Fullerians were left to rue missed opportunities as they came within 80 minutes of playing at Twickenham, losing 25-24 to Bromley in the Senior Vase Regional final on Saturday.

The clash went to the wire but defeat meant Fullers passed up the chance to play at the home of the England national team.

Coach Rich Hoskins said: “We played well at times, especially in the first half, but didn’t capitalise on all our possession and territory early on.

“We were penalised for the first time heavily at the scrum so will look at that but gifted Bromley ten points which you cannot do in cup rugby.”

Fullers started well, going through the phases and Bromley were caught offside. Craig Duncan stepped up and kicked the penalty for a 3-0 lead.

Bromley steadily came into the game and were allowed to feed off their opponents’ mistakes. The visitors drew level with a penalty as Fullers were penalised for crossing and scored again when a pass went to the floor for the visitors’ flanker to pounce on, touching down under the posts.

The rest of the half belonged to Fullers and they closed the gap with another successful Duncan penalty before going in front with a lovely individual try by scrum-half Tom Sherriff.

And the home side could have extended their lead further as Bromley were reduced to 14 men but the last pass in a move went to ground and the opportunity was missed, leaving Fullers 11-10 ahead at the break.

When second row Liam Boyd crashed over from close range Fullers finally nudged further ahead but Bromley kept pushing and were rewarded with a well-worked try of their own.

Fullers then kicked for the corner to get a good field position. From the subsequent lineout the hosts almost went over again, only to be held short and penalised for holding on.

But when Bromley once again failed to release the player in the tackle, Duncan stepped up to extend their advantage.

However, moments later Fullers were surprisingly penalised at the scrum and the penalty was converted to make it 21-20.

Another Duncan penalty took Fullers four points clear but Bromley had the last word when they were awarded a penalty on the ten-metre line, kicking for the corner.

Bromley’s catch and drive game had worked well and almost did again. The ball was recycled and despite claims of a knock-on, they crashed over in the final minute to advance.