McAvoy’s delight at thrilling semi-final success

NEWBURY Blues head coach James McAvoy went through the whole range of emotions before seeing his side book their place in the final of the Papa Johns Cup, South Shield final on Sunday.

Blues looked to be cruising to victory as they roared into a 32-10 at Teignmouth on Saturday.

But the Devon side staged a remarkable fightback and when they levelled in the final minute of the game and a kick in front of the posts to come, McAvoy feared the worst.

But incredibly the kick was wide and Blues regroupled to snatch a dramatic 39-37 victory in extra time.

McAvoy said: “It was emotional - I don’t think I have ever been involved in a game like that in my life.

“I thought we were out when they had that kick in the last minute and I even took my earpiece out.

“We felt like we had been given a lifeline in extra time.

“Although we had been 22 points up, that missed kick made it feel that luck was on ourside that it would be our day.”

Now Blues will be looking for one last hurrah when they take on Gravesend in the Shield final at Dings Crusaders RFC in Bristol on Sunday (5pm).

Remarkably, Gravesend also had to face extra time this week before beating favourites Sidcup 41-38 in another thriller.

Blues will go into the game in their best form of the season having won four games in a row.

And McAvoy is confident that his side will benefit from playing another physical team.

Blues’ forwards were again in dominant form, with prop Ben Hicks outstanding, and McAvoy is looking forward to ending the season with some silverware.

He said: “It will be a physical game, but we will be ready for that.

“This has been a rare opportunity to play cup rugby but we want to make the most of it.

“All we can do now is focus on ourselves - you can’t change too much in a week, we’ll just have to refine a few things.”

McAvoy added of the Teignmouth win: “It was a game in which I had to do the least amount of coaching because the players were problem-solving on the pitch.”

McAvoy also paid tribute to hat-trick hero Oli Rhoads, saying: “Oli has been very good at 13 - he is our X factor in attack.”