Barnard boys bid to carry on silencing the doubters

Jim Hooley|Daily Mail14 April 2012

Barnard Castle are just one match away from Twickenham again, driven by some unfinished business and a streak of cussedness.

The Durham school reached their first Daily Mail Under 18 Cup Final a year ago only to lose 30-28 to Oakham in a thriller.

Ten of that team feature this year and they have confounded the unbelievers, including coach Martin Pepper, by reaching tomorrow's semi-finals at Castlecroft, where they face the ever-dangerous Campion.

The 2001 champions from Hornchurch have crept up on their seventh semi- final without the

ballyhoo of previous years and Pepper said: 'We're expecting a tough and tight game. I still think last year's team were probably better but my players seem to enjoy proving me wrong.'

Barnard Castle possess a real game-breaker in centre Mathew Tait, the best player to have been produced by the school since Rob Andrew and the Underwood brothers.

' I played with and against Tony Underwood,' said Pepper, 'and I think Mathew has the potential to be better.'

While it is impossible to call the Barny-Campion game (kick-off 1.0pm), sixtimes champions Colston's are favourites in the other semi, against Lancaster RGS (11.0), although the only thing to have stopped the Lancashire boys is last month's blizzard in their quarter- final against Northampton School for Boys. But they comfortably won the replay.

On Sunday, four more teams bid for a Twickenham appearance in the Under 18 Vase, the competition for first and secondround losers in the Cup. St Columba's from St Albans face Warwick ( 11 . 0 ) while Prince Henry's, Otley, take on Cranbrook from Kent (1.0). A new name on the trophy is already assured.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in