11 hours Ago
Hooker Dan Oliver's try and a brace each from flanker Seb Morris and scrum-half James Townsend helped Warwick to a well-earned victory in the U18 National Cup quarter-finals under the floodlights. Their place in the semi-finals of the competition comes at the expense of a familiar foe in NSB, and Hesketh was delighted with his side's self-belief as they exacted revenge on a side that had emerged victorious in their previous meeting. “NSB had beaten us a couple of weeks before quite convincingly so we knew the task ahead and had a fair idea of how they play so quite an attritional game, both teams played really well and it was a cracking match,” he said.
“They started well but then we managed to break out of our half and had a few opportunities we didn’t manage to execute and then we got a bit of momentum and then got on top. “We scored some cracking tries and had a first phase line-break that we scored off and then probably one of the highlights was a chip off the top from our fly-half to our tighthead prop who managed to get it to our scrum-half who scored it between the posts. “It was a pretty good game for the school as well and some of the boys came out of lessons at 4 o’clock and got to enjoy the second-half and it was a good result in the end.
“I’m immeasurably proud to be honest, the effort from them and their ability to bounce back from the previous game and believe in themselves was brilliant.” The RFU Continental Tyres Cup is foundational to age-grade rugby in England, enabling students from across the country to compete against one another and against the best the game has to offer at schoolboy level. Warwick's dream run to the semi-finals of this year's competition represents marked progress for the side, having suffered an early exit in last year's edition and Hesketh lauded his charges for their 'phenomenal achievement' so far.
He added: “NSB are a very good side and we got the utmost respect for them and for Phil [Beaumont] and the job he does over there with them so for our boys to get on top for large parts of the game was fantastic for us and it just highlights the effort they’ve put over the year to get to this stage. “From where we came last year getting knocked out in the first two rounds to where we are this year is a phenomenal achievement for the boys and I know everyone from the school is proud of what they’ve managed to achieve and we’re going to definitely look forward to the round when it comes.”.
