Relegation confirmed

Biggleswade 13 Vauxhall Motors 15

Biggleswade's brief stay in the Midlands Four East (South) is over.

Saturday's result means that they slip back into East Midlands/Leicester One.

But they will hope to return to the higher level at the first opportunity like they did last time.

A penalty try in the last minute of the game was just reward for the Herculean efforts the whole side made to try and topple the league leaders.

Neutral onlookers - like the referee's assessor! - were amazed to learn that Vauxhall needed to win to secure the championship while Biggleswade were doomed to relegation. The contest was so close.

In a match where there is a lot of bad blood between the two teams no quarter was asked or given.

Biggleswade played out of their socks and almost pulled off an unlikely victory looking at the relative positions of the two teams.

They were handicapped by the loss of centre Russell German with a recurrence of his knee injury and flanker Tom Elcock retired soon afterwards with a damaged shoulder. But the replacements Nathan James and James Caulfield slotted in well.

Vauxhall were ahead after 15 minutes when their quick burly three-quarters used the blind side to mount an attack and sweep in under the posts for a try that was converted.

Biggleswade struck back with the boot of Mark Rastrick who kicked a penalty either side of one from Vauxhall.

At 10-6 to the visitors they seemed to had done enough when the winger just squeezed over in the corner for a try.

But Biggleswade came back so strongly that Vauxhall were forced to commit one error after another until the referee decided enough was enough and awarded a penalty try under the posts that Rastrick converted.

With tempers, already on a short fuse, boiling over the official having already sent a Vauxhall player to the sin bin called an end to the match.