Will Smith leads the Men in Blue tomorrow as Brighton bid to get the club to Twickenham for a third time.

Brighton Blues expect a Cornish invasion when St Austell hit Waterhall for the semi-finals of the RFU Intermediate Cup.

Skipper Smith, 25, has been to HQ with Brighton twice – but not as a player.

And that’s something the Brighton-born former club junior wants to put right after missing out while he was playing at Worthing.

He said: “I went to watch both the finals they played in and it was good but it was also quite hard watching as I wanted to be a part of it. Hopefully this season I will be able to change that.”

Brighton won both their previous appearances – in the Junior and Senior Vase finals – so a victory over St Austell would set up the chance of a HQ hat-trick.

The club are also only one game away from winning the London Two South East title in what is shaping up to be a memorable season.

But backrow Smith insists that the team are not getting carried away with thoughts of more Twickenham cup glory.

He said: “We have been trying to play it down all season because our priority has been the league.

“Last season we were not involved in the cups and that affected our form a little bit because after every three games we had a break. “It made it disjointed but this season we’ve had a great cup run and it would be a fantastic end to a good season. But we are not counting our chickens yet and must take it one game at a time.”

Smith expects South West Division leaders St Austell to be a big hurdle to overcome with a large crowd expected.

He said: “This will be our toughest game of the season. The North Walsham (quarter-final) game was tough but we tend to rise to the big occasion. I have no doubt the focus will be there again. “They will be a typical Cornish side with a big forward pack.

“We know nothing about them really but that’s quite refreshing. You get quite used to the teams in the league so you can sometimes play to their game, rather than playing your own.

“It’s refreshing because we can just do what we know. “We expect a big battle up front and, as in most rugby games, whoever wins that will come through the game.” Smith is one of the older heads in the Blues side, along with McGovern, and reckons the blend is promising for a bright future.

He said: “We have quite a young team and there are only two players in the first team that are older than me.

“It is a really young squad, which is good and promising for the future.

“We kept virtually everyone from last year except for two Kiwis who had come over and the team has grown up together and improved together.

“It helps to have that experience with Neil and one or two others in the team. It’s a good mix.”