Mighty Manchester reach last eight

Manchester Grammar School reached the last eight of the Daily Mail U18 Cup for the first time with an emphatic 43-12 home win over Merchant Taylor's, Crosby.

Their reward is a home qaurter-final against Leicester Grammar, the dark horses from the Midlands.

'We took time to get on track,' said Manchester coach Dave Muckalt, 'but once we slowed things down a bit, we were in control. Merchants scored a couple of nice tries to stay in touch at 14-12 but with the wind behind us in the second half, we played some good rugby in difficult conditions.'

Despite a heavy pitch, Manchester were always prepared to move the ball around and they were rewarded for sticking to an expansive game plan. The abscence of England No 2 fly half Neil Hunter, rested ahead of Wednesday's international at Twickenham against New Zealand Schools, was a handicapMerchants could ill afford but as they expected it was the Manchester pack which carried too much power, especially in the second half.

'We are at our best when the ground is form,' said Merchants coach Mike Slemen. 'Our pack isn't quite big enough to cope with heavier forwards in muddy conditions.'

Full back Alistair Buchan was the star of the show for Manchester, although skipper Ben Murphy at No 8 and his back row colleagues were always prominent. To their credit, Merchants kept tackling even when the game was put beyond them.