Reigate’s renowned 56 club were unbeatable with 15
Brendan Gallagher continues his series looking at rugby’s great schools
UNLIKE some of their opponents these days, Reigate GS cannot claim to have been around at the dawn of rugby history, nor have they always been a power in the land, but at various times their star has shone very brightly.
Like many grammar schools of the time, Reigate didn’t switch to rugby full time until after World War 1 when the government decreed there should be more participation in sport and the output of players was strong enough for an Old Boys team to be formed in 1927.
It was only after World War 2, however, that Reigate began to forge a strong reputation, mainly through two rugby-mad Welsh physics teachers – Mr Lewis and Dick Griffiths – who took control of the First XV. Within their own southern circuit, mainly consisting of fellow grammar schools, Reigate forged a more than decent reputation, but the rugby went to a different level with the arrival of Bob Harden, towards the end of the 60s.
Harden was passionate about all sport but above all else a great teacher and communicator. He started off with no particular love or knowledge of Rugby Union – he was a League man from Cumberland – but realising that a couple of once-in-a-lifetime year groups were moving through the school took himself off to RFU coaching courses and summer camps at Loughborough.
There he soaked up the cutting-edge coaching methods of the time which complemented his own special skills of motivation and oratory. As with all wise schools rugby coaches he also then decided to take not only the First XV, but also the U12A team. A heavy workload, but do that and everything usually slots into place.
Very soon Reigate were embarking on a decade of startling excellence which began with a remarkable run of 57 wins on the trot over four seasons for the First XV.
Around which there is a tale to tell. The run unexpectedly came to an end at Hampton in October 1972 when the team – reduced to 13 men by injury and without their talisman
Neil Mantell who was ill – lost 16-12 and the winning run was definitively reported as 56 by George Abbot in the Daily Telegraph a few days later.
Nobody was going to argue with that. A ‘56 club’ was formed, ties were printed and over the years came the inevitable reunion dinners and various social gatherings. Eventually an honours board was commissioned to celebrate possibly the longest winning run in schools rugby history in England.
It was then that somebody actually counted the matches up and, confusingly, it came to 57. They went through the list again, slowly, and cross checked it with the end of season results printed every year in the school magazine, The Pilgrim, and still it was 57. Elsewhere on the page I list the 57 for posterity. Red faces all round, Reigate’s reputation for maths was at an all time low but at least the total went up not down. Another result!
Mantell – dubbed the ‘man mountain schoolboy’ by Abbot – played in all four seasons that spanned the run and spent two years at lock for an unbeaten England Schools U19 side. He was the rock around which the team was built but there was a galaxy of other exceptional players. Hooker Ian Kirk – who became a fixture at London Scottish – and flanker Shon Jones were England schools representatives. Wing Mark Perryman, centres Trevor Burt and Steve Jones appeared in final trials and Roy Hoolahan went straight from the school side to win a Blue later that year for Oxford.
The strength in depth was freakish, there were upwards of a dozen county players, of various vintages, in the team at any one time and a 2nd XV that was even more dominant on its own circuit and could give most 1st XVs a competitive game.
The 1975-78 period, by which time Alan Reid from St Luke’s College had succeeded the departing Harden, were also halcyon years and although the invincible seasons of the ‘56club’ proved elusive, defeats were pretty rare and you could argue the fixture list had strengthened considerably.
There were regular fixtures with Cowley HS and De La Salle College Salford, then the two leading sides in the north, while in the course of three challenge games Reigate also ‘nilled’ the pride of the South West, mighty Millfield, 7-0, 4-0 and 8-0 before the fixture was discontinued. Possibly the only school never to concede a point to Millfield in fifteens rugby?
Newington College arrived on tour from Australia groaning with celebrated Aussie schools internationals but were sent packing in impressive style, but an outstanding RBAI side from Belfast – headed up by the all-singing all-dancing McKibbin brothers behind the scrum – proved too hot to handle, the one really comprehensive home defeat of the decade that Reigate had to suck up.
There were trailblazing tours of British Columbia in 1975 and 1978 which established an enduring link with that glorious part of the world while these were also the years Reigate made a major impact at the Rosslyn Park Sevens, reaching three finals between 1973 and 1976 while throughout the decade they were invariably involved at the sharp end on the final day.
Reigate were an unusual and distinctive Seven for the time,
utilising a wide array of grubbers, long range kick and chases and what we now call kick passes to bring their many speedsters into play and not being over concerned with multi-phase possession plays. They thought nothing of bringing in a few track and field sprinters from the athletics squad – not necessarily noted First XV performers – for the Sevens circuit. Speed was everything.
In 1973 Burt captained the side to the final where Cowley prevailed 15-4, while the following year Duncan Playford led the team to another final, this time agonisingly losing 6-4 to Belmont Abbey. In 1975 they were semi-final losers but Reigate finally landed the Cup in 1976, defeating St Benedict’s 10-8.
Featuring in all four teams, from a fresh faced 15-year-old O Level student to a gnarly seventh former, was Jones who became so determined to land the title that in 1975 he turned his back on the probable captaincy of the England Schools team that year to lead Reigate at Rosslyn Park, followed by their inaugural Canadian tour which departed the following morning. Having missed out in 1975 the persistent Jones, claiming he was trying for Oxbidge, then returned one final time the following season and was eventually rewarded.
Two other notable members of that victorious 1976 team were Nick Brown and Martyn Bates who ten years later were spearheading the Old Reigatians side who famously pulled off Pilkington Cup wins over
“Reigate’s reputation for maths was at all time low...the 56 club won 57 games!”
Exeter and Saracens in two of the biggest upsets the English game has ever seen.
Reigate have, unsurprisingly, struggled a little to match that golden era – many schools suffer the same fate – but there have still been excellent teams and players since then while a move to their excellent 32-acre sports ground at Hartswood was a major development in 1983 which followed soon after the school becoming Independent.
The girls have taken to rugby with a vengeance with a semifinal place at the 2018 Rosslyn Park Sevens being their most noteworthy performance while another big addition has been the Reigate Charity Sevens at those well-appointed grounds, which has quickly developed into a popular and very competitive warm-up tournament ahead of Rosslyn Park.
Future Wasps full-back Steve Pilgrim went on to win England B honours before his career suffered after revelations that he appeared for Leeds RL in a second team game, although he was still one of those to star in the famous Cup wins over Exeter and Saracens for the Old Boys as did another utility back John Bramhall who played regularly for Oxford University without quite nail
ing down a Blue. Jonny Hylton was another Reigate back who forged a strong reputation and had represented England U21 and the Sevens team when a bad ACL derailed his career, but it was 2015 before a Reigate side really began to make the headlines again.
That was the year when the U16 team won at Rosslyn Park with Reid, 39 years after that 1976 triumph, still at the helm helping coach the side in his swansong year while former Wales fly-half and Sale coach Paul Turner also had a big imput. Turner had been hired as a ‘rugby professional’ and with those two acute rugby brains on the touchline, Reigate again produced something a bit different. Again it concerned the kicking game.
This time it was re-starts which had become all important with the switch in laws, requiring the side scoring to kick off. Reigate had a young fly-half, Lucas Overtoom, who could put enormous hang time and distance on the ball while still landing it on a sixpence while speedsters Henry McGann and Max Coyle would give expert chase and regain possession 80 per cent of the time or more. Coyle, who signed for Harlequins, had forced his way into the senior
England Sevens squad before the programme was shut down earlier this year.
As Turner explained after the 2015 success: “If you are enjoying a good tournament you might score 40 tries in total which is great but that means you have to restart 40 times and kick the ball to the opposition. Reclaiming those kicks becomes vital, especially in the closer games, and we had the players who working brilliantly together, could do just that. It was a real skill and a huge plus for us.”
As usually happens with a strong year group, they continued to flourish down the line and it was two years later when the First XV, coached by Doug Cooper, started the season with genuine hopes in the NatWest Cup, which hadn’t proved particularly fertile hunting ground. Annoyingly they slipped to a 2922 defeat at Christ’s Hospital in the first round, one of just two defeats in a 22-game season, and immediately resolved to put that right in the Plate competition.
The side, skippered by Overtoon at fly-half, powered their way to the final at Allianz Park but encountered fierce opposition there from Solihull who recovered from a 20-3 deficit and were camped on the Reigate line at just 20-16 down when the final whistle blew.