Old Northamptonians completed a decade of consecutive Alliance Cup wins after edging out Towcester 13-12 at Franklin’s Gardens.
ONs made it a historic 10 from 10, but they were pushed all the way by a fired-up Towcester side in the closest final for years.
Alex Rose put over his first drop goal of the season to give ONs the lead after four minutes.
Tows came back and when the ONs were penalised on half way, the kick was put into touch 15 metres from their line and although the resulting catch and drive was held up, Tows scrum-half Gus Hopewell went down the blind side from the five-metre scrum for a 5-3 lead.
Rose restored the ONs’ advantage with a successful penalty on 15 minutes but was narrowly wide with two further attempts, as was the Tows kicker James Falvey.
The ONs were dealt a severe blow within minutes of the restart when Rose, their leading scorer with more than 250 league points, hobbled off with what was later confirmed as a broken fibula with substantial ankle damage.
Problems were compounded with Beaumont leaving the fray with a broken ankle to be replaced by Ash Fullthorpe.
Replacement kicker Tom Goodman,who had his best game of the season for the ONs,was short with a penalty and went agonisingly close with further attempts on 67 and 75 minutes.
A fine kick from Seymour, after Tows had again infringed, put the ONs 20 metres from the Tows line, the lineout was secured and driven infield and when the ONs were awarded a scrum under the posts, Howes picked up from the base to power over.Goodman converted to take the score to 13-5.
Tows replied almost immediately with winger Aaron Goodman touching down in the corner and Falvey expertly adding the two points from wide out to set up a nail-biting final quarter.
A Tows attack was halted by an accidental offside and when the ONs won the resulting scrum a strong run from Napier, which was continued by Seymour and Love, moved the play into Tows territory.
A Tows penalty found touch close to the ONs line and although the ONs managed to steal the lineout,the clearance kick was run back and Falvey looked certain to score until Seymour appeared from nowhere to bundle him out at the corner flag.
With minutes remaining ONs captain Rhys Hughes soared high to claim a Tows throw-in and the pack drove on, keeping the ball close to wind down the clock, and winning a scrum.
Possession was secured and despite Tows then being given a scrum, they were penalised and ONs kicked the ball into the crowd to make it 10 in a row.
Good Evans inspires Heathens win
Heathens concluded their season with a 19-14 victory against their old boys team in the traditional Rod Conway Memorial Trophy fixture.
The Old Devils took the lead on five minutes when prop Pete Alibone went over from short range for a try that was converted by stand-off Steve Briggs.
The Heathens were then withstood continuous pressure on their try line for a 20 minute spell and held out due to some solid defence with flanker Mark Evans to the fore with an impressive man-of-the-match performance.
The pressure gradually eased and Heathens began to make some forays into ODs territory.
Just as time added on in the first half was about to start, Heathens’ forwards produced some quick ball and good handling saw full-back Ash Brown cross for an unconverted try leaving the score at 7-5 at the interval.
The second half opened in similar vein to the first with the ODs pressuring the Heathens line, however after 20 minutes Heathens skipper Dan Stonehouse, having switched from centre to No.8 found himself in space to stroll in under the posts allowing scrum-half Gavin Cottrell to add the extras.
Heathens then became a lot more comfortable on the ball and extended their lead with Ash Brown ending a sweeping breakout with a fine try.
Cottrell duly converted in what was his last game for Heathens prior to moving out of the area to give Heathens a 19-7 advantage.
The Old Devils were not to be outdone and on 40 minutes Steve Briggs went over for a try that he converted himself to make a twitchy final few minutes of injury time.
However there was no further scoring, leaving Heathens 19-14 victors.
Heathens’ next activity is the combined AGM and annual dinner which is being held at their Artizan HQ on May 11.
Bad break for Wolfenden
A nasty injury to James Wolfenden marred Mens Own’s final league game against Queens.
Wolfenden was making a welcome comeback from an early-season ankle injury and was introduced just after half-time.
But his return came to an end after just 15 minutes when a try-saving tackle resulted in him suffering a double fracture and dislocation to the same ankle he injured earlier this season.
Wolfenden is expected to make a full recovery and the club wish him well.
The game was a fairly even contest that saw a fine try scored by Adam Baker on 14 minutes when he carved his way through the Queens defence with the Matt Brace conversion making it 7-0.
Queens replied with a converted try for 7-7.
Nick Brown drove hard for the line on 34 minutes and got a try which Brace again converted to make it 14-7. Queens started the second half strongly and scored a second converted try on 42 minutes to level the game.
The injury to Wolfenden caused the game to be abandoned so the 14-14 scoreline stood.