Barnard Castle School's rugby side were able to hold their head high after their experience of a lifetime at Twickenham which ultimately ended in defeat.

They were pipped by Leicester side, Oakham School, in the final of the Under-18 Daily Mail Cup played on Saturday in front of more than 1000 family, friends, staff and pupils who had made the trip to the home of rugby union.

Former England hooker Peter Wheeler handed over the cup to son Joe who was not only the Oakham captain, but also score a hat-trick of first half tries in Barnard Castle's 30-28 defeat.

With two of them coming from line-outs, all the flanker's tries came from close range and the first two opened a 10-0 lead.

Although they never led, the brave Barney boys had the gap down to 15-14 at half-time and 25-21 going into injury time. But their Leicestershire opponents scored again before prop Ross Batty touched down at the death.

Barney's other tries came from Stuart Walker, James Hamer and George Carpenter, with Matthew Brown converting all four, prompting coach Martin Pepper to say: "Matthew had as good a kicking game as he has had all season."

He added: "Wheeler controlled the tackle situation very well. They were a bit more streetwise than us and probably deserved to win. But we had our chances and I'm very proud of what the boys have achieved.

"Out of a squad of 24, 12 will be back next season and we hope to get back to Twickenham. It has been a real thrill for them and we've all thoroughly enjoyed the whole weekend.

"Joe Wheeler has never been on the losing side in three years in the first team at Oakham and he said he had never played in a harder game."