Bradford Salem 8, Northern 14

Bradford Salem’s hopes of a fourth trip to Twickenham were ended by an agonising defeat to the Durham & Northumberland Division One high-fliers at Shay Lane.

With the winners of this Intermediate Cup Pool Two clash just two victories away from an appearance at England headquarters, Salem had the better of the early exchanges.

But they couldn’t break down the well-organised Northern defence. The visitors took a 3-0 lead when fly half Dan Clappison kicked a penalty after Salem were caught offside.

The north-east outfit then capitalised on a poor restart from Salem, which put them to within five metres of the Bradford line.

Then, after a catch and drive, No 8 Paul Brady went over to put the visitors 8-0 ahead.

The Heaton side hit back when second-rower John Morrell scored a rare try after he charged down a Clappison clearance kick.

In the second half, it was end-to-end rugby. Northern went ahead 14-5, courtesy of two further Clappison penalties.

But with just over ten minutes remaining, full back Jonathan Davies got the home side to within striking distance with a well-struck penalty to bring the scoreline to 14-8.

With minutes to go, prop Craig Buxton looked like he had scored a try close to the uprights which would have probably clinched victory for Salem – but referee Nick Ramsden claimed that he was held up short.

Then, in virtually the last play of the game, Salem skipper Kris Falwasser picked up from the base of a five-metre scrum only to be held up over the line.

The referee awarded Salem another scrum but he inexplicably penalised Buxton for engaging too early and the visitors kicked into touch to seal victory.