WORCESTER Rugby Club's juniors were rubbing shoulders with the best players in the world when they starred at Twickenham before the Barbarians' encounter with England.

The under 10s, 11s and 12s all travelled to rugby's headquarters to play in the Scottish Amicable play-offs as a curtain-raiser to the main event.

And it was the under 11s who came away with silverware after winning the bowl competition. They beat Hullionians 2-0 with Jack Brain and Will Pawsey bagging the tries.

The under 10s went one better by winning through to the final before eventually losing out.

The under 12s also lost out in the play-off stage.

Under 11s manager Alan Danks said: "It was a tremendous experience for all the players and not only did they enjoy it but also the parents who travelled down with them!"

North Midlands narrowly failed to win the Tetley's U20 County Championship for the first time as they were edged out 20-17 by Surrey in the final at Twickenham.

North Midlands led for two-thirds of the game but a late try decided the game.

Stephen Nutt, the North Midlands full-back and captain from Moseley, scored all his side's points with a try and four penalties.

But it was not quite enough to enable him to emulate his father Derek, who captained Moseley in the 1982 John Player Cup final at Twickenham when they shared the trophy with Gloucester after a 12-12 draw.

n North Midlands were beaten 43-28 by Hampshire in the final of the County Sevens Plate at Twickenham.

They went into the Plate competition when they were beaten 22-7 by Northumber-land in the quarter-finals of the main championship and then beat Dorset and Wiltshire 17-12 in a nail-biting semi-final thanks to a sudden-death extra-time try from Camp Hill flanker Glenn Eager.

In the final North Midlands leaked four early tries to go 28-0 down.

But they then rallied strongly and pulled back to 28-25 before Hampshire pulled away.