The AASE Championship and Plate finals take place at Allianz Park tomorrow afternoon.

Hartpury College are chasing an incredible sixth AASE title in a row against SGS FIlton College in the Championship final, which kicks off at 15.00.

Hartpury will be most people’s favourites, and not just because of that six year record, they have been utterly dominant this year, as in the past. They are undefeated this season and in the league section of the AASE competition they only failed to score a try scoring bonus point once in their ten games, finish ahead of Oaklands in the Northern Conference by an incredible sixteen points as they went through the season undefeated.

That put the automatically into the semi finals of the competition, where they were to meet Truro College. Truro had finished second in the Southern Conference and beaten Myerscough College 31-17 in the quarter final, however Hartpury simply blew Truro away, winning by an incredible 49-14 scoreline.

That will worry Filton, who were closely matched against Truro in the Southern Conference and finished just behind them in third. They each secured a win against each other, Filton winning 15-5 at Truro, with Truro winning 22-8 at Filton. Filton will know that they will need to step things up a notch against Hartpury.

There is no reason why they cannot though, a 23-17 away win at Oaklands College in their quarter final was highly impressive while a 26-20 away win at Southern Conference table toppers St Paul’s Catholic College was equally so, Filton arrive at Allianz Park in top form.

Filton also arrive at Allianz Park with the added advantage of playing on an artificial surface themselves at their home games, a small advantage perhaps, but in finals every little bit helps.

The Plate final, which kicks off at 13.00, features the two newest teams in the AASE league, Gosforth Academy, who joined the league in 2013/14, and Bicton College, who joined this year.

Both finished in fourth place in their respective conferences, though Bicton’s route to fourth in the south was far more comfortable than Gosforth’s in the Northern Conference.

Gosforth were in a four way tussle for third and fourth with Myerscough, Moulton, and Worcester 6^th form College. As it was, Myerscough took third by two points, but Gosforth did claim fourth, a point ahead of Moulton and two ahead of Worcester.

That was due to some excellent late season form that saw them win their final two games of the season, sending them straight to the Plate semi finals, where they beat Henley College 19-17.

Bicton too went straight to the Plate semi finals. Waiting there for them were Ivybridge Community College, their local rivals, who had beaten Moulton College by a staggering 54-0 margin in their quarter final the week before. Bicton were not put off by the Ivybridge form though and won 22-13.

It ought to be a good Plate final, and an excellent warm up for the Championship final.

That Championship final will be something quite special either way though, a brilliant 6^th in a row for Hartpury if they win, or the first side ever to deny Hartpury in a final if Filton win. It should be some occasion.

AASE Finals:

Championship – Hartpury College v SGS Filton College

Plate – Bicton College v Gosforth Academy

AASE Play off Results:

Championship

Semi Finals:

Hartpury College 49-14 Truro College

St Paul’s Catholic College 20-26 SGS Filton College

Quarter Finals:

Oaklands College 17-23 Filton College

Truro College 31-17 Myerscough College

Plate

Semi Finals:

Bicton College 22-13 Ivybridge Community College

Gosforth Academy 19-17 Henley College

Quarter Finals:

Moulton College 0-54 Ivybridge Community College

Henley College 46-23 Worcester 6th form College

Final Tables: