A national final awaits for East Kilbride Pirates’ under-19 team after they overcame Birmingham Lions in a tense semi-final.
The contest went down to the wire, but EK edged past their rivals with a 13-9 win to set up a Britbowl final with London Blitz in the capital last Sunday.
The Division One Junior North Champions won the contest thanks to scores from Rory Hutton and Jack Cochrane, with Ben Hewitt kicking an extra point.
It will be the third time the Pirates side have contested the final in four years and they face a tough test in the final, as Blitz are seeking a third U19 championship in a row.
Thrilled Pirates head coach Matthew Davies heaped praise on his young stars.
He said: “We’ve had our youngest junior squad ever this year and so the focus was on delivering steady improvement and making sure to bring the new players into the team and steep them in the culture we’ve built over the past four years.
“Success on the field is never a given and so we’ve been delighted to steadily build win after win and find ourselves in our third British final in four years.
“Before this run of appearances, no Scottish team had ever made it to more than one final at this level and its testament to the hard work of our players.”
The win over Birmingham also marked a momentous moment in the career of Davies.
For it was his final home game in charge of the team before he steps down at the end of the season.
