Close to 500 clubs have been competing across 24 competitions for a place in the Papa Johns Community Cup Finals Days on 30 April and 6/7 May.

The Regional 1 and Regional 2 Championships are pool based in the early stages, while all other Papa Johns competitions are a straight knock out.

Teams taking part are set on reaching the finals at prestigious venues which include: Twickenham, Sixways, Stonex Stadium and Darlington Mowden Park.

One point in it

On 1st April, eight matches were decided by a single point. One game going down to the wire was Aylesbury RFC v Witney RFC, in round one of Regional 2 South Plate.

"Witney are a great club and we knew we were in for a good day on and off the pitch," said Paul Milham, Chair of Aylesbury. "They scored the first points, we came back, and in the end Witney scored with what we thought was the last play of the game, but the ref blew again. A reversed penalty on our ten metre saw us kick for a line out. The final seconds brought what must have been a 14-man-maul and we went over in last play of the game."

Like many clubs, Aylesbury wanted to create a special cup day atmosphere around their opening fixture.

"Instead of having an empty clubhouse at this stage of the season, it was full," he added. "We made a day of it for the age grade players, 25 of them forming a tunnel to applaud Witney onto the pitch and then running on as mascots with our guys. We’ve been encouraging parents to come down for a match day for years. Basing it around the Cup worked really well, with a really good crowd. The kids were buzzing, and parents said loved it and would come again, which is brilliant.

"Cup rugby is special because at this level it’s a knock-out - you can’t miss any chances. It brings another level of intensity. Players couldn’t believe how loud it was. Unlike leagues, where you get a chance to right your wrongs, in the Cup you get one shot. If you mess it up, you’re done."

West Hartlepool coach Jamie Connolly said after his side’s 21-28 win in their Counties 1 Championship contest at Didsbury: “The Cup is knock-out rugby for us, and the boys want to go as far as they can. We were 14-5 down at half time. Once we got a bit of composure and back to our game, we managed to score 23 unanswered points. With 10 minutes to go it was looking fairly comfortable. This being Cup rugby Didsbury made a comeback and it was a pretty tense finish. There was a lot of relief and some pretty good celebrations.

"Everyone wants to play on the big stage. Only four games to a final there, the goal is in sight. Players work as hard as they can and this may be the only opportunity they ever get to play at Twickenham."

Hearing that West Hartlepool had drawn Cockermouth in the second-round, Connolly said his team were looking forward to testing themselves against new opposition.

"It’s the unknown, a different challenge, a chance to test different skills against different teams. It’s about two hours from us to Cockermouth in the Lake District, similar to Didsbury. But that’s part of Cup rugby, getting the boys together on the bus, going to new places. It’s good to take on different people and make new friends.

"It’s the first season of the Papa Johns Community Cup so it’s still early days, but so far it’s been great. We’ve been able to concentrate on winning the league first. Then the Cup follows keeping the players interested. We’ll go across there, play our game, and fingers crossed, we’ll get through to the next round."

Penalty in final minutes seals win

Having won all of their 22 league games to be crowned Counties 1 Durham and Northumberland champions this season, West Hartlepool head into Round 2 to face Cockermouth, whose penalty in the last two minutes of their Counties 1 Championship first-round fixture sealed a three-point win against league winners Upper Eden.

"It was a cracking game. It could have gone either way, but fortunately we came out on top,” said Cockermouth Fixture Secretary and Cumbria RFU President, Brian Mitchelhill. "We were awarded a penalty in the final couple of minutes, about 35 metres out from their posts, and managed to kick it to put us 18-15 in front. While Upper Eden tried bravely to get back into the game, we defended stoutly to stop them scoring."

RFU President presents league trophy

Neil Marston, chair of Cumbria RFU and Upper Eden added: "It was a really good atmosphere, very competitive, good, hard grassroots rugby. We played better in the first half, they played better in the second. Cockermouth just edged it and credit to them.

"While it was disappointing not to win our Cup match, it was great to see how the two sides supported each other. The Cockermouth guys all congratulated us as RFU President Nigel Gillingham presented our captain Will Birkbeck with the Cumbria 1 league trophy after we’d won the league for the second season on the bounce. We then wished Cockermouth all the best for the rest of the Cup. I hope they go all the way now."