Leading lights shining bright at Kingsholm

Brendan Gallagher continues his series looking at rugby’s great schools

DEAN CLOSE are probably still best known nationally for their hockey prowess with the Girls U14, U16 and U18 teams having all won national titles in the last decade along with the Boys U16 team, but could that change in the next decade or so? The Cheltenham school is invariably involved in the shakeup of all outdoor and indoor competitions, a powerhouse centre of excellence under Gary Tredgett, a Dean Close old boy who also used to feature in their rugby sides.

The rugby programme is beginning to make a splash as well. It started to gather strength with the arrival of Moseley fullback Richard Akenhead as master in charge in 1975 and is now going from strength to strength under director of sport Gareth-Baber Williams and DoR Andrew Stanley, the former Gloucester flanker.

The earliest player of note at Dean Close was England Schools cap Fred Welles in 1955 while, during Akenhead’s marathon 30-year stint, a number of outstanding players emerged.

Ben Hyde was a short powerful livewire scrum-half who succeeded Andy Gomarsall in the England Schools side and toured New Zealand with England Schools in 1993 when he found a young No.8 called Jonah Lomu running riot. Alas, a knee injury curtailed his senior career at Moseley just when he was beginning to flex his muscles.

Another exceptional scrumhalf – who Akenhead reckons to be the best player who passed through the school during his 30 years – was Tom Johnson who later achieved fame as a back five player with Exeter and England. Back five forward Peter Browne was another talented player who played senior rugby with Newcastle, Harlequins, London Welsh and Ulster before having to retire after repeated concussions.

“Tom was a brilliant nine at school and you could still see those skills in his senior rugby when he was ball in hand even after he beefed up,” recalls Akenhead. “For most of my time we were always a very lightweight, quick side who had to live on our wits. I remember after one of our better wins – we had just beaten Prior Park 53-14 –I overheard one of their players complain there hadn’t been a ruck all game. We took that as a huge compliment. In 1998 our back three of Rich Moger, Rich Lynall and Guy Richards scored 38 tries in 11 games. James Mears, our fly-half and skipper in 1996, was another very classy player.

Standard bearers: The Dean Close 1st XV of 2018 were unbeaten in regular season. Inset: George Barton

 Livewire: Scrum-half Matty Jones

“Objectively we were a top of Division B side. We just didn’t have the playing numbers and the scholarship players to step up into the A Division although in certain years we were well capable of beating First Fifteens from that circuit. That made strengthening our fixture list difficult.

The big schools were generally looking for block fixtures right down the school and while during certain periods – 1995 to 2000 for sure – we had strong First Fifteens we just didn’t have that strength at all age groups.

“We had great fun. We played fast and became very enthusiastic tourists. Over the years I can remember organising trips to Biarritz, Portugal, Holland, Canada and South Africa right after the 1995 World Cup when the country was absolutely buzzing. We also did Australia and Italy, taking U18 and U16 sides on both occasions.

“Fundraising was a massive undertaking and as everybody will tell you the trick is to start two or three years before the tour. In terms of the players and their family contributing £10 a month on a standing order for a few years was much more manageable than a big payment at the end. We became very good at ‘Promises auctions’ and sponsored events – we did the 112 mile Cotswold Way run on one occasion. Our biggest success though and perhaps a tip for other schools needing to raise funds was when I raffled a car in 1995 for the South Africa trip.

“I went out and bought a spanking new Mini the year before –I think it was for about £6,000 – and put it in mothballs in the garage and over the next year we sold 800 raffle tickets at £20 a time. My aim had been sell a 1,000 but we still made a fantastic profit to help pay for the tour.

“A Scottish mate happened to be visiting on the night of the dinner when we did the raffle and bought a ticket before leaving to drive home. He had just arrived back in Scotland when I phoned him to say he had won the car. He didn’t show his face in Cheltenham for a while!”

Chip off the block: Jake Humphreys

The landscape of schools rugby changed drastically with the full emergence of academies attached to Premiership clubs and it’s in the last seven or eight years that Dean Close have gathered pace and become a force nationally, not least in their last completed season – the 2019-20 campaign which was prematurely curtailed by the pandemic with silverware in the offing.

The school were unbeaten in regular season games which earned them a best-ever finish of seventh in the prestigious Daily Mail trophy, the first time they have broken into the top ten.Frustratingly they fell in the first round of the National Cup, slipping to a 20-8 defeat against old local rivals Sir Thomas Rich.Annoyingly for Dean Close they defeated Thomas Rich 33-15 in a friendly later in the season.

Gloucester-bound: Flankler Freddie Thomas

Undeterred at their early exit, Dean Close set their eyes on the National Plate competition and after overcoming Downside, Richard Huish College and Langley Park School for Boys they lined up against Bishop Wordsworth in the semi-final. The Dean Close pack and especially their dominance of the breakdown paved the way for a 23-12 win and final against Bloxham – the winner of the competition in 2019 – loomed large before Covid hit.

Among the leading lights from that team were scrum-half Matty Jones and lock/ flanker Freddie Thomas, both of whom earned England U18 caps while Jake Humphreys, the son of former Gloucester DoR David Humphreys, proved a deadly goal kicker in the style of his Dad who scored the small matter of 580 points in 72 Tests for Ireland. The previous year had also resulted in an unbeaten regular season campaign but again there was heartbreak in the National Cup, this time losing in Round 4 to Marlborough.

Schoolboy star: Exeter flanker Tom Johnson

They were a talented bunch and Gloucester lost no time in signing up the team’s captain Archie Benson, vice-captain George Barton and Josh Gray on professional contracts. All three were England U18 representatives and, together with Thomas and Jones, the school could proudly look on five former pupils in the Gloucester side that contested the 2019 Premiership Academy final against Leicester.

Gloucester, who cultivate all their local rugby schools, are increasingly putting Dean Close towards the top of their list with others to mark their way from Dean Close to Kingsholm including Tom Seabrook, Lloyd Evans and Ed Bogue. One who got away was Tiff Eden who initially started at Worcester before joining Bristol.

The 2018 season, the 80th anniversary of the school, proved doubly auspicious in that not only were the First XV unbeaten but the Second XV, skippered by Jacob Melville Smith, also went unbeaten in their 11 games, the first time both senior sides had achieved that in unison and