Young Gun: Tom Nicole – Cranleigh school scrum-half

Tom Nicole might have looked like it on stage on Friday night, but there was nothing miserable about his performances at the Rosslyn Park Sevens last week as he helped Cranleigh School claim a maiden U18s Cup title.
The electric scrum-half was the stand-out player of the tournament and the vital cog in a well-organised side with his impeccable passing ensuring the ball kept moving while his snipping runs and deft offloads created countless tries.
It was especially the case in the final with a trademark dart sealing the first try to cancel Harrow’s early score, before setting up Richard Eamey’s try for a lead they never relinquished.
But as soon as the Surrey school were handed the trophy, Nicole had to rush back to play his part in the famous French play Les Miserables.
“I only joined Cranleigh this year to play more rugby so to win the Rosslyn Park Sevens in our first year competing in the Cup is an amazing achievement,” he told TRP.
“Being in the school play was fun even if it meant I couldn’t celebrate winning with my mates on the night. It made for a long day but it was all worth it in the end.
“We’re a one-term school so I’m actually playing football for the second term even if I tried to keep my focus on Sevens.
“Our 15s season went pretty well too as we beat Epsom away for the first time in ten years. We lost to Wellington however so it was nice to beat them today.
“It was also great to beat a prestigious school like Millfield in the semi-final because they’re not on our circuit and we’d never played them.
“To come out on top against such teams shows the culture we have at Cranleigh where we have the ability to stay together even in the darkest moments.”
On the Harlequins radar since he was 13, the former Guildford County School pupil is a member of their EPDG program and he hopes to join their academy full-time next year.
But with one year left in school, he is not focussing on that just yet.“It’s great to play at a high level with the Quins academy,” he added.
“We have a game in two weeks at the Stoop against Connacht so it’ll be another great occasion.
“I used to hog the ball a lot when I was younger so my coach put me at scrum-half. That forced me to learn how to pass and I’ve stayed there ever since.
“I didn’t make the cut with Quins when I was 15 on the back of a trial at the Harrow tournament but I worked hard and managed to earn a place in the EPDG program later that summer.
“I’ve got one more year at school so my main focus will be to pass my A-Levels and then I’ll see if Quins want to offer me a place in their academy.”