The Met Police have cemented their place in history with a stunning victory against Cheshire Police to claim their first ever PSUK Cup trophy.
In a pulsating Cup Final at Sale FC, a 14-minute second half hat-trick from Met winger George Starkey turned the match on its head, and added London's Finest to the roster of PSUK cup winners. Starkey was awarded the Player of the Match trophy by the sponsor Salesforce but it could easily have been shared among heroes on both sides. The Met's achievement was all the greater for managing the game whilst only having 14 on the pitch for 20 minutes.
In bright sunshine on a chilly Cheshire afternoon, the local favourites warmed up 30 players and certainly looked to have height and weight advantage. The Met have been confronted by greater weight and numbers on many occasions this season (that's policing for you - ed)and have never cowered in its face. Although Cheshire fly-half Tom Jennings immediately looked to stamp his authority on the game, it was the Met who drew first blood, Huw Longden galloping under the posts to give Sam Druce the simplest of conversions. Seven minutes and 7-0 up, the Met were quickly reined in. A feature of the first half was the Met's disjointed defence, Cheshire too often breaking through the line and scattering would be tacklers. With the breeze at his back, Jennings was quick to take full advantage and a jinking run took him under the Met's posts for a try he also converted. Aided by a poor re-start and a loose kick to touch, the Cheshire pack was able to establish territory and a panicky Met defence conceded two rapid penalties which Jennings kicked to extend Cheshire's lead to 6 points with less than a quarter of the match played.
This Met Police squad has never lacked heart. Throughout the match, the Met's Dan Libby was a towering presence at the lineout and at the set piece Cheshire's Liam Minter struggled to cope with the magnificent Camilo Parilli-Ocampo, a man-mountain of a loose head. The Met forced their way into the opponent's 22 and a massive forward drive surged across the Cheshire line for hooker William Allen to ground the ball and pull the Met back to within a point.
The flurry of scoring abated for several minutes, with only a missed Jennings penalty kick during a fallow peiod. But a sustained period of Cheshire pressure saw the Met warned for defending illegally. Cheshire opted to go for 7 points rather than 3 and at the next breakdown, centre Earl Gorman was pinged at the maul and sent to the sinbin for 10 minutes. Cheshire took full advantage of the extra man and started to purr. Centre Jack O'Neill ran in unopposed through the hole left by Gorman's absence and No8 Ben Blackburn added to the Met's suffering as he exposed a defence that was in temporary disarray. Jennings added the minor to both tries and Cheshire glided into half-time with a comfortable 27-12 advantage.
The match officials, who were otherwise excellent, caused an extended break as they battled with various bits of broken and malfunctioning kit. There was the unusual spectacle of the two teams lined up for several minutes for the re-start without a referee anywhere to be seen!
Whether the lengthy break played a part or not, the Met were soon restored to a full complement with Gorman returning to the fray. With his reintroduction, the Met handled the ball more freely than they had in the first half and much of the earlier inaccuracy disappeared. With Druce and Stirrup controlling the tempo from half-back, left wing George Starkey scampered over the line twice in three minutes with Druce adding the extras. Three minutes later, Joe Stirrup earned the reward for his all-round industry and brilliance, crossing for the Met's fifth try and the Met were, incredibly, 31-27 ahead and the home crowd were silenced.
Cheshire were visibly stunned by the turnaround but appeared to have received a reprieve from the onslaught when Met's tight head Finn Nuttall was banished to the bin for a scrum indiscretion. Cheshire's outstanding Ben Blackburn crossed for his second try and Jennings' conversion re-established Cheshire's 3-point advantage. Every point was hard earned though, and Alaistair Short and Harry Evans were outstanding in the Met's rearguard effort.
The Met still faced a further 5 minutes without a full XV but the pack was more than holding its own with Dylan Richards temporarily propping and demonstrating the massive loss his impending retirement will be. Behind him, the backs had lost none of their panache and, for the third time, Starkey was put into space and completed his rapid-fire hat-trick. It was a sensational performance by Starkey who was playing his last game as a Met officer, transferring to Surrey and semi-retirement. Druce converted to complete a seven-point swing, putting the Met up by 4.
Chris Padman replaced Nuttall when the 10-minute sinbin was up and made an outstanding contribution. Those hours of touch rugby were brought to bear: several classy offloads and assured handling were topped off with a bullocking charge for the line and his converted try put the Met more than a score ahead with ten minutes remaining.
The Met had claimed and established their ascendency. It was a lead that they never looked like relinquishing. Swerling and Dalley had been imperious when recovering and returning Cheshire's kicks from hand and Conor Finch had curbed the Cheshire back line's attempts to find space. A long stoppage for a horrible injury to replacement Angus Munns seemed to deflate Cheshire more than Munn's team mates and the Met capped off a wonderful second half display with Earl Gorman crossing for the final try.
It was a glorious and joyous celebration of Met rugby. It was an amazing game of rugby between two sides who gave it their all. The Met have used a large number of players in the pursuit of a first PSUK crown and have encompassed exceptional victories over Welsh rivals and an historic appearance at Cardiff Arms Park. The future should be bright. For many years, the Met Police were considered "too good" to be included in the annual Police competition. The advent of professional rugby in 1996 coinciding with the Met Police Service's denigration of sport as a worthy PR vehicle and a reflection of teamwork and pride saw the Met's Rugby Club tumble down the RFU's league structure and almost out of existence. The Club's recovery in the early 2000s encouraged the wider Police Sport governing body to invite the Met's rugby team to join the competition. Since their introduction, the Met has only graced two previous finals, losing both of them. Winning the trophy at an even older English venue (Sale FC was founded in1861) where the Sale honours board is graced with the name of one of the Met's own, Vice Chairman Neil Sinclair, who has completed 40 years involvement with the Met, alongside rugby legends Steve Smith and Fran Cotton, will live long in the memory.