Champion class of 2020 maintaining the highest standards

IT can’t be easy living up to brilliant teams of yesteryear but this season’s Wellington 1st XV have been right up there with the very best, becoming the first side to win back-to-back RFU Champions trophies for Schools, clinching the title with a thumping 43-19 win over Rugby School in the final at Allianz Park. They also finished runners-up in the Daily Mail Merit Table to Cranleigh.

The former came after a spectacular 41-24 semi-final win over a strong Epsom College team and a hugely successful regular season which saw just one defeat, against old rivals Sedbergh.

The class of 2019-20 – captained by England U18 skipper Finn Baxter – also took the prestigious St Joseph’s Festival title and, as ever, would have been fancied to go well at Rosslyn Park Sevens had Covid-19 not brought a premature close to the season.

“Finn has led an outstanding year group right through the school, in five years they were undefeated on home soil,” says coach Dan Richards.

“They won the Daily Mail U15 Cup together in 2017 and have just grown as a team year on year. They work very hard but have a lot of fun as well. We have star players like Finn, Cassius Cleave who is with the Quins Academy, No.8 Marcus Rhodes, Ted Johnson and Lucas Brooke and most of them will be looking to play professionally – but we also have strength in depth.

“We had a run of injuries, and 36 boys played first team rugby this season, but we had an excellent unbeaten Second XV. When you tackle a strong fixture list like ours that gives you real confidence when you can bring quality players in. Everybody contributed.

“That one defeat against Sedbergh was a great game up in Coventry. We have a fantastic rivalry with them and that day at Cov, with other age group games between the schools, it is developoing into a great rugby day out.”

Lucas Brooke, who has signed for London Irish, is the son of All Black legend Zinzan who has been a constant, quiet presence on the touchline these last five years while sharing all the usual parental responsibilities of helping drive the lads around for games and yarning in the tea room.

Getting the occasional feedback from one of the game’s legends and knowing he is watching every minute of every game is another of those intangibles that can help make a good team great!