THROUGHOUT a rollercoaster competition Wheatley have been labelled as underdogs and they battled against the odds again to reach this Twickenham.

In each of the last three rounds leading up to the final Wheatley's opponents had been billed as the favourites but the plucky York Road side continued to make a mockery of the league pyramid by advancing to the next stage.

But the final proved a bridge too far.

In the end the college boys from Gloucester, who included several England Student stars, were simply too hot to handle in sweltering conditions at the RFU headquarters.

Barely two minutes were on the clock when Hartpury hooker Alan Keylock touched down in the right corner and they set up camp deep in Wheatley territory again almost straight from the restart.

Some last ditch defending prevented them scoring again but another wave of attacks moments later ended in South African centre Herman Botha powering over.

Difficult conversion attempts for fly half Tim Stevenson were missed to spare Wheatley further punishment.

Wheatley's road to Twickenham started in bizarre fashion after being handed a reprieve following the expulsion of first round conquerors Sheffield - but it clearly was not their destiny to win against Hartpury.

The shellshocked side simply had no answer to the pace and power of the students and Hartpury showed no mercy to score a third try within the opening quarter of an hour, Stevenson adding the extras for a 17-0 advantage.

Comeback kings Wheatley staged fantastic fightbacks in both their quarter-final and semi-final ties but there looked little chance of a repeat performance here - even if centre Craig Barker had managed to convert a long range penalty.

Some teams might have just rolled over and died but - although they did let in some soft tries - Wheatley could not be faulted for their effort and application.

Some sterling defensive work helped limit the damage but on other occasions Hartpury's class shone through.

It helped Wheatley that they were buoyed by their fantastic followers whose vocal support in the cavernous 82,000 stadium never wavered throughout.

Hartpury centre Matthew Evans added their fourth try on the half hour - despite the best efforts of covering winger Ryan Richardson - before three more touchdowns gave them an unassailable 43-0 half time lead.

Wheatley stemmed the tide during the opening ten minutes of the second half until Hartpury winger Samuel Dimmick beat the despairing chase of flanker Rikki Wylie to score - and then two more followed in quick succession to take the try count into double figures.

Never-say-die Wheatley refused to lie down and they did not give their opponents an easy ride despite the one sided score.

Some good pressure around the midway point saw the Doncaster side twice stopped short of the line before prop Paddy O'Donovan was somehow denied agonisingly close to the whitewash.