lot of endeavour during the 90 minutes of the game.