DARREN Carter hailed Furness Raiders' 42-20 win over Coleg Y Cymoedd as the most enjoyable performance of the season so far as they booked their place in the last eight of the Association of Colleges National Cup.

The last-16 tie on the new artificial surface at Kendal Rugby Union Club's Mintbridge ground had seen the hosts fall behind with barely two minutes gone after the Welsh side's Matthew Morgan had scored a converted try from the first set.

But four tries from flying winger Jonny Hutton helped a youthful Furness side recover from that early setback to book their place in the next round, and head coach Carter was delighted with the display from a relatively inexperienced team.

“It was probably the most enjoyable game I've had this year – I really enjoyed watching them play,” said Carter. “We had quite a lot of injuries to really key players, but we said right at the start it was a good opportunity to play the younger players.

“We had 10 or 11 under-17s in the squad tonight, and the way they played and handled themselves was phenomenal.

"I was really impressed with the whole performance from every player, and they (Coleg Y Cymoedd) had some big boys playing for them.

“There are loads of positives going forward, and bringing it to Kendal has added a little bit to it as well. The facilities are first-class and as good as I've seen, and it was a good day. We all enjoyed it and I think it's been successful.

“Probably at the start they were a little bit over-awed, but we just told them to stick to processes, support well and get our completions up, and if we get to the points we'll execute well and that's what we did.”

Adam Ford, Jake Stockdale and Charlie Emslie all scored tries for Furness as well, with the team now set to travel to the winner of next Wednesday's tie between Loughborough-based Midlands Hurricanes and New College Pontefract in the quarter-finals.

Carter is optimistic Raiders can go all the way in the competition, although he acknowledged that may depend on the availability of players due to the amateur season getting fully under way in the coming weeks.

“We've talked about it and it's getting difficult now because some of our players are playing community games on a weekend, and they're all playing first-team rugby because they're all good players,” said Carter.

“They're coming to us patched-up, so it is a little bit difficult for us and when all the amateur games start it might get worse, but we do want to target the cup games and we want to win the cup.

“We've definitely got the potential to do that, and if the injuries are kind to us and we can get a full team on the field then we've got no worries about anyone. It's just if we can get our full team on the pitch.”