BERKSHIRE Shire Hall became the first team to beat BB&O Championship winners Littlemore as they edged to a dramatic 18-17 victory on Saturday.

The visitors arrived on the back of a perfect 19-match season, but they fell behind when Shire Hall’s man-of-the-match, inside centre Stephane Margot, slotted a penalty.

This was a boost to Shire Hall’s confidence, and led to a very prosperous opening 30 minutes.

Their first try came from a deft chip-and-gather from fly half Dave Tridgell before kicking through into space. The centres followed up with more neat footwork before Margot dived over the try line.

Littlemore almost hit back immediately, as forward phases led to a visiting player crashing over Shire Hall’s try line, but the referee deemed it held up. The pressure was relieved and Shire Hall managed to clear the danger.

The set-piece was working well for the home side, and the forwards controlled the tempo of the game. The next try came when hooker Jack Proctor scooped the ball off the floor, passing to captain Rich Clarke, who fixed his man and shipped it out to Chris Walker, who had the pace to finish in the corner. Margot missed the conversion, but the score sat at an unlikely 15-0. Littlemore were pushing hard, and were a constant threat when they got the ball out to the backs.

Eventually, fluid hands from the Oxfordshire side, a subtle dummy and pace out wide led to a score just before the half-time whistle. The conversion was successful and Shire Hall went into the interval with a 15-7 lead.

The second half was a weathering of the storm. Shire Hall had to work hard to preserve their lead and needed their fair share of luck to do it. On a couple of occasions, Littlemore were in good scoring positions, only to lose the ball forwards at key moments. One opportunity was spoilt by the last-ditch tackle of Chris Harber as a Littlemore player was about to ground the ball.

Shire Hall’s resistance eventually broke, and Littlemore dotted down for a second-half score, which was unconverted.

The hosts then went down to 14 men after a yellow card for a high tackle, and Littlemore capitalised with another unconverted try to put themselves 17-15 in front.

Yet the hosts dug deep and marched up the pitch to within 10 metres of the Littlemore try line, the visitors infringing at the breakdown which Margot landed with five minutes to play.

Berkshire Shire Hall are now guaranteed a third-place finish and visit Wheatley on April 22.