King Edward VI School, Morpeth are on all systems go for Sunday's semi-final of the Daily Mail Schools Under-18 Vase at Castlecroft, Wolverhampton, where a win would earn them an outing on the most famous piece of turf in world rugby - Twickenham.

The final of the Vase will be staged at the head-quarters of English rugby as part of the Daily Mail Festival of School Rugby on Sunday, March 24, but to claim a place in that jamboree and share in the experience of a life-time, the Morpeth boys must first get the better of St Bartholomew's School, Newbury when they meet on Sunday afternoon (1pm).

"From our point of view, everyone is fit and well and we expect to field our full-strength team in the semi-final," says Master in Charge Paul Woodall.

"Our only problem has been in finding somewhere decent to train in view of all the rain we've had. This week we've even used an equestrian centre to get in some training because it's been so soggy outside.

"In terms of preparation, we've simply concentrated on our own game. We know nothing whatsoever about our opponents and I imagine that will be the same for them.

"We simply want to go to Castlecroft and play to the best of our ability. If we do that, we'll be happy."

The Northumberland lads take a solid record of success with them to the Midlands. Their record this season shows 16 wins from 21 matches, the only Northern sides to have lowered their colours being Barnard Castle School and King's School, Tynemouth, both teams which made good headway in the Daily Mail Under-18 Cup.

In representative terms, King Edward's also have a good pedigree. No 8 Ian Drybrough is a member of the Scotland Under 18 Schools squad and a Northern Division player, while centre Tom Wilkinson and tighthead prop Anthony Moody have both been in the North Under-17 squad.

Overall, the Morpeth contingent contains 11 players who county experience this season.

While a strong pack and a good back-row are at the core of the side, this is by no means a ten-man rugby side, although when needs dictate a conservative style, they have the power to cope.

Wingman David Riley, however, leads the try-scoring list with 20 tries, with centre Stuart Hills on 13 and flanker Mike Ord on 11.

In recent seasons, the North-East mantle in the Daily Mail has been carried by Durham School, but this weekend it passes to another team from further up the Al.

Durham Schools U-15 15 v 12 Yorkshire Schools U15

DURHAM were soon on the attack as crisp handling set winger McConnell (Yarm) away down the left wing and he slipped the ball to full back Smith (Durham) who went over for an unconverted try.

A second try followed when centre Dias (Durham) was served from a scrum on the 22 and he slipped through a gap to score, again too wide out for Smith to convert.

Yorkshire were finding it difficult to lay hands on the ball and were knocked back by Durham's prompt tackling with Stephens (Carmel) outstanding. Further heavy Durham pressure near the Yorkshire line led to fly half Blair (Durham) squirming through for a try from a five-metre scrum. The conversion was missed, as was an easy penalty, which meant Durham led 15-0 at the interval.

For the second half, Yorkshire brought on several front line players and camped in Durham's half. Durham's defence stood firm for 20 minutes with tremendous tackling. Yorkshire scored a try in the corner and a few minutes later a kick ahead out of defence by Durham was picked up by full back Whittaker, who served winger Fox and McLeod took the final pass to score near enough for the conversion. A hectic last five minutes saw Durham hold out with a last-minute dropped pass by the Yorkshire winger leaving the final score at 15-12.