Vagabonds under-15s defeated Stockport Greens 24-7 at Ballafletcher on Saturday to secure a place in the Cheshire Plate final.

The Manx side had the quicker start and had Stockport pinned back from the off.

Three minutes in they looked to have grabbed the opening try when Henry Dawson skipped past the defence wide on the right.

The try was ruled out for an earlier forward pass, but with Vagas holding a penalty advantage. The penalty was tapped from five metres and home side’s captain Sam Cowin crashed over for the opener. Jack Cutts converted and gave his side a dream start.

Shortly after 10 minutes they were in again. Dawson started this one when once more he found space in the wide channel and took the ball deep into Stockport territory. He was felled just shy of the line. Cowin was on hand to crash the ball towards the posts and deliver quick ruck ball.

With the defence stretched, Cutts threw a long pass to left wing Ryder Spencer who finished off in the left-hand corner for a 12-0 lead.

Stockport by now had started to run the travel out of their legs. Their plane had had three attempts at landing and kick off had been delayed by half-an-hour, so travel lethargy was probably a factor. As that wore off, the defence became a little tighter and there were no further scores in the first half.

In the second half Stockport had the better of possession and territory but it was Vagas who continued to dominate the scoreboard. Twelve minutes in the Vagabonds forwards earned a five-metre penalty.

This was tapped quickly and Cowin made a thrust for the line. He was repelled but the quality ruck ball allowed Oli Howard a shot. He was brought down inches short and scrum-half Ellis Dunn quickly grabbed the ball and snuck over at the side of the ruck. Cutts added the extras and with a little more than 15 minutes remaining, Vagas had one foot in the final at 19-0.

Stockport rallied briefly with five minutes remaining. A forward drive inside the Vagas 22 was finished off by Dan Wood who launched himself off the back of the maul. Ollie Griffin converted to make it 19-7 and raised the spectre of a late comeback.

Any possibility of that was ruled out from the restart. Vagas chased down the restart kick and turned over possession. Toby Horsey made the hard yards into the 22 and from the ruck, big second row Toby Hemus powered over.

Vagabonds will face Stockport Reds in the final on a date to be fixed.

Rugby result - March 18

Cheshire Junior Plate

(under-15s)

Semi-final

Vagabonds 24-7 Stockport Greens