OXFORDSHIRE are celebrating after a dramatic turn of events saw them reach a third Twickenham final.

Their hopes of qualifying for the County Championship showpiece appeared to be over when Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire & Derbyshire (NLD) handed Craig Burrows' side a walkover.

But Buckinghamshire failed to score four tries in beating Essex 22-17, seeing Oxfordshire top Pool 1 of Bill Beaumont Division 3 by a point.

It sets up a final with Pool 2 winners Sussex next Sunday when the county will bid to win the championship for the first time.

Oxfordshire chairman of representative rugby Doug Bosley said: "It's beyond our wildest dreams.

"We're over the moon."

On Friday, Bosley was told NLD were unable to field a front row.

While they were handed a bonus-point victory, all eyes turned to Essex where they needed Bucks to win, but not score four tries.

With Oxon's players attending the already arranged volunteer recognition lunch at Chinnor, they could only nervously check on social media for updates.

And when the result was confirmed, jubilant celebrations broke out in Kingsey Road's function room.

Bosley said: "The players were watching the Bucks Twitter feed and when the result went up the reaction was unbelievable - you had to be there to believe it.

"I've never seen so many grown men on mobile phones waiting for updates."

Oxfordshire previously reached the County Championship final in 2003 and 2006.