In what was effectively a semi-final to decide who would reach the County League Cup Final, the Hurricanes secured a convincing win at a sunny Whiteman's Green on Sunday in their final league game of the season.

The Hurricanes began the game on the front foot with a kick off sent deep into the Chichester half, a good kick chase, and a period of early pressure on the opposition goal line. This pressure wasn't converted into points though, with opportunities wasted through inaccurate line out work, and the Hurricanes being held up over the try line enabling Chichester to clear their lines.

Indeed it was Chichester who opened the scoring against the run of play when, after 20 mins, their dynamic number 8 Ethan Karr scored an unconverted try in the left corner directly from a scrummage in the Hurricanes 22 to lead 0-5.

This jolted the Hurricanes into action, who to that point had lacked their usual composure and cohesion. On 23 mins, Archie Francis, once again deployed at inside centre instead of his preferred role at lock, stepped back inside a drifting Chichester defence on the 22m line to score under posts. Sam Denslow converted for a 7-5 lead.

After more pressure on the Chichester line, Denslow then neatly stepped past four would-be tacklers from 10m out to score a try which he then converted to put the Hurricanes 14-5 in front.

Chichester were not prepared to roll over though and fought their way back into the Hurricanes half, earning a lineout on the left hand side in a good attacking position. A well worked peel at the front of the lineout then presented Chichester's man of the match Ethan Kerr with his second try of the day as he ran in to score in the corner from 20m out. The conversion was missed, but the match remained close at 14-10.

The Hurricanes were largely dominant in terms of possession and territory, but continued to make errors at crucial moments. The nerves were settled though when skipper Josh Henley Gower powered over for the first of his two tries either side of half time from the base of the scrum – the try was converted to take the lead out to 21-10.

Having scored with the last play of the first half, Henley Gower repeated the feat shortly after the restart when he scored an unconverted try in the left corner to put the Hurricanes 26-10 up and in a commanding position.

After more dominant play, the Hurricanes secured another scrum in the Chichester 22m zone and, following good interplay and offloading, flanker Jake Bates powerfully crashed through a tiring Chichester defence for a try which was converted to extend the Hurricanes lead to 33-10.

Chichester then lost their star man Ethan Kerr to a yellow card following two separate infringements. The visitors continued to fight hard in the closing stages of the match though, but by this stage were chasing the game. They unwisely chose to run the ball from deep in their own half only to be undone by the Hurricanes pressure defence, which had worked well all afternoon. This forced a Chichester turn over and secured a penalty allowing scrum half Olly Miller to take full advantage and dart over for the last try of the game to make the final score 38-10.

Once again there were solid performances throughout the Hurricanes team, with Archie Francis securing the Man of the Match award for the second match in a row. This win means that the Hurricanes have guaranteed themselves a place in the League 1 County Cup Final against Hove on 21 April - the only team to have beaten them this season. The Hurricanes will need to improve significantly to overcome a very strong Hove side, but the U16s coaches believe that the Hurricanes are more than capable of doing just that.

Heath U16 Hurricanes squad: Finley Baffoe-Garley; Jake Bates; Will Bates; Christian Benstead-Schlup; James Broyd; Liam Buckfield; Paddy Cowan; Sam Denslow; Oscar Clark; Archie Francis; Josh Henley Gower; Tryfan Lewis; Rory March; Arlo Merchant; Olly Miller; Monty Oliver; Theo Polhill; Mylo Smith; James Whalley; George Wiscombe; Leon Zeelie