Rugby Union: King's reward Codd

HERE in sevens heaven it was all muck and bullets, and while the sharpshooters from King's Taunton made it a first triumph in the Rosslyn Park National Schools Sevens, the man with the finger on the trigger was feeling quite at home in the Roehampton mud. Welcome back, Ray Codd.

Codd, the former Park captain and full-back, never laid hands on the big prize - his club lost the 1975 John Player Cup final at Twickenham to Bedford. Yesterday, though, King's rewarded their master in charge, beating Loughborough 19-15 in the Festival showdown with a last- minute try.

And so the trophy went west. 'We've never gone beyond the quarter-finals here,' Codd, an England triallist in his heyday, said before the final of the competition restricted to schools playing rugby in one term.

King's began by squeezing past Christ Brecon, removed Blundells, last year's runners-up, in the quarter- finals and then took out Dauntsey's. Loughborough marked their progress with a five-point win over King's Canterbury, the holders.

With conditions reminiscent of the bad old days at Park when drainage was a problem, King's spent the whole of the final clawing their way back after Loughborough had opened with a Matt Duncan penalty and a try from James Woodward.

But with names like Dart and Lightfoot you felt King's should have an edge. And so it proved, Andy Dart converting tries by Peter Tinning and Tom Lightfoot either side of the break and Andy Lister answering Loughborough's riposte with a late surge to the line.

King's Taunton: Tries Tinning, Lightfoot, Lister; Conversions: Dart 2. Loughborough: Tries Woodward, Pritchard; Conversions Duncan; Penalty Duncan.

King's Taunton: M Bushell, P Tinning, P Chappell, A Dart; B Cole (capt), A Lister, T Lightfoot.

Loughborough: J Woodward, G Crowfoot, M Duncan (capt), J Young; J Naftalin, G Tarrott, J Pritchard.

Referee: A Ellison (Leatherhead).

SHELL ROSSLYN PARK NATIONAL SCHOOLS SEVENS (Roehampton): Festival Tournament quarter-finals: King's Taunton 12 Blundells 0; Dauntsey's 28 Oratory 7; Kent College 19 Bryanston 0; King's Canterbury 5 Loughborough 10. Semi-finals: King's Taunton 12, Dauntsey's 5; Kent College 7, Loughborough 12. Final: King's Taunton 19 Loughborough 15.