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Hastings & Bexhill's dreams of a Papa John’s Cup final at the Stonex Stadium were ended at Vigo, where they lost 45-22.

Fielding a strong squad H&B made a promising start to a semi-final played in excellent conditions in North Kent.

Vigo had twice beaten Hastings this season in the league; but after half an hour an upset looked on.

Skipper Bruce Steadman opened the scoring with a penalty from 40m. Vigo hit back with two quick tries to make it 12-3. H&B lifted their game and from a 5m penalty Ben Davies charged the line to touch down and Steadman converted.

Hastings & Bexhill RFC in cup action at Vigo | Picture: Peter Knight

Maynard made a terrific break through the home defence, he whipped the ball outside to Matt Sheppard who scored a fantastic try. From the restart the ball was fed out to Charlie Glasper who crossed the line to give Steadman a straightforward conversion, making it 12-22. Vigo added a converted try to make the half time score 19-22.

The second half was a different story.

Vigo scored four more tries with three conversions. But H&B made their task easier by conceding too many penalties and two consecutive yellow cards.

For 20 minutes Hastings were playing one man down and the score rose to 38-22. Vigo completed the scoring as the ref blew the full-time whistle.

This was H&B's last game – the unfinished Bob Rogers Cup games will be played in August, before the 23-24 season starts.

Hastings and Bexhill RFC’s hopes of reaching cup final ended by Vigo