CLEOBURY Mortimer have re-created a "Twickenham of our own" in a bid to acclimatise themselves with the wide open expanses of the home of English rugby.

The Love Lane men have been given special permission to train on the state-of-the-art new pitch recently laid next to their battered old playing field.

And skipper Paul Harding insists it has provided the perfect environment for coaches Tony Heap and Willie Bache to put Cleobury through their pre-Twickenham paces.

"Our new pitch is about the same size as Twickenham," revealed Harding.

"We've been allowed to have a couple of training sessions on it just so that we can get the feel of what we will come up against on Sunday.

"We've been able to work out our gameplan using it and we've been practising getting our place-kicking right and kicking out of our hands for touch.

"We won't be allowed to play matches on there until later this month when we play our last league fixture, but it's been really useful for our preparations."

The skipper has taken many of the plaudits during the eight-victory cup run, but he is quick to praise the contribution of his predecessor Matt Barnsley.

"We've been on the verge of something good for a while now and you could tell that last season when Matt was the skipper," he said,

"It's all down to team work and togetherness and that has been this club's secret right from the beginning.

"I joined two years after the start when I packed in motor-cross, but Matt and a couple of the other lads Allan and Kevin Shields are original members from back in 1992.

"A lot of us went to school together and have grown up together so that has created a special bond which has served us well during this cup run."

Sheer determination was the secret of their success as they heaved the last-gasp winning try over the line in their semi-final at London Exiles in February.

And Harding revealed that the strength of Cleobury's pack will again be the primary weapon in their armour against another Surrey side Dorking.

"From what we've heard they will be very similar to to London Exiles," he said.

"They've got a very good back row and their gameplan will be completely the opposite of ours.

"While they'll be keen to ship out wide across the backs, our forwards will be hoping to keep it tight and stuff it up our jumpers."

Meanwhile, the club's record points-scorer Colin Smith is keeping his fingers crossed for a taste of the action at Twickenham - even if he is unable to add to his impressive tally.

Smith, who has notched more than 1,300 points for Cleobury since joining in 1994, will be on the bench as a replacement back on Sunday.

But the 42-year-old has revealed that he has tapped up captain and work colleague Harding for a five-minute run-out at rugby HQ.

"I've had a word with Paul about me getting on and getting to tread on that turf at some stage," said Smith, who works alongside Harding for the Environment Agency.

"We work together so we're good mates and I'm sure he and the coaches Tony Heap and Willie Bache will make sure we all get a run out.

"I'm the club's record points scorer but I don't care whether or not I add to my tally as long as we win and I get the chance to play at Twickenham.

"I thought at my age that my chance had gone but it's a dream come true and I can't wait for it."