From age 16 you could tell Coleman had touch of class

DAVID RIMMER looks at the career of the formidable Tom Coleman, a sportsman he strongly admired while covering sport for Herts and Essex Observer between 1997 and 2014. Coleman retired at the end of last season after skippering Bishop’s Stortford RFC to

MOST sports people do not bow out with the ending they crave. However, Bishop’s Stortford Rugby 1st XV captain Tom Coleman, got his wish in his last game before retiring. The one-club man,

below, scored a try as Stortford, so shrewdly coached by former England and Bath player Andy Long, rounded off a splendid campaign with a 28-21 home win over Barnes.

They had been crowned National Two South champions a week before with a thumping victory at Exmouth to book their place in National One.

Coleman, dogged by a hip problem which stopped him place kicking in his last two seasons, has now retired.

The young fly-half, whose father Mick had played for Stortford’s first team, had left an indelible impression on me in early 2003. Then 16, he kicked a 60-yard penalty at a muddy Maidenhead in a National Colts Cup game.

Later that year, a nervous 17-year-old Coleman struggled on his first team debut in a narrow loss against London Division One [now known as National Three London and South East] strugglers Harlow.

Unbowed, he matured while Stortford had good and bad times – the latter saw relegation averted at the end of the 2007/08 season.

Under new club coach Peter Engledow next term, Coleman directed the play with authority.

Stortford’s rugby was always positive but Coleman’s boot was still needed a few times.

His last gasp drop-kick versus a strong Jersey team in the gloom of December 2008 sticks in the memory.

His superb timing in kicking penalties or conversions was a product of countless hours on his own before training sessions.

Coleman was also a deft passer and had a sharp turn of pace over 10 yards that unlocked gaps for speedy wingers and fullbacks.

The team matured but promotion did not come until the end of the 2012/13 campaign when they were crowned National Three London and South East champions.

This was masterminded by former Blackheath player and coach Steve Pope, who came in after Engledow left the club to take up a teaching post in Ipswich.

Coleman was by now an astute captain and his looping kicks to the corner were pounced on by the likes of wing Jimmy Rea to score.

After a shaky start to life in National Two South Stortford prospered when Coleman returned from injury.

They came third in 2013/14, and then missed out on promotion in a play-off versus Ampthill in the following season.

Hertfordshire also gave Coleman chances to shine.

The highlight for the Stortford man was scoring four penalties and two conversions as a first half replacement when Hertfordshire beat Lancashire 38-20 in the Bill Beaumont Cup final at Twickenham in May 2012.

Coleman, now 31, will not be lost to rugby – he has coached for a few years already at his club and as a teacher at Hockerill Anglo-European College in Bishop’s Stortford. The memories will never

fade.