NORTH Midlands secured a home tie in the National Under 20 Championship quarter-finals by edging out East Midlands 41-37 in a pulsating encounter at Dudley Kingswinford.
The withdrawal of Warwickshire from the competition meant North Mids went into the match without a competitive game but they held their nerve in an entertaining contest.
They now host Cheshire, the runners-up from the North group, in the quarter-finals at Dudley Kingswinford on Sunday.
Centre Dan Batty (Cardiff Met University) (2), fly-half Sam Hollingsworth (Birmingham Moseley), hooker David Kane (Cleobury Mortimer) and prop Ethan Priest (Bromsgrove) (2) scored tries.
Batty also converted four and landed a penalty before being sin-binned late on for a deliberate knock-on.
The team also included the University of Worcester's Bruce Robinson on the bench while Hereford's Lewis Turner, Arthur Morgan and Matt Lawrence and Bromsgrove's Matt Sprigg started.
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