Mark Nasey has already led Warwick School to one Under 18 Daily Mail Cup title, and is therefore perfectly poised to lead this season’s crop against Northampton School for Boy’s at Broadstreet RFC on Saturday. Despite being seen as underdogs so far this year, Warwick have semi finalists in both the Under 18 and Under 15 tournaments, we run the rule over the U18 side ahead of Saturday’s semi final.

Head Coach – Mark Nasey

Captain – Miles Dean (Wing)

Star Man – Joe Blake (Hooker)

Results so far:

Quarter final – Warwick 10-10 Wilmslow High School (Warwick progress as the away side)

Last 16 – Warwick 12-0 Stamford

Round 5 – Warwick 13-10 Trent College

Round 4 – Warwick 10-8 Solihull

Round 3 – Warwick 35-3 King Edward VI, Stratford

Round 2 – Warwick 29-17 Leicester Grammar School

Round 1 – Bye

2012 Daily Mail Cup Record – Last 16, lost 26-20 to Old Swinford Hospital

Best Daily Mail Achievement – Under 18 winners 2007, beat Barnard Castle 24-23

A word from the coach:

XV: With both the Under 18’s an Under 15’s in the semi finals, would you say that this is a golden era for rugby at Warwick?

Mark Nasey: “Oddly enough I’d probably say that neither group is our standout yeargroup in the school. We don’t have many standout individuals but we work hard as a team and our tight five in particular have been outstanding. Cup rugby really comes down to individual games and performances and we have shown that we are very good at preparing for cup games. It’s fair to say that we’ve not been favourites for a lot of our run but we’re very good in tight games.”

XV: What was the mood in the camp after coming though via that 10-10 draw with Wilmsow High, elation, disappointment, confusion?

MN: We always knew the regulations so there was no confusion but we were disappointed not to have out more points on them. We played within ourselves for much of the game, focusing too much on trying not to make errors. I thought we probably deserved to win by around two scores though.”

XV: Have there been any standout performances for you during the Cup run?

MN: To be honest our ability to win tight games has been the standout factor. The win against Stamford was very good though, to turn that around after losing to them in the regular season was very pleasing.”

XV: A lot of sides have underestimated Northampton School for Boys so far this campaign, I assume you won’t be letting your boys make the same mistake?

MN: Absolutely, we know it’ll be absolutely full on and there is no way we’ll be underestimating them. They have some very good players; the England centre (Rotimi Segun England U17) is a top player as is the number 8 and their ten kicks very well too. We’ve mainly been focusing on ourselves though, none of us thought we’d be in this position back at the start of the season, but where other sides hit their peak in October and November, we’re hitting our stride now.

Warwick versus Northampton School for Boy’s will be the second of the two semi finals to be played at Broadstreet RFC on Saturday. They will kick off at 1pm after Dulwich v Hampton at 11am.