Team Sunderland men’s Rugby make it three finals in a row!

University of Sunderland 40 – 0 Manchester

The home team dominated the Men’s Conference trophy semi-final against Manchester 3rds, seeing them into the cup final for the third year in a row.

In a high stakes match, Sunderland set the stall out right from kick off with unrelenting pressure and attacks.

Aaron Harlow Stephenson found gaps in Manchester’s defence allowing him to score directly under the posts, which Ethan Sutcliffe converted.

From an intercepted pass, Sunderland gained possession pressing forward allowing Harvey Guthrie to score.

Manchester attempted to fight back, but their attacks fell short with a determined defence from Sunderland.

Following a mistake from the Sunderland lineout the home team managed to regain possession allowing Harlow- Stephenson to score, which Sutcliffe converted.

After a series of quick passes out of the scrum, Luke Laydon grounded the ball under the posts which Sutcliffe converted.

Manchester continued to press however they couldn’t break the Sunderland defensive line.

Michael Precious had a strong run encountering a defensive line from Manchester saw him grubber kick which allowed Guthrie to continue the attacking press to go on to score to the left of the posts. Sutcliffe’s conversion brought the first half to a close with a score of 33 – 0.

Sunderland brought the same intensity to the second half pushing back all Manchester’s attacking attempts.

Out of the ruck Sunderland utilised quick passes to allow Guthrie to complete a hattrick, which Sutcliffe converted.

Sunderland’s right winger prevented a last minute try from Manchester with a strong run across the whole width of the pitch stopping any further advancements leaving the fulltime score as 40 – 0, with a brace from Harlow-Stephenson and hattrick from Guthrie.