Worcester Warriors are one win from the Championship title after Jake Garside scored with the final play of the semi-final to beat Ealing Trailfinders 34-29 on Saturday. Ealing had thought they had done enough minutes earlier, but Dan Jones broke through before Worcester came back again to seal it after 80 minutes were up.

The result sent Worcester into Sunday's final against Bedford Blues at Goldington Road at 15:00 BST, a match that now carries no automatic route into the Premiership. The RFU announced earlier this year that promotion and relegation would be scrapped in favour of an application process, which has changed the meaning of the Championship season's last game even as the pressure on the pitch has only grown.

For Worcester, the win carried the force of a break from the script. They had trailed by 19 points in the first half after Ealing landed three tries, and the visitors had come through the regular season unbeaten in 26 Championship matches to finish top of the standings. That made the way back look thin, even before Jake Garside touched down at the death to end the run.

Worcester's place in the final also comes in their first season back in the league, after finishing fourth in the regular campaign. Bedford, who finished second and beat Coventry 58-24 in Friday's semi-final, already know what they can do against Worcester: they won 35-19 before Christmas and then 28-14 at Sixways in April. Billy Twelvetrees, who joined Worcester as a player-coach in June 2025, now has one more game to try to turn a wild semi-final escape into a season-ending prize.

That is the sharp edge of Sunday now. Worcester have already shown they can survive against the best team in the division, but Bedford have home advantage and a pair of league wins behind them. If Worcester are to finish the job, they will have to find one more finish as dramatic as the one Garside delivered after the clock had already gone past 80 minutes.