After their semi final performances we should have been expecting this in the U15 NatWest Vase final between Oakham and Sherborne at Twickenham today, where fans at the stadium and online were treated to a feast of rugby.

Sherborne may have won, 34-24, but both sides deserve huge credit for the way in which they played the game, perhaps taking inspiration for the style of rugby that we saw in the final round of the RBS 6 Nations Championship, as both coaches alluded to at the end of the game.

In many ways it was a tale of the two captains, the two outside centres, Sherborne’s Nick Jonas, and Oakham’s YouTube sensation, Tyrese Johnson-Fisher. Both claimed superb hat-tricks, while Jonas also deservedly claimed the man of the match award.

Sherborne took a narrow lead into half time, Johnson-Fisher had given Oakham an early lead before Jonas and number 8 Felix Carey scored tries to take Sherborne 12-5 ahead.

Johnson-Fisher was back in again shortly after Sherborne’s second though, winding up form long range, but a Rupert Chetwode try gave the South West side a 17-12 lead going into the break.

Both sides were phenomenally well supported, and that support was clearly inspiring them to an elevated standard of rugby, with onlookers observing that it was hard to believe that this was just a Vase final, it felt very much like a Cup final standard.

It was Johnson-Fisher who was to make the first big impression in the second half, rampaging over for his hat-trick to give the lead back to Oakham.

From there on though, Sherborne stepped up their game, putting Oakham under all sorts of pressure, forcing Oakham into a few errors.

As often follows pressure, so the tries came. First through second row George Sutton and then Jonas followed up with his second, a beautiful outside break that included pace, power, and a superb fend to go over in the corner.

Still Sherborne pressed, but as Oakham had shown, they are a talented side themselves, and securing possession on their own try line, they showed why, scoring the try of the game.

Full back Ben Boulton-Smith broke away up to halfway, evading several would be tacklers before bursting through and offloading to openside Archie Sumner, who showed great pace to run in from halfway.

With ten minutes remaining and just five points in the game, it seemed as though it could be a lifeline for Oakham, but Sherborne, and Jonas, had other ideas.

With a couple of minutes remaining Jonas was deservedly named man of the match, and taking that praise he soon turned it into points, bursting through with great power for a small man to secure his hat-trick.

That gave his team a 34-24 which they held on to for the remaining couple of minutes to secure their first ever Twickenham Schools Cup title.

Praise must be given to both sides though after what was a superb game of rugby, a final that will live long in the memory.

U15 NatWest Vase Final: Sherborne 34-24 Oakham

Man of the Match – Nick Jonas, Sherborne.

Photos of the game can be seen on our Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/FifteenRugby

Teams:

Oakham

15 Ben Boulton-Smith  14 James Hammond  13 Tyrese Johnson-Fisher (c)  12 Huw Davies  11 Benjamin O’Boyle  10 Seb Davies  9 Jack van Poorvliet  1 Oluwatoyosi Afolabi  2 Albert Grieve  3 Ilya Durnetsov  4 George Figgs  5 Cameron Jordan  6 Oscar Hoult  7 Archie Sumner  8 Luccas Lovatt.

Replacements:  16 Thomas West  17 Rory Peck  18 Oliver Liddar  19 Alfie Ramsey  20 Andrew Jones  21 Freddie Reynolds  22 Matthew Schofield.

Sherborne

15 Tom Perkins  14 Rupert Chetwode  13 Nick Jonas (c)  12 Patrick Reynolds  11 Doug Hickling  10 Dom Prest  9 Barney Humphrey  1 William Bailey  2 Finian McLoughlin  3 Felix Storer  4 George Sutton  5 Hugo Pralle  6 Tom de Wesselow  7 Peter Folkes  8 Felix Carey.

Replacements:  16 Ben Rainbow  17 Ben Childerley  18 Johnny Page  19 Tom Lane  20 James Dixon  21 Guy Deverell  22 Harry Taylor.