Billericay Rugby Club will be looking for more than a fair performance on saturday afternoon when they host Yorkshire visitors Scarborough in the most important game in their history.

Victory will see them through to the final of the Tetley Bitter Vase and an appearance at the much-revered home of the game, Twickenham, on Saturday, April 17.

A 1,000-plus crowd is expected to pack into Billericay's Willowbrook Ground in Stock Road and, although the action starts at 2.30pm, officials are pleading with supporters to arrive early.

Said Billericay press spokesman Gary Smith: "There will be a marquee with food and drink available from 12 noon.

"Obviously we won't be able to cope with everyone driving to the ground and we'd ask that fans park at nearby Mayflower School, where we have a special arrangement."

Billericay made the quarter finals last season before losing at Slough, but there are strong hopes that they can go all the way this time to cap a fabulous season in which they have already won their Eastern Counties League Division 2 title.

Already certain of a Division One spot, their trail to the semis has included a 40-6 success over the leaders of that competition, Thetford.

Billericay are captained by ex-Upminster man Paul Daly, while he and fellow coach Kevin Hyman, who came from Southend, are joint coaches.

Aches and pains are tended with loving care by two female physios, Liz Walsham and Louise Barrett, and Smith quipped: "It's amazing the number of groin strains we've had since they took over!"

Smith said the players cannot wait for the match to arrive now and admitted that players have found it difficult to concentrate on domestic games during the build-up.

He said: "It's every rugby player's dream to go into action at Twickenham, but it would be dangerous to think we're there already.

"Scarborough are, like us, already champions of their league, the North Yorkshire Second Division.

"We hope we've done our homework on the opposition.

"We're the First Essex club to have ever got to this stage and we certainly don't want to slip-up now.

"We've scored 700 points in league games and have generally shown what our power can be."

Leading the try scorers are Glenn Smith (24) and John Bailey (18) and Billericay certainly deserve to have a good crowd cheering them on.

With a band set to play at the end of the proceedings let's hope that "Congratula-tions" proves to be their apt opening number.

Sitting pretty - Billericay Rugby Club are one game away from playing in the final of the Tetley Bitter Vase at Twickenham, having won the Eastern Counties Two league to win promotion. They are pictured with physio Liz Walsham. Billericay's route to the semi-finals

First round: beat Broadlands 30-15 (a).

Second round: beat Thetford 40-6 (h).

Third round: beat Civil Service 32-10 (a).

Fourth round beat New Milton 32-8 (a).

Fifth round: beat UCS Old Boys 17-5 (h).

Sixth round: beat Millwall 45-0 (h).

Quarter-finals: beat St Just 12-8 (h).

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.