Adam Hopkinson will have extra reason for wanting to make it all the way to the final of this season’s county championship under-20 competition.

That’s because it will mean they have beaten Yorkshire in the semi-finals and the white rose county just happens to be where Hopkinson, Gloucestershire’s captain and no 8, hails from.

He qualifies to play for Gloucestershire through residence – he is a student at the University of Gloucestershire – and is obviously looking forward to the semi-final showdown at Dings Crusaders this Sunday (2.30pm).

Hopkinson was one of the try-scorers in the 32-21 quarter-final win over Kent at Bristol Lockleaze and he like everyone else associated with Gloucestershire would like nothing more than to be playing in the final at Twickenham on Sunday 5th May against either Lancashire or Hertfordshire.

Not that Yorkshire will be pushovers. They come down to Gloucestershire with an impressive record in the competition, having won it nine times since the turn of the century.

Gloucestershire, meanwhile, have won the competition three times in that period and the last time the two teams met was in the 2012 final when Yorkshire eased to a 28-12 win.

And it’s certainly an important competition on the rugby calendar because it continues to provide a developmental programme within a competitive forum for players transitioning from the under-18 game into adult rugby.

It is part of the aspirational pathway, running in parallel to the Premiership Rugby Academies.

Players identified through the process can progress to divisional level and ultimately compete for a place in the England Counties Under-20 squad.

This year the England selection weekend is being held at Derby over the weekend of 11th/12th May.

Gloucestershire Under-20 vice-captain Will Baldwin was selected last year for the England Counties squad that toured Georgia.