NORTH Midlands admit they have surprised themselves by reaching the final of the Tetley's National Under 20 Championship against Yorkshire at Twickenham on Saturday.

Head coach John Beale admits that North Midlands were "awful" in their early matches but, having edged out Notts, Lincs & Derbyshire to win their Midlands qualfifying group, they have improved steadily and reached their second Under-20 final in three years by beating Northumberland in the quarter-finals and Oxfordshire in the semis.

"Our success has come as something of a surprise because we were awful when we started," said Beale, who is also director of rugby at Moseley.

"But we have improved with each game and the key factor in our success has been our defence."

Beale admits that North Midlands will start as underdogs against a Yorkshire side that includes a strong contingent of Leeds Tykes players, but believes that the quarter-final win over Northumberland may be an important form indicator.

"We accept that we start as underdogs but probably only slight underdogs. The only form-line we have is that we have both played Northumberland. We beat them quite comfortably, but Yorkshire had a much closer result although they did not have all their Leeds players available for that game."

North Midlands have a Leeds Tykes player of their own in fly-half Chris Buck, a former England 16-Group Schools international. Buck is the North Midlands goalkicker and partners Wales Under-19 international Jimmy Ireland at half-back.

Paul Giannecchini has been a prolific try-scorer throughout the tournament and his first-half hat-trick clinched victory against Oxfordshire in the semi-final at Dudley Kingswinford.

But Giannecchini's Birmingham University team-mate Ben Compton will have to sit out the final becuase of a broken hand. Robbie Leeocok, another Birminghan University player, takes Compton's place.

Stephen Penfold, who was unavailable for the semi-final, has been preferred to Alex Bristow at loosehead and Worcester flanker Mat Dickerson returns to the squad as a probable replacement.

Dickerson missed the semi-final because of Worcester's involvement in the English Clubs Colts Cup final.

North Midlands Under-20s: Kirk Ward (Sutton Coldfield); Robbie Leecock (Birmingham Univ), Simon Edwards (Camp Hill), Jon Critchlow (Birmingham Univ), Paul Giannecchini (Birmingham Univ); Chris Buck (Leeds Tykes), Jimmy Ireland (London Welsh); Stephen Penfold (Hartpury College), Adam Willis (Birmingham Univ), David Warren (Woodrush), Rob Hill (Moseley), Adam Powell (Birmingham Univ), James Hine (Moseley), Steve Halbert (Moseley), James Rodwell (Birmingham Univ). Reps (from): James Pearson (Birmingham Univ), Alex Bristow (Newport), Jonathan Meldrum (Hartpury College), Richard Rainbow (Moseley), Matt Dickerson (Worcester), Francis Nock (Camp Hill), Alan Rowlands (Birmingham Univ), Lee Douglas (Hartpury College), Mark Wakefield (Old Halesonians).