A DOGGED second-half display in which they came within a whisker of repairing earlier failings was not quite enough to keep Ermysted's on the road to Twickenham as they went down 24-20 to Lady Manners in the quarter-finals of the Daily Mail Under-18 Vase on Wednesday.

With a dozen of the current side still available next season and the team having made such obvious strides during the current campaign, there was much cause of satisfaction at the end of a disappointing afternoon at Sandylands.

But in the final analysis, Ermysted's were largely the authors of their own downfall in that they could not reproduce the kind of quality which marked their previous win over Ullswater Community College when they most needed to.

With a powerful wind blowing down the pitch, the contest was the clichd 'game of two halves', although ironically, both sides did their best work playing into the elements.

Mark Simpson put the hosts 10-0 ahead with a converted try and penalty but the Bakewell-based school hit back with three quick tries. Joe Grima later scored a try for Ermysted's to put them back in front but the visitors had the final say.