OXFORDSHIRE'S superior forward power eventually saw them defeat East Midlands 27-10 in an attritional County Championship semi-final at Bedford Athletic.

With rain falling regularly on a very un-Spring like afternoon, free-flowing rugby was never really an option.

But Oxon are a force to be reckoned with in the tight and once they drew level just before the break, they never looked back.

East Midlands certainly posed the visitors' toughest test yet and had some excellent individuals.

However, they lacked Oxfordshire's cohesiveness, which was based around an all-Chinnor pack.

The visitors dominated the first 20 minutes, but had nothing to show for their troubles except an early penalty from fly half James Cathcart.

East Midlands caused problems with their first real attack of the game after 16 minutes and Oxon flanker Jon Brooks was sin-binned during some desperate defence.

The home side wasted their advantage with a knock-on and Oxfordshire regrouped.

Cathcart's kicking was surprisingly erratic in the first half and he was punished for delaying on 22 minutes.

East Midlands skipper Paul Baird charged down his attempted clearance and ran in under the posts for fly half Peter Vickers to convert.

Cathcart slotted a simple three points after 29 minutes, but Vickers kicked a penalty from the halfway line to make it 10-3.

This looked like being the half-time score after East Midlands thwarted an attempted catch and drive.

Brooks, however, made amends for his yellow card by touching down after a very sloppy home scrum and Cathcart's conversion levelled it.

East Midlands' impressive No 8 Brett McNamee almost created a try with an incisive break on 47 minutes, but the game turned when he went off with a head wound.

Full back Andrew Regan was sin-binned for killing the ball as Oxon laid siege to their line in the 56th minute.

Referee Terry Hall eventually lost patience with the infringements and awarded a penalty try, which Cathcart converted.

East Midlands struggled in their attempts to run the ball and were hit by a sucker punch after 66 minutes.

The move of the match saw some excellent recycling among the forwards before full back James Hewitt found Kenny Bingham, who dived over on the left wing.

No sooner had Regan come back on then hooker Steffan Myburgh was yellow-carded for a late tackle on Hewitt.

Oxon continued to press in the final ten minutes as East Midlands ran out of ideas.

And after another excellent game it was fitting that skipper Craig Burrows should score late on after another brutal rolling maul.

The match ended on a sour note when McNamee was red-carded for striking Oxon winger Martin Nutt, but it couldn't spoil the visitors' celebrations.