Malton heroes eyeing treble

The jubilant Malton boys set the home of rugby union alight to lift the Tetley's Bitter Vase with an outstanding 36-20 defeat of Hoylake in Saturday's final.

It was a dream come true for all the North Yorkshire side, but for one player in particular it was an extra-special day.

At the age of 39, centre Tim Chapman did what only a select few players will ever achieve - score a hat-trick at Twickenham.

All his tries came in the first half to virtually seal the match by half-time and there was no disguising the Terrington school teacher's delight.

He said: "I probably should have passed it for the third one but you don't get a hat-trick at Twickenham every day.

"It was just a relief to catch the ball because I dropped the first two passes I got. When I got the ball for the first one I was praying I'd catch it, it was the same for the second then for the third I just had to catch it and run.

"When I scored the third one we went 16 points ahead and I thought we should win but we've had a knack of throwing away games like that."

It was a day to remember too for Australian captain and stand-off Chris Creber who relished playing on the biggest stage of them all, having a hand in all but one of Malton's six tries.

He said: "I've been very proud of the boys all year but especially this time. It's a once in a life-time. It's safe to say I'll probably never play at Twickenham again so to captain the boys is tremendous."

He revealed that a trip to the stadium the day before the game had settled the nerves of all the players who had been stunned by the size of the majestic venue.

He said: "It's the same width pitch as ours, it's just the stands around it that make it look so big. When we turned up on Friday we were more nervous than the day of the match. Full thanks to the staff at Twickenham for taking us round and calming us down.

"We were probably less nervous than we've been in the quarter-finals and semis."

It is an amazing story for 27-year-old Creber, also a Terrington school teacher, who came to England three years ago. He explained: "I came here on a working holiday, worked at Terrington School and went down to the local rugby club.

"It was such a friendly place that I ended up staying, then I got married and here I am."

Creber paid tribute to the fans who travelled down to London, saying: "We can't thank them enough. They've been brilliant," and also to coach Pat Stephenson. "We've had more or less the same players for the last three years. Before Pat came we were scrambling around but he's brought it together. He's the lynchpin," he added.

Stephenson has now set his sights on the treble - the Vase, the Yorkshire Three title and the Yorkshire Shield, in which they face a semi-final clash with Sheffield on Wednesday night.

He said: "We have four big games to come, I just hope we can pick everybody up because we're the walking wounded at the moment.

"This is our FA Cup final but at the end of the day you want to win the championship. That's probably helped in the build-up - all the players have been quite relaxed about it.

"Everything went to plan in the game. It was very important we got it right from the start, they never let the pressure off and scored some great tries.

"Some of the players that have played the last few years have given an extra 10 per cent in the last year and that makes a difference.

"I'm very proud of them all."

Following the dreadful floods which have hit Malton and Norton over the last year and the worry over foot and mouth disease, Stephenson hopes the club's day of glory will have given the towns a much needed boost.

"There have been so many people come up to us and say how it's great to have something to look forward to, even people who don't know what shape a rugby ball is.

"It's a light at the end of the tunnel. Hopefully now Malton will build as a community and a town. I hope we've done something to cheer people up."

Updated: 09:59 Monday, April 23, 2001