Under-20 County Championship final: Yorkshire 36 Berkshire 3

WHARFEDALE’S Josh Burridge played a captain’s role as Yorkshire reclaimed the National Under-20 Championship title with a resounding victory over Berkshire at Twickenham.

Burridge, who was a member of the side beaten by Northumberland in last year’s final, said: “I remember what it felt like to lose last time and always said I didn’t want to be crying like a baby again. If anything this time, they’re tears of joy.

“We’ve built from the first game and our results have got better and better. The main thing here was our defence.

“They threw a lot at us but we put our bodies on the line and I’m just happy to win.”

Berkshire had the chance to put the first points on the board in the opening minutes but Rory Garrett pulled his penalty wide.

Then Yorkshire hit back with the first score of the game, Josh Burridge going over in the corner for a try.

They added a second score after 20 minutes, with the referee awarding a penalty try when Berkshire’s front row came up in the scrum as Yorkshire were heading for a pushover try.

Christopher Bell kicked the conversion but Berkshire got on the board on the half-hour with a penalty from Garrett after Josh Burridge was ruled to be off his feet at the breakdown.

Berkshire also found themselves with a numerical advantage as half-time approached, with Wharfedale’s Tom Burridge sent to the sin bin for persistent offending.

But Yorkshire had the last word on the opening 40 minutes, Bell kicking a penalty to give his side a 12-point cushion at the interval.

And the pressure continued in the second half, with Ollie Fewtrell eventually breaking through with a jinking run after 50 minutes to score next to the posts and hand Bell an easy conversion.

And, three minutes later, they were at it again with a terrific counter-attacking try that started from deep in their own half on the left and finished with Jonny Coser touching down in the right corner.

Bell’s conversion attempt hit a post and the crossbar before dropping over for the extra two points.

At that stage, Yorkshire looked like they might go on to run up a cricket score, but Berkshire battled bravely to ensure they conceded just one more try.

That came five minutes from time and was a magical solo effort by Ilkley's Ben Magee, who burst out of midfield and showed a lovely feint to go past two Berkshire men before running in to score. Replacement Ezra Hinchcliffe kicked the conversion.

Joining Burridge in the team were clubmates Robbie Davidson, Cameron Hudson and Simon Borrill.

* Wharfedale won the National Colts Plate final with a 23-21 success over Havant at Bedford Blues, with Joe Gill getting the winning try in injury time.

The Greens' other tries came from Adam Stockton and James Otulakowski, Gill adding a conversion and two penalties.