Exeter marching on

Exeter College became the first team to reach the last 32 of the Daily Mail Under 18 Cup with one of their best players having to stand on the touchline.

Back row prospect Garth Chamberlain is too old to compete in the Cup but has just won the BBC Born to Win competition against some of the best young sportsmen and women in the country.

'He's been on the touchline signing autographs,' joked coach Jon Hill.

"Seriously, he has great potential and we would love to have him in the Cup side but we are lucky this season in having several players who could go a long way in senior rugby.

Exeter, a sixth form college, had the advantage of keeping many of their talented young players from last season and have swept all before them.

They have scored almost 200 points in four ties, the pick of the victories being a 46-5 defeat of Plymouth College and the recent 33-10 defeat of Truro College. But it is their defence which has pleased Hill the most - only two tries conceded in the Cup.

Exeter, who picked up their first silverware of the season this week by beating Torquay Boys Grammar 25-6 in the Devon Cup Final, have home advantage over Reading in the fifth round.

They will be no pushovers having won at Bristol Grammar this week and will have to play them without captain and scrum half Dave Harris who broke a leg in a Devon trial. He has an able deputy in second rower Ben Wilson, one of the try scorers against Torquay.

Manchester Grammar School, disappointed semi-finalists two seasons ago are on the march again. They have a good scrum and were excellent in the set-pieces when they won the heavyweighty clash with QEGS Wakefield 18-10.