Brighton Blues 31 St Austell 19
St Austell's dreams of playing in a Twickenham final were ended on Saturday despite a rousing second-half fightback in their RFU Intermediate Cup semi-final at Brighton.
The Cornish club were left counting the cost of a bruising 31-19 defeat against the London Two South East leaders with injuries to James Earp and Sam Rhodes.
Earp, their 33-year-old inside centre, had to be carried off on a stretcher in the 13th minute with a ruptured Achilles tendon, while Rhodes discovered after the game that he had suffered a badly bruised jaw. Both players required hospital treatment before they joined the coach for the journey back to Cornwall.
Saints chairman Graham Walker said Earp would require an operation next week.
Of the match, Walker said: "The penalty count was 18-3 against us and they scored two tries while we had 13 men on the field from yellow cards. Brighton were very good."
In front of a crowd of more than 1,500, the Saints made a lacklustre start and found themselves 21-0 down after 34 minutes thanks to tries from Luke Edwards and Will Fell, plus a conversion and three penalties kicked by Alex Finch.
A Rhodes try a minute before the break, converted by Matt Shepherd, gave the Cornwall side renewed belief. Edwards' second try of the game after 48 minutes stretched Brighton's lead to 26-7 but the Saints refused to accept defeat and stormed back with two tries of their own.
Rhodes got his second try in the 65th minute, although Shepherd missed the conversion, and five minutes later a Jack Griggs try, successfully kicked by Shepherd, brought the score back to 26-19.
With 19 minutes to go, St Austell were within a converted try of drawing level but they were thwarted by a resolute home side and by some dubious refereeing.
As the game entered its last minute, St Austell were still searching for the one opportu nity to level the scores but their hopes were ended in the last minute when Keith Molineux went over for a Brighton try.
Although Finch missed his conversion attempt, Brighton had made the game safe and their fans celebrated at the end, with a trip to Twickenham on May 4 to face Coalville or Bridlington to look forward to.
