Suddenly, Oakham find magic of the Cup
Brendan Gallagher continues his series looking at rugby’s great schools
RUTLAND, England’s smallest county, might not boast a big senior rugby club – but in Oakham and Uppingham they boast two considerable rugby playing schools with, historically, nearby Leicester Tigers and Northampton being the biggest beneficiaries.
Both schools were founded by the same cleric in the same year – Archdeacon Robert Johnson in 1584 – and this week we are putting Oakham under the spotlight. Curiously, although sharing so much in common, the close neighbours didn’t contest a First XV fixture until 1964.
Oakham initially were worthy rather than formidable opponents but among their early notables were Sir Anthony Wharton, a star man in the the 1934 and 1935 teams, and Ron Jacob, who captained the side in 1945 and went on to play in England’s Grand Slam-winning side of 1957. Both were future RFU presidents.
One of the more remarkable figures from Oakham’s past was Brian Smith OBE, who in 1953, his final year at the school, achieved the unique achievement in the history of schools sport of captaining three sides – the Rugby XV, the Hockey XI and the Cricket XI – to unbeaten seasons.
The respective records were: Rugby (played 13, won 12, drawn 1), Hockey (played 5, won 5) and Cricket (played 15, won 9, drawn 6). It is not recorded how Smith ever found time to sit his exams. Smith subsequently played for Leicester Tigers and Leicestershire Club and Ground and served for ten years as chairman of Leicestershire CCC during which time they won two of their three County Championships.
Smith was succeeded as Oakham captain by another Leicestershire legend, flanker David Matthews who first played for the Tigers as an 18year-old school boy and went on to make an astonishing 502 first team appearances during his 19-year senior career. During that period he established one remarkable run of appearing in 109 successive games.
Producing exceptional back ow players has become something of an Oakham speciality with former England captain Lewis Moody and fellow Leicester Tiger and Lion Tom Croft heading up an outstanding crop which also includes Scotland tearaway Hamish Watson who should be challenging hard for Lions honours this season if the tour goes ahead.
Not that the flankers hog all the limelight. Saracens and England full-back Alex Goode was an outstanding schoolboy performer for them as was centre/wing Matt Smith, a trojan performer for Leicester Tigers for a decade or more.
In the last couple of decades Oakham have become really big hitters nationally and invariably one of the contenders in the Daily Mail U18 Cup which morphed into the NatWest Cup. They enjoyed a particularly productive purple patch early in the millennium when it was the Daily Mail Cup.
With Charles Welch coaching, Oakham got a taste for Cup rugby in 2000 when they reached the quarter-finals before losing to QEGS Wakefield. The following year they again reached the last eight when they ran into a very useful RGS Newcastle side and lost 32-22.
Coaches and players were profiting from the experience of knock-out rugby and the following season a hard-fought campaign ultimately saw them lift the trophy at Twickenham.
There was plenty of nailbiting in the latter stages, though, with Oakham sneaking past King’s Worcester 17-15 in round six, Hymer’s College 9-8 in the quarter-final and RGS High Wycombe 27-23 in an exciting semi-final at the old RFU Castlecroft Stadium which is now incidentally the home ground for AFC Wulfrunians.
All of which set the scene for another cracker in the final with Oakham defeating Campion 28-23. Campion were the reigning champions and known for their cast-iron defence, but Oakham engaged top gear from the kick-off and built a big lead with tries from Paul Cook, Matthew Cornwell, Joe Wheeler and skipper Gray Cullen.
They needed it with the Essex school rallying strongly in the second half, but Oakham held on to complete an unbeaten season, winning all 17 games.
The following season also saw Oakham unbeaten – 21 wins and a draw against Blackrock College at the St Joseph’s Festival – and they retained the Daily Mail Cup in a pulsating final against Barnard Castle, winning 30-28. That campaign had also included another classic against old rivals Campion whom they defeated 19-13 in the semi-finals.
That signalled Oakham’s last appearance in the final for a while until the class of 2011 made it to the final where they ran into a red-hot Whitgift – with Elliot Daly and Marland Yarde – and lost a hugely entertaining game 45-24.
It wasn’t quite as one-sided as it sounds and Oakham led 17-16 early in the second half before Whitgift unleashed the full force of their mighty attack. Showing up well for Oakham on the day was their centre combination of De La Ray Veenendaal and skipper Charlie Walker, who went on to make some impact with Harlequins at senior level. Walker is currently with Ealing Trailfinders.
Another notable in that team was Hamish Watson who won England U20 honours alongside Walker before opting for Scotland. Oakham have continued to be a factor in national competitions with two appearances in the semi-finals of the NatWest Trophy (2014 and 2016) and regular appearances in the knockout stages at Rosslyn Park.