A TALENTED youth rugby outfit are just one step away from securing a prestigious place in a national final.Soaring at The Stoop, the Southwold Seagulls U12 were all smiles after progressing through the quarter final stage at London on Sunday.

A TALENTED youth rugby outfit are just one step away from securing a prestigious place in a national final.

Soaring at The Stoop, the Southwold Seagulls U12 were all smiles after progressing through the quarter final stage at London on Sunday.

After boarding a coach in Southwold at 6.30am, the team travelled down to the Harlequins ground, which is in the shadow of Twickenham, to take on three London teams for a place in the semi-finals of the Etihad Airways Curtain Raiser Cup.

With two festival wins in Suffolk already under their belts this season, they were confident despite the fear of going into the unknown.

And having shaken-off a three-and-a-half hour coach trip to briefly warm-up and prepare for the battles ahead, Southwold were first up.

But they need not have worried, after demolishing their three opponents with 55 points and no points against them.

The first match against Wimbledon resulted in a 15-0 win with tried for Ben Felton and two from Joe McKay, with no conversions taken.

Next to the slaughter was Burgess Hill - as Southwold triumphed 35-0 with tries for Joe McKay, Ben Small, Oscar Hughes, Jasper Pryor, Josh Wallis and two from Harry Delaney, no conversions were taken.

The final win was a 5-0 victory over Haslemere, with a try from Joe McKay and no conversions were taken.

'It would be unfair to single out individual performances as there wasn't a single player who didn't have a good game - indeed many had their personal best performances of the season,' a club spokesman said. 'The pack was as solid as it has ever been, despite some last minute position changes, and the backs flung it around in complete confidence as usual.

'The number of try scorers is testament to the customary team effort of the players in both attack and defence, which has resulted in running in over 50 tries this season and conceding only two.

'And it was fitting that as the players came off the pitch after the last game, about a dozen seagulls (no doubt travelling supporters from the East Coast) landed on the pitch,' the spokesman added.

The Seagulls will now return to The Stoop on March 6 to compete for a place in the Grand Final.