Coach Mark Lee says Northampton School for Boys Under-18 rugby team want to be seen as underdogs when they do battle for a place at Twickenham on Saturday.
NSB head to Broadstreet RFC for a Daily Mail RBS Schools Under-18 Cup semi-final clash with Warwick School, with the winners progressing to finals day at English rugby HQ on March 23.
Lee’s side contains a number of talented teens, including centre Rotimi Segun, who has recently been named in the England Under-16 squad for the upcoming games against Italy and Wales.
Flanker Jacob Conner already played at that level, while fly-half Connor Bullivant represented England South in last year’s Wellington International Festival.
Warwick have fewer standout players, but having won the Daily Mail-sponsored competition in 2007, they are a school with real pedigree.
And Lee is hoping the pressure will be on them when the two teams meet this weekend.
“I want to keep us under the radar, we prefer being underdogs,” said the NSB mentor. “We will treat Warwick with the utmost respect.
“They are usually strong at every age group and we will treat them with the utmost respect.”
NSB have put in some gritty performances on the way to the final four, winning tough away games against Oakham School and King’s School, Worcester.
In the quarter-final they fought to claim a 3-0 win against King’s School, Macclesfield, and Lee is hoping his boys, backed by a big support, can claim another win at Broadstreet.
“We are taking two coach loads of supporters with us and I’m sure that there will be other supporters who travel independently,” Lee said.
“The slight complication is that two of our teams have got matches against a touring team from Essex but they are going for a morning kick off which should give them enough time to get over to Broadstreet to support us.”
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