TWO North Midlands players helped the Midlands to a 5-5 draw with London & SE in the opening match of this season's Under 16 Divisional Festival.

Bromsgrove School scrum-half Joel Dudley was included in the Midlands' starting XV, while hooker George Bee (Bishop of Hereford's Bluecoat School) was used as a replacement during the game.

The match was played in dreadful weather conditions of driving rain and numbing cold which meant errors-a-plenty.