It's been a turbulent 12th season for the cup with the British weather playing havoc with the Community schedule and we must thank all the clubs who have had to put up with postponements and cancellations for their patience. However all the teams who have taken part so far have produced some excellent performances and the qualifiers so far have had to play some great rugby to get through.

Clubs from all over the south of England have travelled to the Stoop to compete in this year's cup. Rob Meredith from Canterbury RFC commenting on Qualifying Day 5 said, "The organising staff were brilliant, very competent and explained exactly who was who. The Refs were also of a high calibre and as U12's it is a shame we won't have another chance to attend next year. The boys and parents thoroughly enjoyed the day."

The lucky teams to have gone through so far are:

Under 7s	Under 8s	Under 9s
Sutton & Epsom RFC	Edenbridge RFC	Brentwood RFC
Ealing RFC	Ealing RFC	Ealing RFC
Rosslyn Park RFC	Southend RFC	Brighton RFC
Sevenoaks RFC	Rosslyn Park RFC A	Rosslyn Park RFC
Reeds RFC	Rosslyn Park RFC B	Upminster RFC
Battersea Ironsides RFC	Teddington RFC	Sevenoaks RFC
Welwyn RFC	Winchester RFC	Teddington RFC
Westcombe Park RFC	Upminster RFC	Battersea Ironsides RFC
Teddington RFC	Sutton and Epsom RFC	Tunbridge Wells RFC
		Horsham RFC
		Reeds RFC
		Effingham and Leatherhead RFC
		Canterbury RFC

Under 10s	Under 11s	Under 12s
Sutton & Epsom RFC	Brentwood RFC	Brentwood RFC
New Milton RFC	New Milton RFC	Haslemere RFC
Rossly Park RFC	Jersey RFC	Petersfield RFC
Haywards Heath RFC	Havant RFC	Upminster RFC
Guildfordians RFC	Kings RFC	Reeds RFC
Upminster RFC	Sevenoaks RFC	Dover RFC
Teddington RFC	Effingham & Leatherhead RFC	Battersea Ironsides RFC
Battersea Ironsides RFC	Winchester RFC	Winchester RFC
Ealing RFC	Tonbridge Juddians A RFC	Bank of England RFC
	Rosslyn Park RFC

The semi-final day for the under 7, 8 and 9's age groups will be held before Harlequins face Saracens on Saturday 7th March. Whilst the under 10, 11 and 12s age groups will take place prior to Harlequins against Sale Sharks on Sunday 22nd March.

Harlequins' Community Development Manager Ben Thurlow said "The Curtain Raiser Cup has in the last 2 seasons grown at a dramatic rate and the Semi Finals for this season are shaping up to be the toughest in memory. New clubs have entered the competition making it much harder to win qualifying days and this has inspired a huge increase in the competitiveness and skill of the teams playing. Etihad Airways continued support has enabled us to take the Curtain Raiser Cup to new levels and we look forward to discussing next season's competition with them. The Etihad Airways Curtain Raiser Cup is the premier Cup competition in the South East of England and Quins are proud to say that this will be a record breaking year for participation and entries."

The Etihad Airways Curtain Raiser Cup is expected to have had 12,000 people participate this season which is a 25% increase in participation. With the demand high, tickets for the main matches are selling out quickly so if you are a lucky team to have got through to the semi-final stage please make sure you get your ticket orders back to the Community Team by the following dates:

Under 7's, 8's and 9's - Friday 27th February
Under 10's, 11's and 12's - Friday 13th March