Westcombe Park regained their grip on the Kent Cup on Sunday, when they beat Thanet Wanderers in an exhilarating final at Blackheath's Rectory Field ground.

The game was hard-fought and played in glorious sunshine, with Combe scoring five converted tries, a dropped goal and a penalty, while Thanet only managed two converted tries and a penalty try.

Ian Lewis nearly scored a try after five minutes following a fine dash forward.

Then, after 12 minutes, Combe were given a penalty, but Derek Coates hit the upright.

It was, however, eight minutes later that Combe scored with Ben Martyr's fine try which Coates converted to put Combe 7-0 ahead.

It was only four minutes later, after 24 minutes play, that Hayden O'Neill scored his first try, converted by Coates, to give Combe a 14-point advantage.

But with Thanet playing fast-running rugby they soon reduced the arrears with a pushover try following a melee on Combe's try-line, and Gareth Redmond converted to cut the lead to 14-7.

A penalty taken by Gareth Redmond for Thanet after 40 minutes hit the left-hand upright and five minutes into injury time at the end of the first half Coates missed a long-range for Combe.

The second half started furiously with both sides playing hard rugby and both defending well.

It was 14 minutes into the half when Thanet levelled with a fine try by Jordan McCarthy, which Gareth Redmond converted. However, a minute later, Coates booted a penalty and from that point they never looked back.

Combe made a few handling errors due to over-enthusiasm but after 20 minutes play of the second half, Coates ran in fine try from the 22 metre-line and then converted his own try to put Combe 24-14 ahead.

Three minutes later, O'Neill scored his second try and Coates, converted to put Combe into a 31-14 lead.

Then five minutes from time, Ben Smith kicked ahead in the Thanet half and Ian Lewis chased forward to touch down and again Coates converted.

A minute into injury time, Thanet were awarded a penalty try for a continued Combe infringement in the scrums to reduced their lead to 38-21.

But Combe had the final word five minutes into injury time, when Smith kicked a magnificent drop goal to clinch a 41-21 victory and their fourth Kent Cup win in the last five seasons.