CLEOBURY Mortimer's captain marvel Paul Harding has issued a passionate rallying cry ahead of the cup kings' bid to keep their Twickenham dream alive this weekend.

The Love Lane men will be in the capital to take on London Exiles in the semi-final of the national Powergen Junior Vase on Saturday.

A showpiece final at Twickenham, the home of English rugby, awaits the winners who will face either Dorking or Leodiensians on April 9.

Harding and his colleagues travel down to South West London tomorrow and have booked an overnight stay at a hotel near Exiles' home ground in Barnes.

On Saturday they will be joined by over 200 passionate away supporters as cup fever continues to grip the little village of Cleobury Mortimer.

Harding said: "We're staying over on the Friday night to make sure we get the proper rest, but our coaches Willie Bache and Tony Heap have prepared us properly.

"We've just got to do what we've been doing throughout the cup run which is showing passion and commitment and fire in our bellies.

"My cousin Andrew lives a few miles from where London Exiles play but we haven't sent him along to spy on them.

"We prefer to concentrate on our own game rather than worrying too much about the opposition."

Three coaches are leaving Cleobury Mortimer Sports and Social Club at 8.30am on Saturday. There are a few seats still available priced £12.50. To book a place phone Clare Todd on 01299 271923 as soon as possible.

Scores of supporters are making their way down to Barnes independently, while two of the local pubs are running mini-buses.

And Harding is calling upon fans to cheer the team all the way to Twickenham.

"Hopefully we should have a couple of hundred people supporting us down there which is great and it really seems to have captured local people's imagination," he added.

"It is fantastic to think we'll have a little corner of Cleobury in the capital cheering us on.

"We haven't dared to dream about Twickenham because if you look too far ahead you can stumble.

"But we'll be doing our best to keep this wonderful run going.

"We're not going there thinking we're the underdogs, we're going there believing we can win."

The furthest Midlands Four West South club Cleobury have got in the competition before this season is the second round, while Surrey One club Exiles are former semi-finalists.The teams have never met before.