Old Centralians turned up the heat to complete a cup double at a sun-drenched Kingsholm yesterday.

But while their 2nd XV won the North Gloucestershire Combination Junior Cup in relative comfort, 40-17 against Matson 2nds, their 1st XV were pushed all the way in the Senior Cup by a very determined Coney Hill before running out 26-16 winners.

Not for nothing have Coney Hill earned a reputation over the years for being the fiercest of cup fighters and when they led 11-5 early in the second half, it looked like another upset could be on the cards.

They have course and distance form for this sort of thing having defeated Cents 6-5 in the Senior Cup final when they were heavy underdogs only four years ago.

Yesterday The Western Counties North side were giving away two divisions to the Cents, who have just finished fourth in South West One East, but you wouldn’t have known it as Coney Hill tore into their well-fancied opponents.

They went ahead just before the end of the first quarter when impressive no. 8 Andy McRae touched down for a score and deservedly held onto that advantage for the best part of 20 minutes before McRae’s opposite number Rich Pinckley scored a pushover try.

There was almost a collective sigh of relief from Cents fans but if they thought that would signal the start of the end of Coney Hill’s challenge they were very much mistaken.

Centre Joe Hamlin, the son of former Gloucester fly-half and captain Mike, slotted a penalty on the stroke of half-time and then struck the kind of 40-metre kick which made his dad a household name at Kingsholm back in the day soon after the break.

Cents were creaking and they needed a touch of class from one of their main men to engineer a way back into the game.

Pinckley’s darting run and feed gave wing Rueben Goatley the chance to stretch his legs and when he found himself confronted by a defender he passed the ball inside for rampaging centre Shay Morgan to run in and score.

Harry Preece’s conversion put the Cents in front for the first time and although they were never headed again they were still forced to dig deep over the final 30 minutes before they were able to get their hands on the cup.

It looked as though it would be plain sailing for Cents when replacement Ryan Townsend scythed through the Coney Hill defence before finding Goatley and his try was improved by Preece.

But Coney Hill are made of stern stuff and they mounted wave after wave of attack in a desperate attempt to get back into the game.

Cents’ defence was every bit as determined as Coney Hill’s attacking thrusts but eventually it gave way as hooker Tom Anderson burrowed over.

There was still time for one more try and it was worth waiting for as far as Cents fans were concerned.

Fly-half Ollie Lock’s long crossfield kick bounced up perfectly into the hands of onrushing wing Merv Brown who collected the ball and ran in for the try before Alex C Cox added the extras.

So, was that crosskick a well-rehearsed move?

“No,” laughed Brown, “That’s the first time we’ve tried it. It was lucky the way the ball bounced up for me but it was great to score the try.”

It’s not a move that Brown will be repeating next season - not at Cents anyway - as the Senior Cup final win will be his first and last for the club.

The 21-year-old is just finishing a three-year course at Hartpury College and is expected to join Dungannon Rugby Club in Ireland.

Coach Jack Preece, who captained Gloucestershire to a 55-12 win over Devon in their county championship opener the previous day, was delighted to see the club complete a cup double.

“I’m over the moon,” he said. “To win two trophies means a lot and next season we want to go one better and have three teams at Kingsholm.

“I’m particularly pleased for the two captains, Scott Fritchley and George Preece. They both put so much into the club. They work really hard and you could see the players really wanted to win for them.”

Matson 3rds won the Glanville Cup with a convincing 44-7 win over Spartans 3rds.