HAVING tasted victory at Twickenham in the Daily Mail Schools Cup once, St Peter's School are hoping for a repeat show this season.

The York school lifted the Daily Mail Schools Under-15 Cup two years ago. Now the bulk of that team are in the lower sixth and gunning for glory in the Daily Mail Schools U18 competition.

"It was a tremendous day out and this competition brings back a lot of happy memories," said Mike Johnson, director of sport at St Peter's.

"Many of that side are in our first XV, although we have some very experienced players in the upper sixth too and they blend together well."

St Peter's were made to work hard for their place in the fifth round with a narrow 18-16 win over Altrincham's St Ambrose College.

"We were 13-3 down at half-time," said Johnson, himself an old boy of the school. "But we hauled ourselves back into it through a Mark Jagger try and Ben Hough's penalties, but we were lucky that they missed a kickable penalty with the last kick of the match."

That has set up a fifth round tie with Birkenhead, who defeated Calday Grange 27-7 in the last round.

Said Johnson: "We know nothing about them at all, but that's one of the good things about this competition in that you play teams outside the normal circuit."

As befits a team of their pedigree, St Peter's have several players playing representative rugby.

Captain and back row Tom Wolsey plays for Yorkshire U18s and represented England U16s last season, while there are six players in the Yorkshire U18 'A' team - James Marsden (outside-half), Hough (fullback), Ali MacLeod (back row), Will Butler (hooker), Jagger (inside centre) and James Pang (scrum-half). Peter Whackett (centre), meanwhile, is in the county's U16s.

"Several are regulars with the Yorkshire Academy based at Leeds Tykes," said Johnson.

"We're proud of what all the boys have achieved, particularly as we do not offer any sporting scholarships, unlike many other schools."

Updated: 11:11 Wednesday, November 19, 2003