SWINDON College Old Boys made light work of securing their Southern Counties Senior Vase final spot with a 43-3 win away to Slough.

The hosts took an early lead through a penalty inside the first 10 minutes but were kept quiet for the rest of the half as College ran in four tries, a brace from Tucker Blinkhorn adding to efforts from Jason Patmore and Florin Placau, the latter with two conversions.

That gave them a 24-3 cushion at half-time and the visitors' dominance continued in the second period as Liam Davis, Charlie Grabe and Simon Addis all went over the whitewash, Grabe kicking two conversions as the hosts booked their place in the final.

However, the game ended on a low note for College when flanker Eoin Crean was shown a red card, having already picked up a yellow card earlier in the game for the team accruing too many penalties.

“Slough were a much-changed side to when we faced them at home earlier in the season and beat them by eighty-odd points,” said head coach Mark Lea.

“They had a weakened side that week and for sure, they were a much stronger side, which you could see just from the warm-up.

“The scoreline doesn’t massively reflect the game because they were better than it suggests.

“One of the most pleasing things was our defence. We were just never going to let them score.

“We were putting bodies on the line in everything and I think that just wore them down, and we were able to start going through them.

“Everyone really put in a good shift defensively and that allows you to work your attack a bit more.

“We probably had as many chances. We just converted all of ours into tries.

“We actually had three yellow cards throughout the game and a red card for a second yellow offence at the end, which was our only low point of the game.

“With 30 seconds to go, our flanker tripped and fell into the ref and he decided that he had pushed him and gave him a second yellow card.”

Lea’s troops now face Tadley in the next round after they were handed a home walkover when Didcot were unable to raise a front-row replacement.

Tadley are four places below leaders College in the Berks/Bucks & Oxon Premier but having been tested in their last meeting, Lea won’t be taking any chances.

“We have played them in the league already and we struggled in that game. We didn’t play our best,” he added. “I think we were down for about 60 minutes of the game and we managed to score two late tries and beat them.

“They will be fairly strong. Again, we will start favourites because we are running away with that league a little bit, but, the same as Slough; the cup will bring out all the good players who want to play.”