RGS Senior Newspaper

Post-war, the 1950's and 1960's proved to be a very successful period for RGS, producing many rugby ‘greats’ and putting the School on England’s rugby map: RGS' first schoolboy cap, Ted Woodward ; Hamish Keith, who later went on to represent Scotland with full honours; Clive Ashby and Freddie Hawkins – theWasps half-back paring who played together for nigh on twenty years. Clive , again going on to represent England’s full squad, and Freddie , commonly quoted in the greatest England squad not to have achieved full international honours. RGS HighWycombe has a strong rugby tradition, dating back to 1919. At RGSHW, we strive to create an ambitious, engaging and challenging environment where every player, regardless of experience in the game, is given the time and support that allows the opportunity to maximise their potential on and off the field. For us to be able to do this, we take a player-centred approach to training and fixtures, allowing players to make their own decisions, learn from those experiences and have autonomy over their own development. The foundation of RGSHW Rugby is based around good behaviours; a strong work ethic, a positive attitude to learning, with a desire to seek mastery of the sport. These characteristics will be the foundation for their future development. With RGSHW rugby, we see success as: Enjoyment Maximise every player’s potential Lifelong participation Creating elite sportsman Competition is at the core of everything we do, competing intrinsically to challenge ourselves consistently, competing with each other to bring the best out of teammates, as well as externally against some of the best schools in the country. The RGSHW fixture list includes schools such as Millfield, Whitgift andWarwick, and we enter the NatWest Cup at both U15 & U18 age groups. Rugby is played through the Autumn and Spring terms, with each age group also entered into 7’s competitions to enhance skill adaptation. We are able to field up to 20 teams on a Saturday, with the U12’s running A-F teams. PROSPECTUS 2022-2023 P15 Rugby Rugby P14 RGS HIGHWYCOMBE RGS can boast over 100 years of rugby history and in that time we have produced over 30 schoolboy internationals, 8 full internationals, 3 British Lions and can lay claim to having produced one of the most capped No 9 in England history with Matt Dawson's 42 appearances. Old boys include Nick Beal (British and Irish Lions and England representative), Nick Duncombe (the youngest scrum-half for England and Harlequins, who died tragically at a young age), Tom Rees (England andWasps), Christian Wade (Lions, England andWasps), and more recently Ben Harris (England 7's) and James Tunney (Wasps). RGS is the only school to have won both Union and League National titles, and regularly features in regional and national competitions. The School also has an outstanding Natwest Cup record, including an unprecedented three U15 final appearances in a row. THE SCHOOL’S RUGBY GREATS BELOW: Natwest Cup Final Winners (2011) PLAYER INTERNATIONAL CLUB/S Tommy Allen Julian Allfrey Clive Ashby Ollie Butler Nick Beal Alan Brinn Alex Cheeseman Matthew Dawson Nick Duncombe Chris Elder Peter Elder Ben Harris Freddie Hawkins James Honeyben Tom Howe Billy Kucera Ross Neal Tom Rees Christian Scotland-Williamson Ronald Syrett Simon Tattersall James Tunney Christian Wade Tom Wallace Jack Wallace Ellis White John (Ted) Woodward Scotland U18 & Italy England U18 England British Lions & England England British Lions & England England England U18 England U16 & U18 England 7’s & GB 7’s Barbarians England U16, U18, U19 & U21 England U17 England England England U16 British Lions, England & England 7s England U16 England U16 & U18 England U16 A England Perpignan & Zebre & Harlequins Varsity Match (Oxford) Wasps La Rochelle & Argent Northampton Saints Gloucester Wasps & Cornish Pirates Wasps & Saints Harlequins Wasps, London Welsh & Yorkshire Carnegie Wasps & London Scottish Saracens Wasps Wasps Wasps & Worcester Wasps Wasps & London Irish Wasps Worcester Warriors & Harlequins Wasps Henley Hawks & Chinnor Wasps Wasps, Buffalo Bills (American Football) Wasps Wasps & Bristol Wasps THE R esilient G rounded S elfless H onest W ork ethic WAY