Rugby

Rugby is the main sport for boys in the Michaelmas term, with sixteen School sides competing regularly on Saturdays. Cranleigh has a fine tradition for the quality of its Rugby, with the 1st XV widely recognized as one of the strongest on the circuit and which includes many players who are part of the Harlequins’ Academy and who represent Surrey. The picture is similar throughout the club, with players from all age groups involved in the development programmes of Premiership clubs, whilst recent leavers include Seb Stegmann, Sam Smith, and Will Collier, all of whom represented England U18 and have gone on to professional contracts with Harlequins.

At U18 level Max Rowson, Toby Quarendon, Morgan Fletcher, Tom Collier, Elliott McLean and Connor Stapley have all represented Surrey.  Toby Quarendon has also captained the London Academies side, and represented London Division at U18 last year.  At U16 level Henry Taylor has represented Berkshire, whilst James Thompson, Ben Roberts, Ollie Millward and Henry Lamont have all represented Surrey.

As the ethos of the club is that every player should have opportunities to play, we are equally proud of our performance at the other end of the scale; it is a testament to the enthusiasm of the boys that we regularly put out 16-18 teams on a Saturday and evidence that the boys find the game of rugby to be both enjoyable and rewarding. After a demanding season the boys always look forward to the climax: the inter-House rugby competition, where the players are split into teams depending on their age, weight and ability. Whichever of the four competitions the boys represent their House in, the matches are always fiercely competitive, but a great emphasis is put on playing within the spirit of the game.

For the VIth Form squads and the majority of A and B teams there are three weekly practices. To complement this the School also has the support of professional sports injury and physiotherapy teams on hand at the School’s Medical Centre. The coaching staff includes coaches who as players represented national division clubs, student international sides and England. Further coach development continues with sessions run for the Cranleigh staff by Harlequins coaches Tony Diprose, Collin Osborne and Darren Edwards.

In the Lent term Rugby’s focus changes to sevens, with the U18 team entering four tournaments, including the Rosslyn Park and Surrey County competitions.

 

Senior Coaches:

We are lucky to have many extremely experienced coaches, who between them have played at many levels and, in the case of Neil Bennett, both Club and National level. At Club level he played for Bedford (including when they won the John Player Cup in 1975) and also for London Welsh. At National level he achieved seven caps with England – the first against Scotland in 1975. He also toured Australia (1975) and Japan, Tonga and Fiji (1979) as a member of the National team, and represented the Barbarians in a match celebrating Ireland’s Centenary.

 

For any queries, please contact the Head of Rugby, James Witcombe: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Please click here to go to Cranleigh Community/Rugby